New-York tribune., 1884-02-03
A QUESTION OF FITNESS.
MIR. CHANDLER AND CIVIL SERVICE.
THE sEcRETARY's REASONS FOR NOT APPOINTING
PERSONS CERTIFIED by THE COMMISSION
lBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRrDUSE.1

PERSONS CERTIFIED by THE COMMISSION
IBY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRrDUSE.I
WASHINGTON, Feb 2-"At war with the Civil
Service Commissioni Not bit of it," exclaimed
Secretary Chandler. "Til tell yon about it. Some
time ago there occurred two vacancies in the
department, one a 5000 clerkship and the other
81 200 one. requested the Commission TO send me
applicants for the positions. They sent me four all
were from Massachusetts,. Two were women. and OF
the Others one was deaf and the other a-ahem-a-
hairdresser; in short barber. Now, the women
we couldn't employ, because the work was NOT
suitable for them. Moreover, it wouldn't have been
quite the proper thing to put woman In a room
with, say, three or four men. Now would itf TO
employ deaf man was out of the question. in tins
instance, at least-and the, yes, the barber-wen,
you understand, il wouldn't do. These four being
refused the Commissioners sent me second batch'
This time they we're Virginians They couldn't
spell correctly; they couldn't even write decently.
One of them wouldn't have employed under any
circumstances This is what had found be. had
done; He was required, In the course OF his
examination, to copy section IL of the Civil
Service act, which provides that no officer
or employe of the United States Govern
ment shall be compelled to contribute
political assessment under threats of dismissal etc.
Well, he put an asterisk at the. end of his para
printed lne) and placed the following at the bot
tom OF the page: For illustration, see Malone,
protected by the Administration, befriended by the
Executive, boldly infringing on published law and
yet escaping punishment through technical mlnu-
tia' And even then, by Jove," continued the
Secretary, "he wrote technical with a X.
Couldn't have employed him, that's clear.
None of the rest spelled either Massachusetts,,
Louisiana OF Mississippi correctly. Now, am IN
favor of Civil Service as much as any body, but l
don't propose to load down my department with
incompetent people. If the Commissioners will
send the right kind Of men. III appoint them. No
one is more willing than am to see Civil service
principles carried out in practice, but If am to be
held accountable for the management of my de-
partment must see TO It that competent inen only
are employed That's all there is about H."
Commissioner ThOman is said to have asserted
that the persons whose names were certhed 70 the
Secretary had passed fair examination. In ms
Judgment, though he was not speaking Tor the
Commission no other certlfcation of names would
be made the Secretary under the original requi,
stions. He is said to hold that under the Clvl
Service rules the Secretary is obliged 70 make
choice among those properly certified by the Com
mission, and to give the man so chosen a trlal De<
fore he decides the question of the manS ability To
till tho place. .
Dormon b. Eaton simply said that the whole mat
ter had not been discussed yet by the Commission.
At present the Commission was busy IN preparing
its first annual report, and, in the absence OF the
Secretary, this work occupied every minute OF the
Commissions time. The matter would be taken up
future date.