The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-10-18
Civil ssTviOs COmmittes RspOrt.

WASHINGTON, Oct. Ex-senator
Hale to-day submitted to the senate
the report from the committee'sl exam
ination in the present state of the civil
service. 1t discusses deliberately the
testimony taken in New York, Penn
sylvania and elsewhere. The report
censureS the administration for its
craftsmanship in changes in public Offices
and for the shameless and open viola
tion Of the civil service law, wherein
federal officers had controlled state
conventions and punished men to
whom the presidenC had taken a dislike
notably Mr.. Randall. 1t accuses the
administration Of conspiracy to thwart
the will of the people. 1t censures the
system of leVying tolls on officeholders
for political purposes and says that the
presidents example of notorious viola
ton of the law prevents the committee
from censuring the cabinet or the SUBJ
ordinates. as they were virtually COM
manded by the one from whom they
held the tenure of Office to do as he did.
The report says the condition of affairs
dramatically opposed to y hat the pres
ident has promised in his various let
tiers aud messages.
In regard to the removal from the
sugar division of the appraisers depart
ment in New York, the report says:
The evidence diScloses undue inter
ference by those high in authority in
the making of appointments and re-
mOvalS to the extent OF actual violation
of law. The testimony consisting prin-
cipally of official documents was OBJ
tanned as the result of the committee's
Inv forot1nr. onA M al NH q
having been preferred, but the Recreta-
~ OF the treasury after having asked
to be heard before the committee, and
his request being granted, failed to ap,
pear and answer the serious charges
made against him in the testimony
taken, but instead has seen ut to as
sumo the attitude of the accused AND
in published letter to George William
Curtis. dated June 20, 1888, to state the
conclusion to which the evidence nat
urally tends The charges against
Secretary Fairchlld as formulated by
himself in his published statement arr
as follows:
First-With removing from officC
men who were in all respects compe
tent and fit, when there was no cause
nor reason therefore, the same beinG
done in q spirit OF mere wantOnesS anC
with no other purpose than to injur6
and humiliate good men.
Second-With retaining in Office 9th
erlmen deserving removal, simply be.
cause their removal was opposed by
politicians of my own party and
because they "had a pull.
ThIrd-With restoring to Office in op-
position to the wishes of his immedi.
ate superior, man whom he had pre-
viOusly removed for drunkenness and
characterization, and that in doing this
qiolated the civil service rules and in
order to make good these violation
the rules themselves were changed by
the civil service commission and that
all of this was done because a member
of congress asked that the man be re-
stored. Had such charges rs these
been made, the testimony taken could
fcarcely fail to convince any ''unpreju-
diced and fair minded person." to
quote the secretaTys words of their
truth.
Under the head of ''the civil service
in Indiana" the committee says: The
evidence embraced in the testimony
and written reports presented fairly
shows that when President Cleveland
was inaugurated. the federal service in
Indiana Wds as q whole efiicint and i'm
portant points like the Indianapolis
and other large postoffices and in the
railway mail service so far as it related
to that state, high degree of skill and
efficiency had been reached; AS a rule
the service was the result of the sitting
OF wears with constantly increasing
tendency to make removals only for
cause. A very large proportion of the
employees had been long in the service
and were union eX-SoldierB. The SER
vice as q whole was composed OF the
men who were excellent citizens and of
good social standing in their several
communities. A short time after Mr..
Cleveland's Inauguration he appointed
AQuilla Jones postmaster at In
dianapolis and soon after the
same man was made custodian
OF the public building. This altogether
gave him control of about twenty places
In the unclasSified service and about
sixty-tWo clerks and letter carriers In
the classified service. He at once re-
moved all in the unclassified service
and put his partisans into their places
There was no pretense that the persons
removed were inefficient. Postmaster
Jones in making dismiSSais or in tore
ling designations has repeatedly declared
that he did 50 because he wanted the
places for democrats or wanted tn,
places for some one else. He declared
since this investigation began that il
making selections for appointments n,
bad always chosen democrats over re-
publicans who had passed the ex
animation. These removals hav
been made without the leas
reference to the efficiency of tn
Office. The poorest men and the he's
men have been dismissed indiscrimj
nately and the most active POLITICAL
among the farmer employees still n
main. He has dismissed Indifferent
thuSe who came in under the comps
tive system and those who did no.
H. divided the duties of the forsns
assistant postmaster and thus mad
room for another son and pays 81 81