BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1901-12-30
ct little idea Of their far reaching impor

Soc Htlio iuch VI tNoir lar reachlng lmp0r-
taDce.
The amendment to rule ii makes it the
duty of every officer and employee in the
public service to give the Oivil-Service
Commission and its authorized represen-
tstiVes "all proper and competent informa-
ton and testimony in regard to all mat
ters inquired OF, and to subscribe such tesss
timony and make oath or affirmation to the
same before any officer authorized by law to
administer oaths." The serious trouble
with investigations made by the Oommis
sion hitherto has been that it has been
obliged to depend practically on volunteer
witnesses, who Were often hard to find. The
law does not give to the Commission or its
| agents authority to administer oaths or to
compel witnesses to testify. So it has been
necessary to discover, in such ways as
might be open, what man could tell, and
then coax or argue him into making his
statement. After this was taken, it rested
with him to say whether he should go be
fore justice or notary and swear to what
be had disclosed. OF course, this was a
most unsatisfactory arrangement, and left
the Commission at the mercy of the whims
or cowardics OF persons who alone could
give it the evidence needed to make out a
case for the dismissal of negligent public
servant or the prosecution of a malefactor.
The new rule makes compulsory the attend
ance and testimony of witnesses in Gov.
ernement employ. No penalty is prescribed
in terms for their refusal, but the state
ment that it is their duty to do So o-ard-so
renders them liable to dismissal without
more ado if they refuse, for they thereby
are guilty of disobedience to a command of
the President himself The same is trua Of
their refusal to give their testimony the
| further assurance of an oath or affirmation.
VI course, no command of the President can
compel an outsider to testify at the inves
tigatIon OF Government offiet; but great
point is gained by placing beyond question
the power of the Commission to compel,
under pain of dismissal, the active assist.
ance of sill civil servants in prosecuting
its Inquiries Tue case against the Post.
master Of Milwaukee, under the Harrison
Administration, might have fallen fat if
the Commission had not, with great diff
Guilty and by personal solicitation, induced
the one witness who could TIL g full
story of the padding OF the eligible lists
to make clean breast of the truth. Nov
it will be IN position to say to such wit.
ness: "Tell your story, or We report you
for dismissal" II he still breads, as the
Milwaukee witness did, to incur the enmity
of his chief, by confession, his alterna.
tive will be wonderfully simpified; for,
whatever fate may be in store for him il
he consents, he will surely lose his official
head if he doesn'G.
The first amsudment to rule iii mskes it !
compulsory upon an appointing off ser where
not more than two eligibss are on regis
ter, to select one of these for temporary EN-
ployment, instead Of appointing an ou slider.
Tae only exception is made in cases whera
special reasons e1st Why the selection should
not be 50 made, bnt in that event he must
state his ouJ6cCf0uS, and tney musL Ue ap- !
proved by the Commission. There has
grown up tricky practice Of calling for
certlfication to fill certain vacancy when it !
is known that only one or two names
are carried on that particular register Of
elgibles. Undsr former ruling of the Com.
mission, such situation justified the selec- !
ton of an outsider and his appointment for
thirty days; aud when the first thirty days
had expired it was in order to make another
thirty day appointment and following that
still another, unless in the mesntine the
Commission had filled the register. Tue
amended rule wipes out this rnling, aud re-
quires the selection OF tbe thirty-day sp-
pointee from the one or two names on the
register, unless some physical, mental or
moral defect can be found in one or both Of I
the persons named The proof that such
defect EXISTS, moreover, must be strong
enough 10 satisfy the Commission; the ap-
pointing officer will not be left to play sole
judge, jury, and executiouer in the premises.
The second amendment to rule iii, is
perhaps the most important Of any Of the
amendments just made, for it goes to the
very root OF the abuses which have crept into
the public service. What the spoIismen
seek in procuring Government employment
for their following is the money paid in
salaries. The last mentioned amendment is
to tie effect that aeleneyer the Commission