Efficiency cannot be secured in any other way, because no executive official can be held accountable for good work unless his control over his subordinates is effective.

So far as the existing civil service laws in city, state, and the United States fail to bestow full responsibility, coupled with sufficient authority, upon departmental chiefs, they should be altered; and their alteration should be made part of any plan of constructive reform in the civil service.
The responsibility of departmental chiefs and their effective authority over their subordinates necessarily imply changes in the current methods of selecting these officials.

The prevailing methods are unwise and chaotic.

In some cases they are appointed by the chief executive.

In other cases they are elected.