Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-22
G0SSIPFR0M GOTHAM
New York viii Present No Democratic
Presidential Candidate.
DECISION REACHED At LONG BRANCH
Stringent Civil Service Rules for the
Municipal Service.
GOOD NEWS FOR WHEELMEN
Special Correspondence If The Evening Star.

| GOOD NEWS FOR WHEELM EN-
| Special Correspondence IF The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, July p. 1899.
Before the departure of the New York
| members of the national democratic COM
| n2ittee for Chicago there was an import
| ant conference held at Long Branch. AS
| result of this conference and as one of
| the results of the recent stampeding of I'M
| ruly Tammany for Bryan by former Gov
| ernor Hogg of Texas, which prevented the
| proper launching of the Van Wyck boom,
| it has been decided that New York state
| will go to the national democratic conven-
! ton without candidate of its own. AT the
end of the conference it was learned that
| If the name of Justice Augustus Van Wyck
| is presented to the convention, New York
| state will not present it, Some delegate
| from southern state may do so. Promi-
| nent democratic politicians see in the con-
| ference the first direct result of the STAN
peding of Tammany by former Governor
| Hogg of Texas on July 4. The democrats,
| despairing of obtaining a united delegation
| for Van Wyck as against Bryan next year,
| have been forced to take the middle of the
| road and keep there. They say that Mr..
| Croker announced before his departure for
| Europe that Justice Van Wyck's name
| would be placed in nomination by a south.
ern man, but this was before the plans of
| Croker to float the Van Wyck boom mis-
| carried.
| Frank CampbeIrs Attitude.
| 1t is further announced that Frank Camp
! bell, who is follower and confidant of ex-
| Senator Hill, will join the eastern-southern
| combine, the bulwark of which is Tam
| many, in trying to knock out the Bryan in
| fuence. Mr.. Bryan's friends control the
| committee, and will probably resist with
success the effort of the eastern-southern
combine to abrogate the two-thirds rule for
nominating candidates and adopting plat
form at the national convention. Mr.. Camp
| bell, acting according to the desires of Mr..
| Hill and the other New York leaders. will
| join ex-senator German and the straight
| out democratic representatives of eastern
and southern states in urging the Substitu-
ton Of the majority I ule used by the repUb
| lican party. The big fight of the committee
| will be over this rule, because it is the key
! note to the whole contest over Mr. Bryan
and 16 to 1 silver In almost every county
| of New York state, however. the rabid sill
yer men, who follow Mr.. Bryan solely be-
cause of his adherence to the issues of '96,
are organizing. and will dispute the repre-
sensations of the member of the national
committee from this state. The silver
democrats Of New York city will send
committee to Chicago to protest against
| the recognition of delegates elected by any
faction that repudiates or ignores the SO
/
Albany, Troy, Syracuse, Rochester, and
other cities of the state will also he heard
from The feeling among the followers of
this faction is very strongly in favor of
Mr.. Bryan, and they will demand recogni-
ton on the ground of regularity.
Stringent Civil Service Law.
In the hands of the municipal civil serv
ice commission have been delivered the new
rules for the government of New York city.
These are the rules. based on the new
White civil service law, which went into eff
feet in April last. They were decided upon
at a conference between the state and local
commissions and then were submitted to
Mayor Van Wyck for his approval The
mayor serlt them back with his disapprovaI.
Now the state commission without further
conference. the law provides has settled
upon the rules again. and finally. and they
are now the civil service law of this city.
Without doubt they are the stiffest civil
service regulations ever promulgated here.
and II is not too much to predict that they
sure to prove a most fruitful source of
annoyance to the present municipal admin
istration. Hundreds of places now in eX-
empt non-competitiye classes are by the
new rules put into the competitive class.
The most notable decision. perhaps, is that
putting the chief of the fire department in
the competitive list 1t is probable, there
fore that Chief Croker, although he has
been duly appointed, will have to stand
examination with the other deputies who
may care to try to beat him out for the
place The private secretaries OF all the
borough presidents are put in the competi-
tive class, the chief engineer of the dock
department, and the secretary of the de-
partment, as we'll as the dock superintend-
ent, and scores of other officials hitherto ex-
empt, will have to take competitive exam
nations. The most important change Is
the practical wiping out of the non-com-
petitive examination schedule and the trans
fer of fully four-ffths of the positions
which were classified therein. of which
there were several hundred. to the COM
petitive examination schedule. The re-
naming one-ffth are placed in the exempt
from-examinaton schedule.
CarvnlhO May BE Called to France.
A New York man may be called to France
to give important testimony in the Dreyfus
case. He is David N. Carvalho the noted
handwriting expert, whose opinion on the
famous "bordereau" has already been ask
ed. Mr.. Carvalho was the first expert out
side of France to be called into the case,
and for more than two years he has been
interested in various phases of it. He
says: MY position today is practically
Identical with that of the French govern
ment. That is, believe that neither Drey-
fus nor Esterhazy wrote the bordereau. On
that account l could consistently be sum-
moned by the government to give evidence
in the case, and l should not be surprised
to receive such summons after the pre-
lminary court-n.artial is over. My idea is
that there will first be short sitting of
the court, at which Dreyfus will be liber-
ated. Then 1t is probable that he will de-
mand a thorough investigation, and this is
where my testimony is available
MIR. Parsons Satisfactory Trip Here.
William Barclay Parsons. consulting en-
gineer of the Calvin S. Brice syndicate has
returned to the city from Washington,
where he went to confer with Col. Hay
Secretary of State, upon the diplomatic rat
ifications of the big Chinese railroad
scheme. Mr.. Parsons says that his inter
view with Secretary Hay was in the highest
degree satisfactory; that it was short and
to the point, which was that the conces-
sionary syndicate desired the moral sup
port of the State Department and the
United States minister ct Pekin in arrang-
ing with Chinese officialdom the working
plans of construction of its intended rail-
road. That was all there to the prop
osition, and to this Secretary Hay gave his
hearty consent. He would, he said, COM
municate specially with Minister Conger on
the matter at an early date. There was no
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