Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-24
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE D1sPArcH.i

moyai is in violation of the civil service act,
because it was avowedly made for political
reasons.
1t has generally been assumed that the
civil service act coniers no authority upon
the Commissioners to restrict removals from
office, and that it only gives them jurisdic-
tion over appointments There is one sec
tion in the law, however, upon which it is
understood that Mr.. Smith hopes to be able
to base this claim. This is section 13 of the
civil service act, which reads as follows:
No officer or employe of the United States
mentioned in this act shall discharge, or pro-
mote, or aid, or in any manner change the Off
cial rank or compensation of any other officer
or emplOye, or promise or threaten so to do,
for giving or withholding or neglecuug to
make any contribution of money OF other yalu-
BILE thing for any political purpose.
AHEAvY PENALTY ATTACHED.
Mr.. Smith claims that the penalty for the
violation OF this provision is set forth in Sec
tion Is, which is the last of the original act,
and which reads as follows:
ANY person who shall be guilty of violating
any provision OF the foregoing section will De
= deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, on
conviction thereof, be punished by fne not
exceeding 5000. or by Imprisonment for a term
not exceeding three years, or py such nne ana
imprisonment both at the discretion of tine
Court
There is only one other provision in the
civil service act that could be construed to
refer to removals from Office, or be a restric-
tion in any way upon the appointing power
under this law. That is a clause in section
z, which is as follows:
But nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued to take from those honorably discharged
from the military or naval service, any prefer
ence conferred by the l754th section of the
Revised Statutes, nor to take from the Presi-
dent any authority not inconsistent with this
act conferred by the l,75Sd section of said
statutes.
SMITH NOT A VETERAN.
These sections of the Revised Statutes
provide that in making appointments, other
things being equal, preference shall be
given to honorably discharged soldiers and
sailors of the United States. Mr.. Smith
cannot take any advantage of these restric-
tiOns upon the appointing or removal power.
for it is not claimed that he was in the
United States service during the war.
If Mr.. Smith can make good his claim
that his cas- is violation of statute 13, it
would seem that good many heads of the
department and bureau officers might be
accused of violating the law because of the
reductions which have been made in the
service since the 4th of March, or especially
since the beginning of the fiscal year.
The charge has been made that Repub-
ness TO hunt out the Democratic appointees
in their districts, and to hint to bureau off
GERS that it would be well to reduce their
salaries if it was inexpedient to remove
them. The theory has been that they could
thus force the Democratic clerks to resign,
or make vacancies in the higher grades for
Republicans
DETAILS OF THE CASE.
The circumstances in the case of H c.
Smith are these: Smith was examined by
the Civil Service Commission at Nashville,
Tenn. March z, 1884. He passed the ex-
animation with the rating necessary to place
him on the eligible list and on July %,
1884, was appointed a clerk of class l. in
the office of the Sixth Auditor of the Treas
urv. He came into the public service under
the Arthur administration, served oUt the
Cleveland administration, and has remained
in Office about four months under President
Harrison. He was dismissed from the SER
vice by the following note:
To H. C. Smith, ESQ.,:
respectfully ask your resignation, to take ef-
feet Monday, Jaly Is, lSS9
Respectfully,
T. B. COULTER, Auditor.
Smiths account of what followed the re-
ceptIon of this note is this: He went to
Auditor Coulter and asked the reason for
the request, and particularly desired to
know whether any charges had been filed
against him on account of his character. He
was informed that there were none, and
Auditor Coulter voluntarily added the fol-
lowing statement:
WHY SMITH WAS BOUNCED.
We want your place. You see, the old SOL
diers are clamoring for places, and we cannot
put them of any longer, so you had better hand
In your resignation, to take effect July Is
Smith then resigned, dating his resigna-
tion, however, to take effect August 1. This
is the indictment which he expects to bring
against the Sixth Auditor before the Civil
Service Commission. He insists that his
removal is solely due to the fact that he is a
Q Democrat.
The case involving exactly this point has
not been decided by the Civil Service Com
mission. Smith is lawyer by profession
and is said TO have been an active worker
for Cleveland and Thurman in the last
Presidential campaign.
''We shall not have anything to say about
this case until it comes before u.s." said Mr.
Lyman, Chairman of the Civil Service
Commission; "but," he added, ''ii the state
ments contained in the public press are
exact, it seems probable that it will be
necessary to take notice of it.
IT HAS NOT BEEN THE CUSTOM
of the commission to inquire into cases Of
REMOVALS from ONCE. III mas Deen as much
as the commission could well attend to, to
see that the civil service act was strictly OBJ
served in appointments. There are specified
cases under the law where it is made the
duty of the commission to take jurisdiction
in the matter OF removals. 1t remains to be
seen whether the case of Smith Is one. He
seems to make his claim under section ID
only, as he was manifestly not a soldier.
There have been hundreds of applications
TO the commission to interfere in the matter
of removals, but there has not generally
been any offer of substantial proof to show
that the law has been violated. Once in a
Cincinnati case, the commission wrote a
letter to the Chairman of the Local Board
of Examiners in referenceto a state of facts
similar to that alleged to exist in this case"
MAY NOT PRESS THE CASE.
President Lyman did not wish to make
any further reference to this letter and de-
clined to make it public, saying: cit is not
certain that Smith will press the case, for it
now appears that he did not wait to be re-
moved, but complied with the request to
tender his resignation"
The exception in the civil service rules
under which the appointment OF a conf
Dental clerk is permitted without examina-
tion has been carried to a great extreme.
This provision may be used to successfully
evade the civil service act. and to place in
the highest grade clerks who have not
rroI A. ofl