The National tribune., 1901-01-03
VETERANS PREFERENCE.

opposition to tine Cromwell bill, an aston
ishing lack of knowledge of what the bill
really contemplated, and this has beer
echoed in an aggravated form by the news
papers which have commented on the
matter .lfa-=e.=--ss-- ?. .---s-.-.
The fact is this. Section 1754, Revised
Statutes e. s., passed March 9, 1863, pro
vides that persons honorably discharged
from the military or naval service, by rel,
son of disability resulting from wounds or
sickness incurred in the line of duty, shall
be preferred for appointment to civil Of
fees ETC. And this is the only law bear
ing on preference for war veterans. 1t
was intended to benefit the ex-Union sol
dier and sailor who came within its pro-
| visions. Some years after the civil service
law became operative, the United States
Civil Service Commission, after long con-
test, recognized this law by rule, since
i then enforced as TO those specified. The
benefit of this law has been to those of the
| Regular Army and Navy, who enlisted
since 1865, to the extent of A. per cent OF
course, the discharge must show that it
was based on disability. This being 81,
the law is applicable to all regulars and TO
| NOiulilctIS VI tUc Will. VI lupSe SEW
| ing in the Philippines, who have been, or
may be, "honorably discharged from the
military or naval service for disability re
sulting from wounds or sickness incurred
in the line of duty But not to others.
There is not, never has been, any prefer
ence enjoyed by men who served out their
| terms of enlistment, or until the close of
| hostilities. in the civil war. If a man was
wounded 20 times, refusing a discharge for
disability by reason thereof, he has ne
| legal preference whatever in the civil sery-
ice. Many such cases there We're. By a
rule of the Commission. without authority
of law, veterans of the civil war get Il
place on the eligible list at 90 per cent,
the minimum for others being 40 per cent,
but, unless privileged under Section 11of,
Il. S., they may remain at the bottom of
the list. 1t is a concession without value.
For 90 years the G.. A. r. committees
have been laboIing to have this legal pref
erence extend to all who were honorably
discharged. 1t certainly should be. Good
public policy demands it. The need of the
country for good men for its army is all
ways strong, and some times oyerwhelm-
II SIOulu tNCIs ltuSO.i'tDit
ducement to attract the best class of men
to its military and naval service. There
is nothing that it can do which viii be at
once so effective and so cheap as to extend
to those who shall serve it in the field
substantial preference in other branches of
employment. Though those men may never
have the slightest intention of entering the
civil service, as the vast majority of them
do not, yet the fact tnat they will have
some rights over men who have not served
will be an inducement for them to enter
the army This, with much the largest
proportion, may never become more than
mere sentiment. but sentiment is a power
full thing in taking men into the army. Nor
can any man offer n good reason against
this preference. Any man is more yalua
bic for any branch of the Government
service by reason of the discipline and
training he has received in the army or
navy. The men who have made the
United States civil service the best in the
world had substantially all this experience
and preparation, and every public officer of
much experience will readily testify that
his best and most valuable clerks and
those who had gone through a period OF
honorable service in the army or navy.
The main directors are young men who
want to serve the Government only where
the work is light and the pay high, and
these do not make efficient clerks.
The bugbear that the ex-soldiers and
sailors will rush in and crowd out civilians
is not justified by experience. A familiar
instance is the Pension Bureau, which, of
all the Departments of the Government,
would naturally be expected to be crowded
by veterans and their widows, yet, at
present, out of a total of La employees Of
all kinds, but 525-or mnch less than one
third-are veterans or their widows.
In Germany the rule is absolute. No
man can be appointed or employed unless
he has served in the army. The other Eu-
ropean Governments are following Ger
many's lead in this direction.