Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-27


names of the offenders to the proper prose-
cutting officers.
WASHINGTON, January 26.-Civil Ser
vice Commissioner Roosevelt has submitted
to the full commission a report of his recent
investigation into the alleged violations OF
the civil service law in the New York
Custom House Just prior to the last Presi-
dental election. Upon the subject OF the
collection of political assessments during
that campaign, Mr.. Roosevelt says:
The law prohibiting political assessments OF
any kind OF the collection thereof in any man
ner or under any disguise, is sweeping ana
thorough in its provisions Up to lSSZ these
collections were made perfectly openly, the
employees being publicly notlhed now mgcn
they were to pay, when it was to be PAID, and at
what place.
A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER,
The present law has put complete stop to
this open spoliat1on of poor clerks and has
made it comparatively difficult to mulct them
even secretly In an honestly administered
Office there is now no danger of this particular
ly mean and cowardly wrong being committedi
and even where the head of the office is lndlt-
feTent the bOlder employees, who are not easily
bullied, can safely defy attempts 10 make them
many weak or timId people whom 1t is easy TO
coerce and where the head of the office dellb-
eratelv seeks to get round the law 1t is always
possible for him to bring such pressure TO pear
on his subordinates as to force them to con-
tribute though he himself does not an overtly
illegal act.
1t is comforting to add, however, that in this
effort to keep just within the law. while never
theiess evading it, all save the very most adroit
wrong-doers are apt to make some slip and put
themselves where they can be punished, al
though it is a matter of great regret that the
sharp originator and instigator of the misdeeds
should so often escape while his clumsler tool
is caught. 1t is worth while saying at the outset
that experience IN a number of investigations
of this sort has convinced me that the talk
often heard about the injustice OF not allowing
clerks to make voluntary contributions"
which the law in nowise prevents, is all nom
sense.
A SPECIoUS CRY.
Government employees do not, as q rule, con-
tribute simply from desire to help the political
cause in which they believe. The so-called |
voluntary contributions" are nine times out |
OF ten made from some personal motives that |
is either in the hope of being retained in office,
OF else with the object Of gaining some advan- |
tage over the other clerks. In other words, the |
employees are coerced into making them fear |
their positions will be jeopardized if they fail |
to DO so.
1t is probably safe to say that 90 per cent of |
minor Governmental employees represents SO |
much blackmsil. This particular species of |
robbery is mean enough at best, and one of its |
meanest features is that the men most sus- l
cepuble to pressure, are those Of opposite |
political faith to 5he dominant party.
Those who agree in politics with the party in
control feel some assurance of protection if
they refuse to be coerced in parting with their
money, but the unfOrtunates of opposite polit-
ical faith feel they have no power behind the
throne on which to rely, are nervouSly afraid of
1n1 clrrK
ened.
A CRUEL INJUSTICE,
The amount paid is not absolutely very great
in any individual case; but to a poor clerk Just
able to get along, the loss Of 8 per cent of his
salary may mean just the difference between
having and not having winter overcoat for
himself a warm dress for his wife, or a Christ
mas tree for his children. Such forced pay
ment Is piece Of cruel injustice and iniquity.
Another fact to be remembered is that very
much of the money so collected is never turned
into the party campaign chests at all, being
kept for their own private uses by the jackals
who have collected it. If the head of the Of
flee is determ1ced to have his subordinates con-
tribute, the latter soon know it. and the fact
that they must pay becomes common talk
among them.
In some offices the system Of making poI1ti-
cal assessments has obtained steadily for so
many years that many of the clerks have come |
to regard it as part of the established order of
4
belling, but. whatever their own politics, regu-
larly pay their con Iributions into the campaign |
chest of the dominant party. As one of them
expressed it, ''they feel that the desk, not the
man at it, owes just 50 much to the party in |
power"
PECULIAR INSTANCE. ,
Many politicians take this view as a matter :
1f course. One of the witnesses in the present ,
,ase, a strong Republican, who was holding Of !
ioa rndar rha Ia administration fasti6au
he was advised to contribute to the Democratic ,
,ampaign by one of his friends, a New York
Republican District leader, as being the only
hing to do il he wished TO keep his place. !
In investigating the alleged violations of the
aw against making political assessments l :
rave made a more or less complete eXamna- =
ion into the conduct in this respect of the Off
,es of the Collector Surveyor and Naval Off
lental election of 1855 1t is most instructive | t
o note the differences in the way the law is OBJ
erved in the three offices named.
In the naval Office, under Mr.. Burt my inVes-
igation goes to show that the law was observed
both in letter and spirit As far as
can find out, there were no collections made
or political purposes in any shape or form, I
nd nothing like political coercion was toler-
ted. Each emplOye was left entirely free to
ontribuUe to whichever political party he de-
lred, or not to contribute at all if be did not Y
Tlsh to. In other words the subordinates were
reated as American citizens ought to be. Q
hey were required to do their full duty to the Il
government, and this DONE we're LETT free to /
1ercise their own judgment In political mat ~
ers. a
SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. Ii
In the Collectors office, under Mr.. Magone. =
here was apparently widespread, but not uni y
ersal and by no means always successful r
fort to evade the law by persuading or fore =
lg the Republican clerks to contribute. Some =
st of these Republican clerks must have been "
ept because they were especially singled ont te
Or more or less indirect solicitation either lC
ersonally or by circular, and there is the testi o
lony OF one witness that this solicitation was Z
ndertaken by the express command of MT
Iagones private secretary tthere being moth
lg to show, however, that Mr.. Maeone was
ware of his secretary's action)
On the other hand there was certainI, No |
,Tive coercion of these same clerks forsso A
after Of fact very many of them refused to | =
,ntribute and nevertheless were not molested e
! account of their conduct Moreover The | +.
fort to make them contribute was aivavs | nf
ade indirectly, and usually so guardedIv tb3+ | n
is difficult to say if the law was actually 9,
In the Surveyors Office, under Mr.. Beatt,e D
e contributions, as far as is shown by the |
stimony Of the witnesses examined, were uni
The Democrats generally gave their rnonsr
their own accord; but all the Republican, | +b
erlzs were practically forced against their -
i'll TO pay what was in reality political assess
ents for the benefit Of the party to which they 70
ere opposed. or
SYSTEMATIC SCHEME. be
This was accomplished by q very ingenious al
Id widespread system Of veiled threats and
vert intimidation, SO well carried out thar it
IS completely successful, the extent of sue
SIS being shown by the fact that all even the es
ost unwilling of the clerks whom examined, 70
ere in the end forced to pay. Every method at
Is resorted to to extort the contributions | ag
lile at the same time avoiding the actual de- 70
aud of money -
For instance, some of the witnesses were "a
reed to contribute by being made very un-
mfortable in their work until they did 50.
icy were originally at work at stations near
eir homes aud were suddenly shifted to 9TH