Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-12-20

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~ NL al NN~ Or TeBuidtc uiohAoS
SW1.gIlA ais, even nominally,
=. rience has shown
eiHn, gE l5Ni ~ that they are practi-
yUfMYikW ffEtNMFca useless. In the
-z<GS recent case of Eu-
0xa- 1sGmrm- gene Gaddis, who
SMtMIUpI applied for an in
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partment by Secretary Carlisle for polit-
ical reasons, the court held that there
was nothing in the Civil Service rules
that required the head of an executive
department to give reasons for dispens-
ing with the services Of a clerk, and
therefore the law will permit cabinet
officer to dismiss as many clerks as he
pleases for any reason whatever. his
power of removal is absolute, and the
Civil Service Commission is not advised
of his action in this respect except where
appointments are made to the vacancies
thus created The commission has juris-
diction over appointments only.
1 have been endeavoring to ascertain
the actual number of persons removed
from the executive departments during
the present administration, but find 1t al
most impossible to obtain accurate inform
alton. During the fiscal year ending
June 30. 1894, according to the records
of the Civil Service Commission, there
were 1855 appointments in the execu-
tive departments of the Government. OF
these 2,2S1 were made to fill vacancies
l. l..
cancies caused by designations, but there
is nothing to show how many OF these
designations were voluntary and how
many were compulsory. The number of
vacancies caused by death was only 234.
These figures do not include the changes
in the government printing Office, where
it Is estimated $500 persons have been
discharged by Mr. Benedict since he sue
eeeded Mr.. Palmer as public printer last
spring. Nor does the total include 600
persons who have been dismissed from
the census office since Col. Wright took
charge in October, 1893. But their re-
moval was necessary and proper because
the work on which they were engaged
was completed, and they have understood
from the beginning that their employ
ment was only temporary. The census
requires about four years to prepare the
returns for publication. There are now
1856 persons in the census Office, and the
most of them will not be needed after
March 1.
On July / last, by act of Congress, the
offices of Commissioner Of Customs and
Second Comptroller Of the Treasury were
abolished, which threw out of employ
ment, permanently, 164 clerks, and made
on annual saving of 100000 in the pay
rolls Of the Government, but only about
ninety of the clerks have been actually
dismissed. The remainder are retained
to close up the affairs of the bureau un-
der a special appropriation of $4,000,
but their employment will continue only
few weeks longer. There were also
400 persons discharged from the War
Department under the act of Congress
reducing the force of the record and pen
sion division because their services were
no longer necessary, and this caused a
reduction of over $5OO,000 in the annual
pay roll of this department. The total
number of changes, therefore, since the
present administration came into power
has been 1894, of which $3.50 were re-
movals, and 1856 new appointments have
been made.
Report Is Missing.
There is a good deal of inquiry Mt the
Capitol for the annual report of the SER
geant-at-arms of the House, which, un-
der the law, is required to be submitted
Mt the beginning of every session. 1t
was laid on the Speakers desk the morn
ing Congress met, but was not presented
to the House, nor were any newspaper
correspondents allowed to see 1t. The
Speaker returned 1t to the sergeant-at-
arms for revision and il has not been re-
turned. No explanation has been given,
but il is understood that the portion of
| the report which refers to the deductions
made in the salaries of members for alb
sence is not satisfactory. Early last ses-
sion when the Democrats had such hard
work to keep a quorum in Washington.
the House got very virtuous and passed
resolution directing the sergeant-at-
arms, who is their paymaster, to enforce
| the law and to require from each member
n sworn certificate saying how many DAYS
he was present during the month, and
then to deduct his pay for the DAYS
he was absent. There was n great deal
, Of kicking at this, and the judiciary
Committee made n report that the law
was repealed several years ago when tho
section Of the statutes regulating the pay
Of members was revised, and IL Is under
stood that the order Of the House has not
been enforced. Those who voluntarily
informed the pay clerk that they were
absent have been docked, but those who
said nothing about 1t or drew ON the SER
Eeant-at-arms for their salary through
some bank did not suffer.
A Horrifying Discovery.
The swagger society in Washington has
Just received severe shock upon the dis
covery that certain wealthy widow,
who assumed and was supposed to be de-
scended from ancient and famous ances-
! try, is only the daughter of an honest, en-
| ergetic and successful Irish contractor in
the city of Philadelphia. who made n
large fortune digging sewers md cellars.
grading and paving streets, building rail-
roads and canals and making other use
! full public improvements. She has worn
n crest upon her carriage and her note
paper, and there has always been n diff
ference of opinion as to. whether she
came from the Hugucnot Protestants of
France or the old merchants Of Flanders,
because her name has n French appear
ance and foreign sound, but legal pro-
cecdings in which she Is involved have
disclosed the fact that her father and
mother were Irish, and she Is Irish too.
Her house is closed this winter, and Il IL
understood that she intends to spend