The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-10-09


commissioners will not give up the fight
over the deputy collectors of internal rev
enue, but In II few days will present to
the Secretary of the Treasury and the At
torney- General a statement of their views.
which will be in direct conflict with tbe
position assumed by Secretary Gage. re-
garding the, power of removal by collect.
ors of internal revenue, and also contro.
vert the opinion prepared by Assistant
Attorney general Boyd sustaining the
Secretary. Mr.. Boyd's opinion has not
yet been given out by the ATTORNEY Gen
eral as tho ruling of the department. of
justice upon the question involved in the
controversy, and it is thought possible n
reconsideration of the matter has been
deemed prudent aud that the opinion when
finally made public may be so,new hnt
modified.
AS the issue up to this time has been
between the Secretary of the Treasury
and the civil service commissioners, the
latter have not given expires sion tn any
views in regard to the opinion prepared
cy Assistant Attorney General Boyd but
are dealing directly with the general
proposition advanced by the Secretary of
the Treasury that collectors have both
the power to appoint and to remove dep.
uty collectors. The commissioners, it is
understood, are prepared to deny this
absolutely, and they think Secretary
Gage has been led into error by his fail.
IRE to give the subject sufficient ccnsid-
Grafton.
In the first place. it is held that not
withstanding the law of 1854 directing
the appointment of deputies nv the col
lectors, such appointments, unless author
lied by the Secretary, are not legal The
constitution gives the power of appoint
ing subordinate officials to the courts,
the President and the heads of depart.
ments. Congress cannot take away or
abridge this power, and any law passed
for that purpose is clearly unconsLitu.
tional. 1t therefore follows, it is claimed,
that either deputy collectors of internal
revenue are not officers of the United
States, or else they secure their authority
as such officers directly from the Secre-
tary OF the Treasury. The collector hi nj
SELF can give them no authority, except
as the power may have been delegated to
him by the Secretary, in whom the au-
thority is vested.
This being true, it cannot follow that
terms of deputy collectors expire with
that of the collector any more than that
the terms of clerks in tie Office of the
comptroller of the currency or in any
other bureau of the Treasury Department
the different bureaus
In the letter sent by Mr.. Gage to the
secretary of the civil service commissions
ers regarding the case of Collector Brady,
he declares that as the appointing power
Is vested absolutely in the collectors the
terms of all suhordinntes he may appoint
expire when he goes out of Office. This
the civil service commissioners are pre-
pared to show is AN untenabie PROPOSE
ton no matter what the Attorney Gen
eral may think or it. The truth is, they
will probably argue, the collector of in
terDal revenue has no power TO appoint
except AZ an agent acting for tie Score
tary of the Treasury, and the terms of
deputy collectors are, thel efore, as in
definite as those of clerks within the elias.
siiied service. AS consequence it will
probably be shown the Secretary either
makes the removals himself, which he
has n right to do, or the collector makes
them not t'y virtue of any authority he
himself possesses, but because of permits
sion given him rs agent of the Secretary
IT this view of the law is correct, and
it has been vouched for by some of the
leading lawyers of the country, Secretary
Gage Will not he able to hide behind the
supposittious authority given collectors
by the law of 1864, hut must himself
assume authority for the removals made
by all collectors OF internal revenue
throughout the country. If he does this
the civil service commissioners can have
nothing to say upon the subject, but the
issue will then be between the Secretary
and the President, whose order he will
have violated.
AS to the right of the President to
place deputy collectors within the CLASH
fled service there can be no que stion. He
had this right prior to the passage of the
civil service law, which merely furnished
the methods by which the classification
was to be made and the machinery for it's
own enforcement. But the power of the
President was neither extended nor
abridged by the last act of CONGRESS, nor
could it have been affected hy any act
which Congress might have passed.
therefore. the classification of clerks,
the formulation of regulations preventing
their removal and the establishment of n
system of competitive examinations to de-
termine the fitness of applicants for the
Office was voluntary curtailment OF his
prerogatives and authority sby the Presi.
dent himsel
The PRONUNCIATION of the civil service
rules was an executive act, and in issu-
ing his recent order President Mckinley
not only accepted what had been done by
his predecessor, but extended the rules
"pon his own responsibility. 1t, there
fore, becomes question whether or not
the order of the President Is to he en-.
forced or disregarded, and the authority
OF collectors of internal revenue does not
enter into the matter at all, the civil SER
vice com mi aionprS will nssarf