The Civil Service Mural

Mural by Ed Becker, 1962

The quotation at the bottom left is from Theodore Roosevelt:

The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic and American as the common school system itself. It simply means that . . . applicants should have a fair field and no favor.

1. George Clinton	10. George William Curtis
2. DeWitt Clinton	11. Everett P. Wheeler
3. Martin Van Buren	12. Grover Cleveland
4. Thurlow Weed	13. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Thomas C. Platt	14. Horace White
6. Roscoe Conkling	15. Joseph Choate
7. Charles Guiteau	16. Elihu Root
8. James A. Garfield	17. Civil Service employees
9. Dorman B. Eaton

Cleveland was in the vanguard of the advocates for the preservation and protection of the Adirondacks, which was now a preferred place for the rare days of relaxation that he took. His notable efforts were a foretaste of those that soon fascinated the country under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt. As a member of the state assembly, Roosevelt had approved Cleveland’s initiative. In his turn, Cleveland had his eye on the young Roosevelt, who sponsored the bill creating the state civil service system. When it had passed [1883], Cleveland appointed a list of notable citizens to be members of the new civil service commission.
— Henry F. Graff, Grover Cleveland, 2002, 42.