Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-19
Department Clerks Helping the Dem
ocratic Committee.
MANY At HEADQUARTERS At NIGHT
Questions Raised Concerning 1t
Answered by Various Officials.
NOT A CIVIL SERVICE NATTER

ment employees going to the headquarters
Of the committee during the evening and
giving their services in serdng out CAM
| paign literature free of charge.
Last evening the first floor of Wormley's
Hotel was brilliantly lighted, and there was
plainly visible to all passers-by about
| seventy men hard at work putting docu-
ments in envelopes, addressing them and
placing them in mail bags ready to be
shipped to all parts of the country AS has
been told in The Star, tn force Of volunteer
workers was the result of lack of funds
on the part of the congressional committee
which was sorely hamper.ng the committee
Until volunteers came forward and offered
to give their time without money and with
cut price. These volunteers We're ardent
free silver men. After the idea Of voiun-
teering their services had once taken hold
of the clerks there was no lack Of men who
wanted to work in the cause of silver and
the democracy. Last evening all the avail
able space OF the committee was occupied,
and until more rooms are secured by !he
committee no more volunteers can be ac-
commodated. AS it was the force at work
last evening filled and addressed 5000 en-
velopes and packed them ready to be taken
to the Post Office Department, beside dos rg
any other work for which they were called
upon.
A good many people walked by the head
quarters OF the democratic congressional
committee and saw the band of men hard
al work, and the result was that this
morning the question is being widely asked
whether government employees have a right
under the civil service law and the rulings
OF the departments to devote their leisure
time after the close of the departments IN
doing work for a political party without
pay. Lots Of people want to know whether
that action constitutes offensive partisan
ship.
senator Fnulkner's Views.
-
ner, chairman of the congressional COM
mittee, this morning, ana asked him how
he regarded the action of the clerks.
They have a perfect right to come here
and work in getting out campaign litera-
tire, if they want to do SO. and we propose
to protect them in maintaining their rights
II 1t becomes necessary. A clerk can do
what he pleases after Office hours. He is
the master of his own time, and there is
no Improperly m having them al work
here"
Nv hat proportion of the volunteers who
work for the committee during the even
ing ere In the employ of the government"
Mr.. aulkneI was asked.
well, l should suppose large majority
OF them are so employed The people have
charge of this campaign, and these men
come here simply because they want to ad-
vance the principles in which they have
faith. Their services free of charge allows
us 10 expend our money in having printing
done. ana naturally we are enabled to get
OUT much larger amount of literature
than would otherwise be the case There
can be nothing in either the civil service
law or in any department ruling that could
r-shtfully be construed against clerk do
Ing inc work the clerks are doing here"
What Officials Say.
A Star reporter talked to a number of
government officials and found that their
views were in accordance with those ex-
pressed by Senator Faulkner. One acting
head Of department, who did not wish to
be quoted, said:
Clerks IN my department have come to
me wanting to know whether there would
be any H. propriety committed if they
should work at night at the headquarters
of the democratic congre ssional committee
l told them l did not wish to decide that
question. but that my personal view was
that they had right to occupy them
selves as they saw fit, provided they did
the work for which the government paid
them. At the same time, 1 said that in
view CT the fact that the administration
changes every four years, 1 thought it
would be to their advantage to tend strict
ly to their own business and not mix in
politics In any way. They might make
enemies, and through them might get in
trouble"
Not n Civil Service Matter.
Chief Clerk Doyle of the civil service
commission did not consider that the uues-
ton involved in the clerks action in work.
ing for the congressional committee was
one that the civil service commission had
anything to do with. He did not wish to
express any opinion about 1t beyond say
Ing 1t was matter that related entirely
to the government of the departments
Judge Thomas. assistant attorney general
for the Post Office Department, said he
had never been called upon to decide such
case, but his own view was that the gov
eminent was not Interested in the way a
called upon to decide whether clerk
might take position during the time the
government allowed him for his annual
vacation, and he decided that he had a
right to DO SO. If clerk should work all
night and unfit himself for his duties dur
Ing the day, then that would be a cause
for the departm to act on, but the ac-
ton would be based on the inability of the
clerk to perform his duties, and not on the
fact that he had worked al night.
Mr.. Preston, director of the mint said he
did not see that the government had any
thing to do with the way employees might
see fit to occupy themselves during the
evening.
Il know there are a good many silver
men in this department." said Mr. Preston
Some of them are rampant, too. I do not
Know Of any one In this department who is
working at either of the political head
quarters, and II did know that some in
my bureau were SO engaged / would not
consider 1T q matter with which had any
thing to do"
The Cabinet Officers.
Representative McMillin of Tennessee
secuted the idea that the clerks could be
interfered with in their work at the head
quarters of the congressional committee
He suggested that 1t would be the height
of inconsistency for any head of a depart
ment to entertain such an idea in view of
the part cabinet officers take in political
matters.
The work Of the volunteers at the head
quarters OF the democratic congressional
committee, it is estimated, is saving the
committee about $l25 per day, and if this
volunteer force is enlarged, as it is Thought
1t VII! be later on, the saving will amour,
to fully $500 per day. In fact it is said the
committee is SO short of funds that it
could not carry on its work on a large
schle If it were not for the assistance of
the volunteers.
Combining i'm Idaho.
The Idaho democratic and populist con-
yCntions met Yesterday afternoon aeoo.,,