Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-01
CIVIL SERVICE AT THE G.P.O.
The New Rule Will Become Effectiv,
August 8.
A Number of Dismfssnls Made Satur
day-AppOintments mt Present
Made Under Old Rules.

AS usually occurs at the end of the fiscal
year, there were a number of discharges
at the government printing Office Saturday.
The way in which these discharges were
made illustrates the business methods in
vogue in that bureau. The increased
amount of business put upon the Office by
the annual session of Congress necessarily
! brings into the force some employees who
for some reason or another have to be sus-
per ded, while others are from time to time
reported as In some respect delinquent.
The public printer makes a memorandum
Of each Of these cases, and preserves 1t
until the end Of the year, when. as the law
requires Of him, a certain number OF re-
auctions Iii the force must be made in Or
der to keep within the appropriations. and
the list of disinisSals Is made up from these
memoranda. The number of these dis
| missals has been overstated. The number
| 1t between twenty and thirty, and not sixty,
as reported.
Naturally, some gossip has ensued. mas
much as it is believed by many that the
printing office is already under the civil
service rules, and 1t cannot be clearly I'M
derstood why the dismissals are permissi-
bic.
When the New Rule Becomes Elective
AS a matter of fact the government
printing office will not be under the civil
first list of eAgibles will probably be made
up 1t is thought by some that the Office
should be considered under the rules from
the moment the President signed the Or
der, but precedent has made a different
construction of the matter. Under the
law, when the President has set a date
when there shall be list of eligibles from
which to certify applicants for positions in
the government printing office, he cannot
1escind his action But before this list of
eligfbles Shall be actually in existence, he
may extend tie time during which the
commission may place itself in readiness
to supply employees to the bureaus. This
was the case. as may be remembered, when
the railway mail service was placed under
the rules. President Cleveland signed the
order placing that branch OF the service
| under the rules, ~sand President Harrison
extended the time six months or more in
which the commission might arrange its
examinations and provide list of eligibles.
Waiting for n List.
Until such a list of eligibles is really in
existence. from which the public printer
| can select employees. the government print
| ing Office must be conducted precisely as il
| has always been hitherto conducted. In
| order to keep up with the public work help
will be necessary, and the public printer
will appoint employees as heretofore. Dis
charges will be made in a like manner
Should it happen that the civil service
commission should not have a list of elig-
il les sufficiently large to furnish the num-
Der of employees required at any time by
the government printing office it will then
be necessary to make appointments outside
OF the rules 1t is likely that persons ap-
pointed under such circumstances would
hold their places and be subject to the rules
precisely as if they had passed an exam.
nation for appointment.