The evening times., 1900-06-30

What Public Printer Palmer terms the
the Government Printing Once HIS Legun
and those OF the employees with CERTAIN o.
litical PTOclivities who have not yet be L
affected are in constant dread lest the r
heads be the next to co..e in contact with
the ak Of Official decapitaticn.
Yesterday seventy-two employees were
dropped from the rolls for the assigned
reason that there is not work enough or
all" Sixty-fve OF these emp,oyes were
compcsitors. while the other seven we're
clas5ed as prooGreaders. messenger, aad
helpers.
Ii is said to be a significant fact t-a-
most Of those Cischai gsd are afil lated viii
the Democratic party. and that - b Cf
them as happened 10 be Republicans We. e
dropped. because their influence" had
departed from the halls CT Congress and
could rot be longer felt
Mr.. Palmer, in speaking CT the rtduc-
tiCus 10 reporter for Tle Times today,
said:
You must know that after Congress has
adjourned the work OF the Government
Printing Office must Of necessity fan cG
not so many men are needed. During the
session Of Congress a large, what We call
temporary force is put TO work, and dur
Ing this last session the force OF additional
men was extraordinarily large TO meet the
demands and TO get the work out promptly
and eXpeGitiOusly. When Congress ad-
journed all of this temporary force was
dropped from the rolls, but now We find
that we still have too many men and I
was compelled 10 make an additional re-
GuctiOn yesterday.
Are these men you speak of discharged
or suspended pending an increase in the
work." was asked.
They are discharged. OF course If the
record of any Of them was good and we
were in need of extra men We should give
them the preference in putting additional
employees to work We hardly expect TO
need any more men before the beginning
Of the next Congressional session"
Mr. Palmer was asked for a list of those
discharged, but refused to give it because
he said the men would not like to have
their names published in the papers.
There is said to be already an effort on
foot by the members Of the District Typo
graphical Union to have the discharged
men reinstated and every influence in
their power will be brought to bear TO this
end.
While these reductions occur with great
regularity" said one OF the suspended men
today 1t strikes most Of US as queer
that the official ak should almost invaria-
bly, fall on the neck OF those who are not
affiliated with the party in power. We re-
aliZe. of course. that when there is not
sufficient work TO keep all Of the force
busy. some Of the men should be suspend
ed but we 90 think that all parties should
be treated fairly. Mr.. Palmer may be
right in selecting those he has discharged
but / am free to confess that We hardly
agree with him"
There is absolutely no foundation foI
the report that a wholesale or even any re-
duction is contemplated in the working
force Of the Agricultural Department" said
Secretary Wilson to q Times reporter this
morning. There have been a few reduc-
tiOns Of late in the laboring classes, but
these have been made simply to keep with
ing the appropriation made for the use
OF the department We have an ayeTGgs
of fifty applications for positions OF az
kinds every day, and there are at least
5000 applications on file. and as there are
only 1OO positions in the entire department
outside the classified service. you can see
how little chance there is fIr anyone to Sc
cure work here l DO not contemplate any
reductions in the clerical force"