The National tribune., 1900-12-20
THE vErtR,N, PREFERENCE nILL.


The Bromweil Veterans Preference
! Bill. which came near passing at the last
session. and for which substantially ali
the Posts of the Grand Army of the Re
/ public have petitioned, came up for pas
sage last Monday, and both Republicans
and Democrats united in jumping upon II
with great vigor.
The bill provides that veterans of the
rebellion shall be given preference for en-
| ployment in the Executive Departments,
and retention in such employment, and
thatafter them such preference shall be
extended to veterans of the Spanish War
and of the Philippines.
| Surprising to say, Col Hepburn, of
| Iowa. led in the assault, and tried to Sc
cure an amendment striking out the pro-
vision that .persons thus preferred shall
! not be removed, except upon charges and
after Il hearing
Mr.. Clayton, of New York, was the
only friend that spoke for the BILL besides
Mr. Bromwell He said that the law was
similar to one which had worked very well
in the State of New York.
Mr. Gillett. of Massachusetts, the
Chairman of the Committee on Civil Ser
vice, gave free rein to his imagination in
depicting the evils of the bill. He feared
that all the men who were fighting the
| battles of the country in the Philippines
would claim office under the bill, and there
would be nothing left for poor little fcl-
| lows who wanted nice places, and yet had
| no stomach for serving their country in
the field. There would be the 100000
men who served in the Spanish War, and
all those now in the service, making n
| preferred list of $4,000, who would have
TO be appointed before any civilian could
get show. Then there were the Reg
ulars, who went into the service merely
because they liked army life, and had no
right to be considered in appointments.
Besides, they had their pensions. What
more did they want?
Mr.. Gillett's arguments were weak al
most to Stiffness. What rights have any
civilians to office that are inteIfered with?
There are many millions of young men IN
this country who do not want or expect
any office under the Government. What
class of young men are being discriminat-
ed against by reserving public employ
ment for men who have served their cOun-
try as soldiers? The object of civil SER
vice is to secure the best quality of men
for the service of the Government, and
there can be no question that q man who
has been honorably discharged after full
filling his enlistment-either in the RegII-
lars or Yolunteers-will make an incom-
parably better clerk than the callow, I'M
fedged weaklings who pass directly from
the high schol to a Government desk.
Gen. GrosvenOr repeated the old, ex-
ploded vapidity about the bill creating a
privileged class. He simply could not
think of any better excuse for opposing
the bill.
Mr.. Sulzer attempted to place the mem
! bers on record by forcing 4 yea and nay
vote, but did not succeed, and the bill was
defeated by a rising vote-51 to los.
Aside from other reasons, this action is
very poor public policy. 1t is to the Gov
ernment's interest that it shall attract the
very best class of young men to its army.
Preference in public employment after
their honorable discharge would be q
strong incentive to bring a very superior
class of young men into the army, and
give the Government an admirable corps
of clerks from them after they had fin
ished their military service. The United
States Civil Service is the best in the
world, and it has been made so by men
who entered Government employ after
their discharge from the volunteer and
regular service at the close of the war.
Every official is ready TO testify how su-
perior these as a class have been in intel
ligence, steadiness and fidelity, to those
drawn directly from civil life, without any
| military experience.