Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-12
WORSE STILL,

there was ground for grave solicitude lest
it might be held by the Acknowledgement
that no examination was required for
these. And here let me correct one of
those strange, careless miSstatcments on
which the whole fabric of Mr.. Oberly's in
dictment and peculiar theories rest. He
declares, to use his own words. ''that il
was provided that these officers should be
approved under the Civil Service act, by
examination and certitication." This
statement is without a shadow of lounda-
ton. The position of the Commissioners
even ludicrOusly absurd. He is ignorant.
and therefore innocent Of the fact that
there was so much doubt on the points,
even nearly a year aftera Republican Pres
ldcnt had decided in favor of the jurisdic-
ton OF the Commission, upon my prescn-
tatloh OF the legal points in favor of that
view, that a member of the Cabinet of
President Cleveland, at the ~instigation of
the Democratic Pension Commissioner.
Gen. Black, actually
SUBMITTED THAT VERY QUESTION
twice within the same month to n Demo-
cratic Attorney General. Garland. and ap-
parently the late Mr.. Oberly knows moth
ing OF 1t. The Attorney Generals opinions,
now before me, are dated respectively, May
: and May %, 1856. ! suggest that Mr..
Oberly get copies and read them. Thus
in May, 1856, a Democratic Commissioner
OF Pensions grasped for that unlimited
party patronage which a Republican adj
ministratiOn had denied to its head of Pen
sion Office, Dudley, in July, 1ss4.
Such was the need of prompt action.
The first duty was at all hazards to prevent
the spollsmen capturing the places. 1t
was next essential to fill them with the
utmost prOmptness. 1t would be disas-
trous to occupy several months in opera
ting the technical machinery of the Com
mission for that purpose. 1t wa mid
summer vacation time, and the Commits
sion had not a single person examined or
even an applicant for filling n one of
them. To meet the stern conditions of
apportionment examinations, after due
notice given, must he in such numerous
and remote places as to accommodate the
country from the lakes to the gulf and
from ocean TO ocean. 1t was
PLAINLY IMPOSSIBLE
to complete these examinations aud then
90 through the slow process Of certifying
by fours ALI h vacancies while keeping up
the appointment in less than two months
at least. 1t wa plainly unjust to set off a
place OF one year To one State against ap-
pointmcnt TO other States for an indefinite
time. The request for certifications to fill
these vacancies came promptly to the Com
mission July :. In that ~exigcncy the
only thing it could do was TO certify in
the usual form the names of thirty-two
applicants, for the before existing class of
examiners, which it was hoped were fairly
qualified, and il did 50. Acting with
the utmost dispatch the Commission wa
not able, before the 18th of July, to fix a
series OF examinations, and the date could
not be made earlier than between the 18th
and 18th Of the month, and even then
many remote States could not be included.
Here would he near q month gone, and
after the examination papers should reach
Washington another month might be used
in the details of marking and certifying.
ENEMIES OF REFORM DEFEATED.
In the meantime the public business
seemed to be arrested by the obstructive
methods Of the Commission. 1t was GER
tain the Commission would be attacked on
that ground. Though a crisis caused by