Evening star., 1901-12-26
His Inquiry Of the Civil Service
Commission.
PRESIDENT PROCFER'S REPLY
Power of Removal Has in No Way
Been CurtaiIed.
FORMAL STATEMENT

OF Edgar s. Maciay was received by the
civil service commission this afternoon.
President John r. Proctor is the only men,
ber of the commission in the city, Mr..
Rodenberg and Mr.. Foulke having gone to
their homes to spend the holidays AS soon
as the letter was received by Secretary
John T. Doyle Mr.. Proctor was notified.
Later conference was held in the board
room. There were present, besides Mr..
Proctor and Mr.. Doyle, Mr.. Serven, the
chief examiner, and Mr.. George R. Wales.
Maclay's Letter.
Mr.. Maclays letter was addressed to Mr..
Proctor. 1t read:
ION December %. yesterday, I received
the following communication from the Sec
retary Of the Navy:
9" Sir: 1 am directed by the President to
ask Edgar S. Maclay. special laborer, gen
eral storekeeper's Office, navy yard, New
York, to send in his resignation.
JOHN D. LONG, Secretary
This communication was addressed to
the commandant Of this navy yard, and
was duly forwarded to me. 1 desire to get
an authoritative opinion from the civil SER
vice commission on the following points:
II. Has the President of the United
States any authority under the laws gov
erning civil service to demand the resigna-
ton Of a civil service employe in the clas-
sified list?
III. Has the President the authority or
power to cause the dismissal of any civil
service employe without preferring charges
In writing and giving said employe an op-
portunity in which to make a defense"
President PrOcter's Reply.
President Proctor caused reply to be
sent at once. This is what he wrote:
''The commission is in receipt of your let
ter of December "a. In response you are
informed that it is contrary to the practice
of the commission to undertake to answer
hypothetical questions. Your separation
II ON the service, according to the facts in
your case as they appeared in the public
press, was made upon the order of the Sec
retary of the Navy, in whom the power of
removal rests. The demand for your resig
nation, followed by your removal upon the
direction of the President, through the Sec
retary of the Navy, was not in violation of
the civil service act and rules in view Of
the well-known facts in your case.
THE object of the rule requiring notice
and a hearing was to prevent political re-
movals or removals upon secret charges.
No issue Of this kind is involved in your
case"
Mr.. PrOcter's Statement.
President Proctor gave out the following
statement
'"The commission has always held, as
shown in it's thirteenth report, January j.
1897: The civil service act did not intend
that incompetent persons should be retained
in Office The authority of removal and it's
exercise for proper reasons are necessary
for the discipline and the efficiency of the
public service. The power Of removal is not
affected by the law or TIE rules, further
than that they provide that removals shall
not be made for political or religious rea-
sons
''The rule of the President, July q, 1897
requiring that person should only be re-
moved for just cause and upon reasons in
writing and after an opportunity for MAX
ing answer, was for the purpose of pre-
venting political or religious removals or
removals upon secret charges, but was in
no way intended to curtail the power of re-
moval for just cause. Under this rule the
reasons for removal are to be a matter
of record, but it does not impair in the
slightest degree the prompt exercise of the
power of discipline.
In discussing this rule in the fourteenth
report of the commission, December 81,
1897, 1t Is stated that if the reasons are
sufficient the officer will not hesitate to
make the removal 1t cannot be assert ed
that Maclay's removal was for political or
religious reasons or upon secret charges as
the reasons for the departments action are
Wen known, both to Maclay and to the
public