Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-27
THE CLERICAL FORCE
What Civil Service Commissioner Roose.
velt Says of It.
About Evenly Balanced as to Political Parties
Not in sympathy With Wholesale Re-
movals for Partisan Objects.

Mr.. Theodore Roosevelt Of the civil SER
vice commission is not in sympathy with
that class of democratic newspapers and
politicians who are emphatic in their de-
mand that wholesale disnissals from the
clerical force in the departments be made
in order to "even them up between the
two parties Mr.. Roosevelt In a conversa-
ton upon the subject today said that the
published statement that 80 per cent or
| any such proportion Of the clerical force In
the departments in Washington is repub-
lican is all nonsense.
There are in the departmental force, "
he said, 'about 5000 persons all told who
are subject to competitive examination.
OF these about 1000 now in office have been
put in through the examinations Of the
commission wholly without regard to
political considerations and are probably
about evenly divided between the two par
ties. The remaining 1900 represent those
still in office from among the 5000 who were
originally classified in 1883 by order Of
President Arthur and are mainly repub-
hcans. They also represent the 1000 who
by order Of President Cleveland. the great
bulk Of whom are democrats. Probably
about the same proportion OF these two
classes are now in office or. in other
words. of the 1900 persons now in the de-
partmental service about three-fourths are
republicans and one-fourth democrats.
The Figures Approximately.
The figures are approximately these: Re-
publicans, $3.50; democrats. 1,l50; appoint
ments through the civil service. 1000 In
addition to this 1t must be remembered
that there are about !. 400 excepted places.
such as chiefs of division, private secre-
taries and the like, and 1000 laborers and
others below the classified service, making
changed with each administration. 1t Ia
fair to assume that nearly all of these
places either are or soon Will De nlIed py
democrats. 1t is probably fact that in
the entire departmental service here In
Washington the parties are now substant-
ally balanced.
In the railway mail service there are
about 1900 places. Here also the parties are
on q practical equality. More than one
half Of the postal clerks have been ap-
pointed through civil service examina ton.
although the railway mail service did not
come under the civil service law unit, May
1. 1889. During the four years from and in
Guiding lss and 1889 something over we, 50 per per
clerks were turned out and their places
given to democrats. and on the change OF
the administration IN 1883 and prior TO- the
about two months-nearly one-haif of these
democrats, some districts more and in
ners By rspuecams ueSi dividins % the % force about
equally between the two parties.
Mr.. Roosevelt mentioned incidentally thai
at the time he protested as stronyiy as S nc
number Of democratic postal clerks. al
though the reason given was that they
were displaced in order to reinstate ex
perienced republican clerks who themselves
had been dismissed by the previous admin
istrauOn.
The Honest Way to Act.
Nothing but HARM" he said. 'can ever
come from turning out one-half the people
in office on the theory of equalizing the rep
resentation OF the parties. The only honest
way to act Is when an office Is classified tC
treat 1t as entirely removed from politics
The working of the civil service law itself
IL honestly enforced. will speedily bring
about q state of things where democrats
and republicans alike will be treated wholly
| without regard to their politics.
"In the classified postal and customs ser
vice. taken as whole. the great bulk of tht
people now In office have been appoint ted
| through civil service examinations. and
therefore q rule. without regard to po
litical consideration. although / regret ts
state there have been several offices among
them, most notably, perhaps, the baltimore
| post office. where the results have not beer
satisfactory. In the smaller. free-delivery
post offices which were classified at the be
ginning Of this year the great bulk Of thu
| a certain number of cases. where th'
| change in the postmasters in these office.
| occurred prior to the holding of the civi
| service examination. clean sweeps hav'
been held and the offices placed fully under
/ the civil service law and rules.
''In a very short time" continued Mr.
| Roosevelt, 1.-The natural working Of the civi
offices wholly non-partisan. The commits
| sion is rigidly enforcing the rules in thes
| new offices, and II gives me great pleasur,
| to say that 1t Is receiving the cordial sup
port Of Postmaster General Bissell. Firs
Assistant Postmaster General Jones an,
| the other assistants" :"