The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-01-06


Mr.. Allen of Nebraska charged thai
the law was openly and daily VIOLATED
and said it was a hiss and by-worc
among the people.
Mr.. Cockrell Of Missouri declared thai
it was presumptuous in Secretary Sher
man to make recommendation to Con
gress that contain positions in his depart
ment should be ex cepted from the classi
fed service when the President had full
.iauthority to make the exceptions he
I Recommended. He thought an effort was
being matfa to tie the Presidents hands.
Mr.. Davis, chairman of tho COMMITTEES
on foreign relations, gave notice that he
would next Monday and daily thereafter
tive session the Hawaiian, annexatloL
treaty until it WAS disposed otl,snaliy
An unusually large number of Senato1e
occupied their seats today at the opening
| session.
| Mr.. Allen OF Nebraska called up the i'm
migration bill and spoke briefly upon it.
| He urged that the bill ought to provide
| for a consular inspection of immigrants.
He objected to the application of the
| educational test to all immigrants. He
knew, he said, many excellent citizens
who were not able to read or write. He
was of the opinion that all persons of the
| Caucasian race who were able and will
1 ing to give to this country the benefit of
their labor and industry, so much needed
in the development Of the millions Of
acres of unoccupied lands in the United
States, should be admitted.
| Mr. Garter, chairman of the commit
| tee on census, then called up the bill pro-
!
| for the taking of the twelfth and subso-
quent censuses and offered a committee
amendment to section three, providing
that the President instead of the Secretary
of the Interior, should approve OF the ex-
animation the director may prescribe for
his subordinates named by the bill
| Mr.. Cockrell sharply attacked the
amendment. He said that the offering OF
| such an amendment and the considera-
tion of the section as it had been changed
| by the committee proved that the Repub-
| lican party was making square and un-
| conditional surrender upon the civil ser
vice question. He declared that the party
| itself was backing down upon that ques-
tion which had been endorsed in its
national and many of its state platforms.
| The President, he said, had ample au-
thority to modify and reform the civil
service if he would, but instead he was
following along the line of his immedi-
| ate predecessor and extending the law
and it's provisions to cover positions that
had not by the original advocates of the
law been intended to include within the
law.
Mr.. Hale of Maine thought that the
Senator from Missouri (CockrelD did not
properly understand the position of the
committee. The committee thought the
position of the Republican party upon the
civil service question. 1t provided for
he appointment of director of tie CEN
sus and thirty one subordinates and he
thought that those positions ought to be
filled as provided for in the bill.
Mr. Jones, Democrat of Arkansas, said
that in the taking of the censuses OF
1870, 1889 and 1890, he was satisfied that
frauds, perhaps unintentional SO far as
the responsible census officials were con.
cerned had crept in. Those frauds were
due to incompetent and dishonest men
who had been employed in the work.
Mr. Hale pointed out that it was mani
festly impossible to select the census emu
merators through the provisions OF the
civil service law AS they were employed
only a month or less they would have TO
be selected subs s-antially rs they had here
tofore been.
Mr. Jones said that all he was contend
ing TOT was Gn6U Gne CELSIUS snOu1u po
taken by honest and competent men
selected because they were capable OF do
ing the work assigned TO them, and not
because they had any political influence
He then gave notice that after the pend
ing committee amendment had been dis
posed of her would offer one providing
that the assistant director of the census
should not be of the same political party
as the director.
In a brief discussion of the work OF the
census bureau in the past Mr.. Allen
bluntly asked those in charge of the Dill
if it were fact that disposition mad
been manifested to spin out the work
simply that some people might draw
salaries.
In reply Mr.. Hale said that the eleventh
census end perhaps previous censuses had
been go extensive in scope that the bureau
was fairly buried beneath mass Of 1nfor-
nation upon many subjects that could
not be intelligently handled ty the force
under the census director This work was
not only expensive, but really prolonged
the necessary details of the census. Mr..
Hale expressed himself as in favor OF Ine
| taking of a real census and nothing eise.
Topics of an irrelevant character ough1 Io
be entirely eliminated SO that the result
could be submitted within a year ana a
half
Mr.. Teller, of Colorado, spoke at some
length in support of the idea that the
census bureau should not be partlsaln
bureau and that its employees should
therefore be placed in the classified ser
vice.
Mr.. Allison of Iowa. in requesting bnat
the bill with proposed amendments pe
printed, said he would vote against bne
establishment of permanent CENSUS
bureau to be independent in itself.