The times., 1899-05-06
THE JOB OFasSENATOR
SPOONER'S BROTHER
5n
His Expense Bill Held Up by
the Treasury.
A Handsome Amount of Carfare
From Home to Office.
An Interesting Example of How
Civil Service Rules Are Avoided
"A COreless Plum.

The Comptroller of the Treasury has
just sustained a ruling made by the hu-
ditor for the Interior Department disap-
, proving the accounts of Roger c. Spooner,
| Special Indian Agent in charge OF the In
dian warehouse at Chicago. Mr.. Spooner
is brother of Senator Spooner, of Wis
| consin.
The superintendency of the Indian ware
house becoming vacant by the removal of
the late Dewitt C. Cregier. a number of
applicants for the place were turned off
with the assurance that it was in the
classified service. When Senator Spooner,
however, entered the Office of the Secre-
tary of the Interior one day with message
from the President directing that some
thing be done for his brother, Secretary
Bliss promptly discovered a way of get
ting around the classification by appoint
ing Brother Roger a Special Indian Agent,
| and detailing him temporarily" to the
charge of the desired warehouse. Although
! this occurred about eleven months ago,
! Mr. Spooner is still temporarily in
charge.
Enquiry at the Office of the Civil Ser
vice Commission develops the fact that al
though the superintendency of the ware
house fell within the classified service, it
was still technically vacant, because there
was no list of eligibles from which to Sc
| lect the superintendent, and the lack of
! elgibles was due to. the fact that the
Commission had been unable to induce the
!, Secretary of the Interior to indicate what
! sort of an examination should be held for
7 that place. Secretary Bliss was unwilling
to do anything to take it out of the spoils
category.
The accounts which have been held up at
the Treasury cover Mr.. Spooners alleged
| travelling expenses from June, 1897. to De-
cember, 1S9S-said to reach a very hand
some sum. AS disbursing officer he paid
himself the money, and the question now
| is whether he shall be reimbursed. The
| superintendency of the Chicago warehouse
was understood, among the politicians
there TO be one of the perquisites of the
| Chicago branch OF the Republican party,
and they opened their eyes when they
learned that Mr.. Spooner's travelling con-
sisted of going between his home in Wis
consin and his Office in Illinois 1t is an as
tonishing claim. and the Auditor and the
Comptroller evidently did only their duty
| in rejecting it. lin.
1t would be quite as reasonable for
custom house clerk in New York City who
lived in New Jersey suburb to demand
that the Government should pay his car
fare back and forth. Here and there an
allowance has been made to officers of
the Government whose occupation was
such that they could not possibly live in
the same place where it was carried on;
it is recalled, for instance, that an Indian
agent whose duties were on reservation
where Congress had made no provision
for home for him., was Obliged, there
fore, to live on the edge of the reservation
and travel back and forth at considerable
expense. This, however, does not consti-
tute precedent for the Spooner case,
where there was no question of the neces-
sity, but only one Of preference, for liv-
ing anywhere except within easy reach of
his office.
President Mckinley having said that one
OF the things he is soon going to do it to
punish infractions and eyasions of the civ
il service rules, it will be OF interest 10
observe whether he begins work within
the senatorial family circle.