New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-17
PUTTING BACK THE STARCH
GOVERNOR ROOSEvELT'S BILL TO RE-
STORE THE STATE CIVIL SERVICE.


STORE THE STATE CIVIL SERVICE.
vr AND SPEAKER NIXON LABOR WITH REPUB-
,JcAN OPPONENTS OF IT-THoUGHT LIKELY
TO pAss-pRovIsIoNs OF THE BILL
Albany. April 16 Especially Governor Roose-
calf ia anxiously awaiting the vote in the As
..r,blv on the bill framed by himself and Sena-
Gov white. which has already passed the Sen
80. repealing Governor Blacks "starchess''
civil Service Reform act. and making far
.,,,cter and more in accordance with the Con-
.,,u,ion the regulations for the examination Of
.,o.e who desire to enter the Civil Service of
.,a State or Of any of its cities. His anxiety is
sue chiefly TO the apparent hostility TO the
measure OF a large number of Republican AS
..mhymen which first revealed by their
,.maining away from the caucus the bill on
ruesdav night Since then he and Speaker
NIXON have been hard at work trying to per-
suade the opponents OF the measure to look
rnon II in a more favorable light. and hope is
,ou, entertained by the Speaker that he has OBJ
,.ined enough votes for the bill to pass 1t.
Governor Roosevelt has the keenest personal
,r,erest in this bill Of any before the Legisat-
vre and naturally so when one considers that
no became an expert on Civil Service examina-
commissioner Of the United States. But be-
,,ord this he has a personal desire that the bill
,o,,ld ness in order that the Civil Service of
enc State and all its cities may be put on a
,,eber nlane The Governor is under no delu-
s,on as 10 the extent of his power to improve
,,e nolitical atmosphere of New-York State, but
he does think he can purify politics TO limited
Ax,ent AZ least. and improve the class of officials
!, the service Of the State by passing an hon.
.stly framed Civil Service Reform act
THE GOVERNORS OBJECT.
ue will be greatly gratifed if he succeed
T., substituting men Of more ability the heads
~ State Offices and better trained under-clerks
o,d other employees 1t therefore was with
great resentment and indignation that he heard
nm Wednesday last that a number of fhe Re
,nbljcan Assemblymen were opposing Senator
WHITES bill. Nevertheless. his feeling of wrath
,ver the matter did not lead him into any coer-
c,ve measures beyond sending for some of the
Brooklyn Republican leaders who were oppos-
ing the bill and telling them that he thought
their action was harmful TO the interests OF the
Republican party.
One OF these leaders told the Governor that II
the bill was passed four thousand ward work
ers Of the Republican party in the city or New
York would be alenated. The Governor in re-
was not passed fifty thousand votes would be
lost to the Republican party in the entire state
and he for one would prefer to lose four thou
sand votes rather than fifty thousand.
CONCULATORY TACTICS ADOPTED.
But the Governor also adopted concihatory
tactics At the caucus a committee was ap-
pointed 10 wait upon him and learn If he would
not accent amendments to the act giving the
tafa
the Civil War clause was also put in to
give privileges to veterans Of the Spanish
American War The Governor at once made
this concession. This was the second one Of
importance he had made. The first was an
amendment which exempted persons seeking
places as principals Of schools from the Civil
Service examination system This was feat
ure In the bill when it passed the Senate which
met with great resistance and Governor Rcose-
welt and Senator White promised that II should
be eliminated in the Assembly. Under this
pledgc the Republican Senators voted for the
bill The bill therefore amended In the
Assembly IN this respect, agreeable to re-
quest OF the Governor as soon as 1t arrived
there.
The Governor did not think this amendment
Objectionable since teachers are compelled TO
pass an examination which tests their capabtl-
erdeavored in every possible way to make the
pathway Of the bill In the Assembly smooth
one.
THE REPUBLICAN ABSENTEES.
The Republican absentees from the Assembly
caucus last week Charles T. Adler, Of
New York: Benjamin A. Babcock, Of Brasher
Fails, 81. Lawrence County: Lewis Bedell. Of
Goshen Orange County; Orlando Beede, Of
Beede's Essex County: Benjamin o. Brewster.
Of Troy: Morgan Bryan. OF Adams. Jefferson
County; Frank Buckley. of No n East Ninety
second-st. New-York: Edward J. Cross, Of
Pulteney. Steuben County; John T. Delaney. Of
Syracuse Dennis W. Evarts Of Manning. Or
leans County: Charles II. Hitchcock. Of Glens
Falls, Warren County: John E. Mason. of
Rome. Oneida County: Charles P. Paris Sandy
Hill. Washington County; John K Patton. Of
Tonawanda, Erie County; Charles o. Roberts,
Of Philadelphia, Jefferson County Jay 8. Rowe,
Johnsons Creek. Niagara County; Michael Rus
sell, Of Troy; Thomas A. Sears. OF Bombay.
Franklin County; John G. Sloane. Of Yonkers:
John T. Smith of Fishkill-on- Hudson. Duchess
County: Charles A. Sprague. Of Liberty. Sul
van County; George A Stoneman. Of Machas.
,Cattaraugus County; William A. Trip. Of
Rhineclin. Dutchess County; Daniel B. Whip
pie. Of North Java. Wyoming County. and Har-