Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-29
Several Points Brought to the At
tention of the Public.
COMMISSIONER ROOSEVELT TALKS
Some Instances of Official Viola
tions of the Law.
REFORMS THAT ARE NEEDED

Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt is
an interesting man to interview. He SUBJ
mits to interlocution only when the subject
proposed is one with which he Is familiar.
Then he Is like a steam engine with over
pressure on. He walks up and down with
quick. nervous-one might almost say pug
nacious-strides; his eyes are bent on the
floor: his hands clasp and unclasp. and his
words come In volleys that he only stops
by tightly compressing his lips. He was In
the humor to say something about the civil
service commission yesterday when a rep
resentative Of The Star called on him. and
there was NJ necessity of suggesting line
Of thought to him by asking a question.
The reporters greeting opened the throttle
Of Mr.. Roosevelts energy. and he moved
ahead at once.
The COmmissiOn I'm Better shape.
There are one or two things which
wish to call attention to in connection with
civil service matters at present. he said.
I'm the fir st place. the commission, as re-
CARDS its efficiency and capacity for doing
the hest work for the public service, is on
far better footing than ever before. This
Is mainly due to Senator Lodge of Massa-
chusetts, who introduced and was mainly
instrumental in securing the passage of the
own force of clerks. Much Is also due to
Senator Cockrell. chairman of the subcom-
mittee who deserves the thanks of every
civil service reformer for the cordial way
in W hich he backed up the request. Hither-
to we have been dependent upon clerks de-
tailed to US from the several departments.
In consequence our list of details was never
full, and Of those We had some OF them
were poor, ami those who were good wished
to get back to their own offices, SO that
they might be in line for promotion. We
antee that within three months there will
be no force, either Of any bureau IN the
government service or Of Lny private per-
sons, more efficient than ours. We get our
clerks under the civil service law. and our
experience Is that thereby We get the very
best men to be found. Inis amendment do
ing this necessary act OF Justice to the
commission was put through by the Ser
ate after having been knocked out by the
House.
Tho.oughly Vicious Bill.
again I want TO call attention to the
passage Of the Bynum h,ll in the House."
continued Nj. Roosevelt. "1his IL a bill to
renstate the deaAocratic railway mall
clerks, who were turned cut prior to the
classification Of the railway mail service
in 1859. 1t is a thoroughly vicious partisan
measure. and l cannot but express my as
tonishment and regret that not one single
democrat in the House voted against II.
II II should become law 1t would be
precedent for the enactment Of similar
measures whenever q change Of admins
tration took place. 1t is introduced purely
in the interest of the spoilsmonger, and is
a thoroughly vicious bill In every way.
The Attorney Generals Decision.
Then there Is something else." he went
on rapidly. Il wish to call attention to the
recent decision of the Attorney General
which permits solicitation for political pur-
poses by letter in government buildings.
n this opinion holds the commission must
Immediately request the passage Of a law
to prohibit such solicitation The commits
sion has always insisted that solicitation
Tor political purposes was illegal, whether
done in person or by letter in a government
building. 1t was owing to this interpreta-
tfon that we were able to very nearly break
up the practice during the last presidential
campaign. and as the aftermath of that
campaign we have procured the conviction
OF two government officials, one a post
master In Chic and the other deputy in
ternal revenue officer Of Kentucky, but we
have never had q case tried in the courts
where the accusation was that the solici-
tation was by letter.
"Nine-tenths of the good done by the law
VIII vanish IL solicitation by letter Is al
lowed. and although the commission will,
OF course, do all 1t can to protect employees
II they are molested in any way for refus-
Ing to contribute, 1t is imperative that we
should be given power to prosecute any at
tempt at political assessment in a govern
ment building. either by letter or other
wise. The statute is SO broad, inasmuch as
1t prohibits any person from soliciting in
any manner whatsoever in a government
building. that We have taken 1t for granted
that 1t must mean by letter. and that. we
know, was the meaning Of the gentlemen,
both In Congress and out, who saw to the
passage Of the bill.
To Extend the Classified Service.
The commission sincerely hopes that
there will be a great extension of the clas-
sified service. and that the number of DO
sitions now excepted from examination will
be materially reduced. both in the DEPART
mcnts and in the post offices and custom
houses throughout the country. great
many places are excepted from examination
on the theory that they must be filled by
people having confidential relations to the
head OF the department, or that they re-
quire special qualifications not to be tested
by examination. This is the theory In
practice these excepted positions are filled
almost wholly on political grounds and are
filled as rule with men much inferior to
those whom We get through our competi-
tive examinations. They are places better
remunerated than others in the same Office
and by the filling of these in this way a
premium Is put on pernicious partisan ac-
tivfty, as against a faithful performance of
their work by clerks actually in the service
Moreover, the existence Of these places is a
constant temptation to officials to change
the titles OF them so as to make them ex-
cepted. Several striking illustrations of
this have occurred in the Treasury Depart
meEt.
How One Man Was Got Rid OF.
For instance" he continued, there
was man In the position Of superin-
tendent of a binding division; there is
no complaint that he did not I'LL the
position acceptably: he had been In 1t
for fifteen years. under several admin
istraticns: and for fifteen years previous
to that had been employed in the same
work at Albany by the New York state
government. also under many different ad-
ninistrations There could be no possible
reason for turning him out, save the desire
to fill his position for political reasons. As
superintendent he could not be turned out
that place being subject to competitive ex-
animation. Accordingly. the Treasury De-
partment abolished the position of super
intendeEt Of binding division at 81, 800 and
created the position Of chief of binding
division at 81 500. and Immediately turned
out the man who had SO faithfully done the
governments work for 30 long q time. His
immediate superior under the present ad-
ministration has testified to his entire ef-