The most conspicuous advocate of the merit system was Mr. George William Curtis, another New York Unitarian, who was the chairman of the Civil Service Commission of 1871. In 1880 he became the president of the New York Civil Service Reform Association, a position he held until his death. The National Civil Service Reform League was organized at Newport in August, 1881; and he was the president from that time as long as he lived. His annual addresses before the league show his devoted interest in its aims, as well as his eloquence, intellectual power, and political integrity.[50] In an address before the Unitarian National Conference, in 1878, Mr. Curtis gave a noble exposition and vindication of the reform which he labored zealously for twelve years to advance.[51] It has been justly said of Mr. Curtis that "far above the pleasures of life he placed its duties; and no man could have set himself more sternly to the serious work of citizenship. The national struggle over slavery, and the re-establishment of the Union on permanent foundations enlisted his whole nature. In the same spirit, he devoted his later years to the overthrow of the spoils system. He did this under no delusion as to the magnitude of the undertaking. Probably no one else comprehended it so well. He had studied the problem profoundly, and had solved every difficulty, and could answer every cavil to his own satisfaction." There can be no question that "his name imparted a strength to the movement no other would have given." Nor can there be much question that "among public men there was none who so won the confidence of sincere and earnest men and women by his own personality. The powers of such a character, with all his gifts and accomplishments, was what Mr. Curtis brought to the civil service reform."[52] [1] American Unitarian Biography, edited by William Ware; Memoir of Worcester, by Henry Ware, Jr., I. 45, 46. [2] Solemn Review, edition of 1836 by American Peace Society, 7. [3] It had been preceded by societies in Ohio and New York, results of the influence of the Solemn Review. [4] Unitarian Biography, I. 49. [5] Memoir, II. 284; one-volume edition, 111. [6] Ibid., III. 111; one-volume edition, 284. [7] Memoir, 139. [8] Christian Examiner, May, 1850, XLVIII. 378. [9] Ibid., November, 1861, LXXI. 313. [10] Life, 83. [11] Ibid., 115. [12] Cyclopedia of American Biography, V. 746. [13] Memoir, II. 348. [14] Memoir. [15] Ibid., 351. [16] Ibid., IV. 572. [17] Reminiscences, 328. [18] Memoir, III. 36; one-volume edition, 477. [19] Memoir, III. 31; one-volume edition, 474, 475. [20] Works, II. 301. [21] When will the Day come? and other tracts of the Massachusetts Temperance Society, 135.