Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-11
Monday, May H, 1885.

A RECALCITRANT ssRASCAL.,' MT. William T. Sullivan is 8 Republican
 ''rascal" who has been the special examiner of pensions for the State of Michigan. He is described as thoroughly competent and trustworthy man, who has done his work faithfully and we'll. Two or three weeks ago he received an order from Commissioner
 Black to turn over his office to Paul E. Will
 Hams, as acting supervising examiner, until further orders. He did so and sent tele-
 gram to the Secretary of the Interior in which he said: ssNo valid reason exists for
 discharge or suspension, and before further
 action is taken I respectfully request hear ing" Having turned over the papers of his
 office in proper shape to MT. Williams, MT.
 Sullivan applied for other duty and was told
 that he had been removed and was no longer
 in the government service. The next day
 Mir. Williams called upon MT. Sullivan to
 surrender his commission. MT. Sullivan did not surrender. He wrote to MT. Williams as follows: With all due courtesy and respect to the honorable commissioner of pensions and yourself personally and officially, most
 respectfully and positively decline to deliver to you. or to him through your hands, my commission as special examiner of the pen sion bureau until I have been formally noti- fled by the honorable Secretary of the Inte- rior, whose authority alone recognize in the premises, that have been dismissed the ser vice for cause specified As no cause exists for my dismissal from the service, and may | without boast refer to my record in the pen sion office as equal to any other special exam iner, and no criticism of my official con duct has ever been received, l have too high a regard for the l fairness and just action of the honorable 1 Secretary of the Interior to anticipate that
 he should dismiss for cause when none l exists. I respectfully invite your attention i to the circular of April Il, 1885, issued by | the honorable commissioner of patents, say 1 ing among other things: Commissions to 1 be asked for only in of resignation, " and in connection herewith inform you that
 have not resigned.
 | Mir. Sullivan got no reply to this letter.
 But when he received his salary voucher it | proved to be only for the first part of the l month He returned it and wrote to Secre, | tary Lamar, who sent him the following answer: "On the recommendation of the commissioner of pensions your service as 8 1 clerk of class in this office at $1 500 per annum will be dispensed with, to take effect l on the 9th inst'
 I It will be interesting to see how MT. Sulli- van comes out in his attempt to enforce civil service reform, but it is probable that
 he will emerge from the little end of the
 horn. The New York Sun apparently hit
 the mark when it said, in "double-leaded'
 fashion: The inevitable day when a parti
 san shall be appointed for partisan reasons
 in succession to every Republican ofieeholdsa
 as yet unmolested is only postponed for { l time, and the mugwump dream of non 1 partisan civil service is as far as ever from
 becoming reality. In other words, the SO
 called spoils system, the practice of bestow
 ing the federal offices upon fit men, but talk ing care to have the fit men of the same poll | tics as the administration, will prevail.