, 1889-11-14
WASHINGTON IET ETTIhR I I hR.
From sur regular correspondent }

/ ing made OH the civil service law in
certain directions there does not APP
pear to he any reason to believe that
the law will he repealed this winter or
that the commission will fail of \ suf-
iicient appropriation to enable them to
look to.its enforcement. On the con-
trary, it is quite likely that if the
question is reached at all the law will
be further extended so az to prohibit
the removal of department emplO .es
| for partisan reasons. 1t is cqtiFay
probable that Senator Edmunds
proposition to make the tenure of of
| flee fixed for the period of appoint
ment, except where the official is con-
Victed of some maladministratiOn of
office or proven To be unfit to he con-
tinued in the service, will he pressed
vigorously this winter. There was
some disposition Oh the part of Demo-
Gratis VIXEN this proposition was made
by Mr.. Edmumds to treat it as if mere
ly aimed at the Democratic admins
| tratiOn to embarass Mr.. Cleveland i'll
making removals. 1t il quite probable
| that the senator from Vermont will
prove this idea to he erroneous by
pressing the matter with as much earn
estness during this as under the former
administration. 1t has been claimed
| by some that the restriction of the
power of the President to make remov-
Int n
point has already been met with sound
reasoning and it will not hold. Some
very able republicans in congress are
in favor of so extending tire provisions
of the law, the administration and the
entire party are pledged to sustain it,
and the chances are that the men who
think they are the particular victors to
whom belong the spoils viii find them
selves in small minority if they at
tack the law in congress this winter.
One of the topics that will be dis
cussed at some length in the fOrthcom-
ing report of Secretary Proctor is that
of enlistments. The Secretary heartily
approves the efforts Of Adjutant Gen
eral Kelton to improve the standard OF
the men enlisted into the army, and he
has indorsed an increased estimate for
| this branch of the service submitted by
General Kelton. 1t is the intentien of
the officials, if the necessary sum Is ap-
propriated, to increase the detail OF re-
cruiting officers, sending them to
smaller cities and towns than those in
which they are at present located and
changing them from time to time NJ
seems to be best. In the cities also the
locations of the recruiting stations will
be changed to surroundings more at
| tractive and desirable.
The Secretary will, whether the ap-
preparation be increased or not, put
into practice next year a scheme from
the working of which he confidently
expects that the army will be greatly
benefited and mproved;. that is, to
send to the encampments ofthe nation
al guards of the several states Il recruit
| ing officer, as well as an inspecting of
ficer. The recruiting officer will be
authorized to enlist members of the
guard, and this class of recruits, the
Secretary believes, will be vastly su-
perior to the ordinary recruit. Being
familiar with the life of the soldier
from experience, no less than obserya-
ton of the detachment of regulars,
which Will be part of the encampment,
these recruits will enter the service
with a practical knowledge of its re-
quirements and duties, and they will
not be SO susceptible to the temptation
| to desert.
Among other important changes in
the method of transacting business of
the pension office, Commissioner Raum
has issued instructions to heads of di-
visions III the pension office directing
that all claims involving large sums of
money, after they have been prepared
for special adjudication, are not to be
passed upon. They are to be brought
to his desk and he proposes 10 give
them his personal consideration before
the pension certificate will he issued.
This change will not delay the final
adjudication, of the claim, as the Com
missioner intends to give the preference
to business of this character, and eN-
anime the cases as soon as brought be-
fore him. He does not intend to make
Il re-eXaminatiOn of the cases, but i'll
connection of the official familiar with
the cases he Will go over them 80 as to
know what they are and the principle
upon which they have been decided.
Gen. Raum is desirous of facilitating
the work OF the office as much as pos
siblc, and will endeaVor to inspire the
employees with the same spirit.
Postmaster General Wanamaker IA
vOrs the extension of the railway pest
office to the steamship lines. He has
had some correspondence with the
German director general of posts,
and the plan has been approved to
place in the steamers carrying mails
between the United States and German
ports postal clerks who VIII sort and
:. prepare the mail for delivery, thus
saving from twenty-four 10 thirty-six
hours. Authority must, however, be
obtained from congress before this plan
can be carried into efiect.-R.