Evening star., 1896-04-07
CLERKS SALARIES
An Item in the Post Office Appro-
priation Bill.
QUESTION OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
A Lively Tilt Between Senators
Villas and Allen.
IN THE HOUSE

In the Senate today Mr.. Teller presented
large number Of petitions from branches
of the American Federation Of Labor from
various states. asking for the restoration Of
the free coinage of silver, and expressing
the opinion that such course would pro-
mote prosperity.
The bill to pay to Edward Rice of Denver.
Col, s., 100 for United States coupon bonds
lost by him in 1ses, was passed.
To Limit the Veto Power.
Mr.. Butler IN. c. introduced joint reso-
luton providing for an amendment of the
Constitution to limit the veto power of the
President, SO as to make 1t competent for
the two houses to pass bills over veto by q
majority vote. Speaking to the resolution.
he said that the idea of requiring two
thirds vote was due to the fact that when
the Constitution was adopted the American
people were not far removed from English
ideas. In his opinion. the power vested In
the President was too great, and should be
limited.
up his Cuban resolution for discussion to-
morrow during the morning hour.
Postal Clerks' Salaries.
The post office appropriation bill was
then taken up. the pending question being
the compensation Of clerks at postal sta
tions and Substatio involving the matter
of the consolidation Of post Offices.
Mr.. Villas contended that the amendment
did not enlarge the powers OF the Post
master General The law was made to be
used reasonably and not to be abused.
He traced the history of legislation to show
that postmasters had throughout had the
power to establish substations. He denied
that he had said that the Postmaster Cen
eral had power to send man a thousand
miles to establish an office, as Mr.. Allen
had charged.
Mr.. Allen read from Mr.. Villas former
speech in support of his statement, but
Mr.. Villas declared the Nebraska Senator
had confounded two propositions and add
ed tartly, THE Senator from Nebraska
was, as usual, incorrect and cannot see
that he was.
Mr.. Villas ON Civil Service Reform.
Mr.. Villas said that to this authority Ct
the Postmaster General to establish offices.
which authority Mr. Allen had said was
despotic, we owe the excellence OF our
postal system, which is the best in the
world He hoped 1t would not be curtan-
ed. He expressed the opinion that the
amendment would have been agreed to
without debate but for the opposition of
Mr.. German. who had. he said, raised the
question of civil service reform, who had
''uncorked the bottle and let out the gehius
of opposition to civil service REFORM
Asked by Mr. Allen if any good had
been accomplished by civil service reform
Mr.. Villas replied that 1t had operated i'm
1885, 80 and '93 to relieve the public Of
fees from part, at least. of the clamor
or Oif1ce-SeekerS. 1t mad given relief to
Senators and Representatives and to the
holders of the executive offices. He con-
sidered the system an excellent one. and
said that only the initiatory benefits had
been received.
Mr.. Allen Wants Cold Facts.
Mr.. Allen characterized Mr.. Villas re-
marks on civil service reform as Fourth
of-July effort. He (Allen) wanted him to
point out the cold facts and give particu-
lars In which the country had been bene-
fitted. The Senator from Wisconsin had
not done this, and he did not believe he
could do it.
If. said Mr.. Allen. the principles an
nounced by Mr.. Villas should prevail 80 per
cent of the people of the country would
be disfranchised. He wanted active serv-
ice. that would permit all the citizens Of
the country TO participate in 1t, rather
than system which would centralize the
power in the hands of a few. He declared
that the civil service commission was a
close corporation, and said their questions
were a secret Indeed, he asserted, 1t was
difficult, and sometimes impossible, for men,
bers Of Congress to secure Information
! from any of the executive departments
THE HOUSE.