The Red Cloud chief., 1886-01-01
EvAOiNc n LAW.


paper. In reality it violates both the
spiri, and letter Of the law whenever
an opportunity is offered for 20 doing
without fear Of discovery. II was only
a few days ago that the President tenn
porarily suspended one Of the Civil
service rules in order to make the APP
pointment Of ex-Alderman Sterling
possible. Now i, is Secretary Lamar
and hi. Assistant SECRETARY. Mr.. Null
drow. who are trying TO see what their
personal influence will do in securing
appointments for people who can not
b. certified in the regular "a BY the
Civil-service Commission. Here Is a
fragrant example Of the way iii which
the law is violated by them:
In August. 1884. there occurred in
the cafe Of the Riggs House a shooting
affair. which for DAYS af,erward fur
ni,hed the town with food for gossip.
The persons concerned in il were Mrs.
f.. l.. Barnes, a clerk in the Second
Comptro!lcr's Office: a Nr. D~ougherty,
employed in the Treasury Department.
and a woman whose name was not a.
. ttlttiii'il u tII iHC Val 90
was dining with the young woman,
when Mrs. Barnes entered the room
and discharged the contents Of a pistol
at Mr.. Doughertv. There was the usual
amount of Mysteries, but beyond this
no damage was done. Jealousy was
said to be the cause Of the trouble. 4
paragraph in the local papers record
Ing the occurrence ended with the
words: mo arrests.
This seemed 10 end the matter. Not
long after this, however, Mrs. Barnes
resigned her place in the Treasury and
went to New York. where she secured
a subordinate position in Days The
alter. She failed there and returned 10
this city. where. through the influence
of Secretary Lamar and Assistant Sec
rotary Muldrow. she got a place in the
Gotcrnment Printing Office. Not liking
the place. she WAS given another in the
mint at Philadelphia. This, too. did not
suit her, and for several months she
hung about Washington trying to get
something better. Finally she sue
ceedcd. She was appointed a nine
hundred-dollar clerk in the Sixth
Auditors Office and was detailed
for work in the Second Auditors room.
How all this was done remains a mys-
terry. She never got the appointment
through the Civil-service Commission.
for she had never been certified bv the
commissioners, and even if she had
passed an examination could not tie
appointed under the law and re@ula-
tons on account of there being four
members of her family in the Govern
ment service in this city already. Mr..
Higgins acts very mys%tcriously about
this case. Ii looks very much as if he
had engaged with McsSrS. Lamar and
Muldrow in a conspiracy similar to that
into which he entered with First
Auditor Chenowith to keep a
Republican certified by the Civil
service Commission out Of an APP
pOintmcnt, simply because she was n
Republican. That there are cases SINH
lar to this occrrr~c constantly in the
departments admits Of no doubt. They
are rarely discovered. though. for the
reason principally that those most in
tcrestcd i'm seeing the law administered
strictly and impartially. viz, the men
holding positions in the departments.
are afraid tO talk about them because
doing so would lead to their immediate
discharge.
General Black. if not violating the
law itself. certainly acts contrary tn its
spirit every time he gets an oppor-
tunity. He not long ago made James
Fritz. of GoSport. Ind. Special Exam
iner in the Pension Bureau. The APP
pointment was made At the request of
- -, .,, :ra,,
a letter TO the CiNil-scryicc Commits
sion. with instructions to deliver il To
Judge Thoman. and to no n else.
The letter secured a private cXami-
nation. This was of course nothin"
but a farce. There was no competition.
no chance given to others. Even the
questions asked are said to have been
simply those printed by commissioners
in their annual report of the preceding
year as examples of what candidates
would be asked to answer. Fritz was
informed of this, and so passed the en-
animation without trouble.
Another case is that Of Archie Nc
GinniS. He o is Il protcge of tbc Ma
ton. IL can't pass an examination
he told General Black when the Com
missioner informed him that his APP
pointment would have to be made
through the Civil-Scrvicc Commits
sioncrS. ats all right answered the
General. IN give YOU 4 letter toJudge
Thoman." The letter secured 4 .'pri-
vate examination" and to-day the man
who declared to more than one person
in town that he was unable to pass The
Civil-scryicc examination is Il Special
Examiner in the Pension Bureau at
one thousand four hundred dollars 3
year.
4 man with the picturesque name Of
Exum Saint was put through 4 similar
examination. He was Senator Noor-
hecs' friend. General Black WAS about
TO appoint him. whenncw reached the
I department that Mr.. Saint had bclici
his name and had been convicted two
weeks ago To five years IN the peniten-
tiary for fraud committed on the very
Bureau Of which he hoped TO become 4
shining ornament.
The greatest farce, however. upon
Civil-service reform as practiccd
bv General Black Is the APP
pointmcnt of Chester K. Faulkner as
Chief of the Record Division i'm the PEN
sion Bureau. Faulkner is ignorance
and incompetency itself. Even Voor-
hees was compelled To exclaim once:
..Ye gods. You ought to see Faulkner's
spelling, but then. lie is as true As
steel" The latter proposition he adj
ded presumably in order 30 break ihs
force of his implied criticism. Be that
as il NAV. { .cral Black retains Faulk-
ner in office perhaps that he may prove
useful some day. a, present. this Dem
ocra,ic official cortents himself with
expressing his disgust at having a
..possel' of women about him. who.
he fears. will not ..kiyer" all the points