Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-21
A BLOW TO HEELERS
In the Form of a Bill That Is to Be
Presented To-Day in Congress.
POLITICAL INFLUENCE EXCLUDED
In the Employment of the Laborers in
Uncle Sans Service.
THE SILVER STRUGGLE NOW AT HAND


, Andrew, of Boston, has completed the re-
port upon his bill ''to exclude political in
fuence in the employment of laborers un-
der authority of the United States" and
will submit it to the House tomorrow. The
bill, according to the reports he has re-
ceive6, will affect some 81, 900 employees,
and will require that henceforth they shall
be appointed and employed without regard
TO political consideration. The report cor
reefs misapprehension which, it is said, is
held by some armv and navy officials, that
the system contemplated by the bill will re-
quire certifcations through the Civil Ser
vice Commission The only purpose of the
legislation, Mr. Andrews points out. is to
compel the appointment of properl quali-
fed men in the order of their application,
and this purpose can only be carried out by
the officers authorized to give the employ
ment, without any cumbersome machinery.
Mr.. Andrew gives table, compiled from
recent statistics, showing that the official
force of the Government in the Executive
Departments is 173, go, and that of this
number only 80, 726 are actually subject to
competitive examination. The report con-
tinues:
Provisions of Mr.. Andrews Bill.
The bill reported proposes wide exten-
sion of the non-partisan system, by much
simpler method and at much less cost than
the examinations which have already been
made 1t is not proposed to require COM
petitive examinations of laborers, nor SUBJ
feet them to any scholastic tests. The franz
ing of the rules by which they are to be ap-
pointed or employed is at the wise discre-
tion of the Civil Service Commission, but it
is intended that these rules shall simply pro-
vide for proper evidence OF the physical
fitness and good character OF applicants. All
that is to be required beyond this is the reg
1stration of applicants in the order of their
applications, and this will require, under
proper system of rules no more labor on the
part Of officers in charge of public works
and in the various departments than is now
required to file applications or to make out
lists OF employees.
The labor imposed upon appointing Off
GERS ought to be even less than at present,
when the new system comes to be thor
oughly understood, because such officers
will be relieved from the pressure of out
side parties, and will have nothing to do
but make appointments in the order of ap-
plications 1t is left by the bill within the
discretion of the Civil Service Commission,
with the approval of the President, to pro-
vide tests for technical skill where it is re-
Quired, but these tests NAV be as simple
and as practicable as they would be under
any conscientious and intelligent appoint
ing officer. The commission is also author
lied TO permit employment without any
system of registration, and at the discretion
OF the employing officers where the ext
gencies of the service seem to acquire it.
The System Simple and Practicable
The simplicity of this system makes it
practicable to extend it to much larger
number of men, at small expense, than the
system of competitive examination could
readily be extended to.
The statement showing the number which
will probably be affected by the proposed
bill gives 1868 in the Treasury Department,
10. 127 in the War Department, 6, 12S in the
Navy Department, and total, including
the other departments, of q, 188
Mr.. Andrew states that the method pro-
posed of excluding political influence from
the employment of laborers is not an untried
experiment, and he quotes the system in
augurated by Secretary Tracy, in the navy
Yards, and in force in the cities
of Massachusetts, for the past seven
There are obvious advantages, Mr.. Andrew
argues, in establishing by the law under the
protection of the Civil Service Commission |
and applicable to all the departments, a |
system of non-partisan appointments which |
has already proved so efficient in improving |
the service in the municipal work of the |
cities of Massachusetts and the navy yards /
OF the United States. The system should |
he established by law to protect officials |
themselves from importantly to overturn !
or evade it. 1t should be established under |
the protection of the Civil Service Commits |
sion, in order that the commission may |
apply the same general system Of rules to
laborers under different departments, and, |
where the conditions are the same, make as |
nearly uniform as may be practicable the
manner of applications and the terms of |
employment
Blow at the Political Beeler.
Mr.. Andrews declares, in conclusion, that
the bill proposes to take away from un- !
scrupulous politicians the opportunity to
divert public funds TO personal and party /
uses by employing public servants as per-
sonal and party tools 1t proposes to re-
lieve the people, when they 60 to the polls |
to express their judgment upon public |,
questions from the interference of thou
sands of employees paid for by taxes upon
all the people, but employed and directed
as the tools of a faction or party. 1t pro-
poses TO thus increase the efficiency of the /
public service, raise the standard of Ameri-
can politics and place all the workingmen
ot the United States upon an equality in
seeking the public service by the simplest
methods and al profit to the Government
resulting from better service and better
work, rather than at the cost of needless
and new expenditures.