Evening star., 1901-12-21
MANILA'S FIRE CHIEF.
How He Came to Be Appointed by
Civil Service Com m issiOner.

How He Came to Be Appointed by a
Civil Service Com missioner.
President Roosevelt discovered some days
ago that the civil service commission had a
standing that even outranked his prestige
in the making of appointments not in
cluded under the civil service law. Mr..
Proctor president Of the commission, was
at the same time given surprise by find
ing that he was called upon to indorse an
act of the President OF the United States
in order to make 1t satisfactory to all the
parties concerned. All this came about
through a cablegram recently received by
the War Department from the president Of
the Philippine commission, asking that Mr..
Proctor. president Of the civil service COM
mission, be requested to name chief OF
the Manila fire department. Mr.. Proctor
chief Of fire department, and the place
not being under the civil service law he
had no authority to hold an examination
for 1t. He was only called upon to fill the
place because it was known that he was
likely to have some one with the qualifica-
tions desired in mind and because of con-
fidencc in his readiness to fill the place
without partisan bias, and not because Of
any restriction Of law. 1t happened that
the President had within day or two Of
the receipt Of this cablegSam had as his
guest the chief Of the fire department of
one Of the largest cities of the country, and
first rank Of fire chiefs, but also as be-
lever in and a consistent advocate Of the
merit system. Mr.. Proctor, knowing this,
suggested to Mr.. Roosevelt that no better
one could be asked to name fire chief for
Manila, and the President consented to the
writing Of letter requesting that the fire
chief name man for the place. In the
course of a few days an answer came back
to the President. who forwarded it to the
War Department. But there was a hitch
because there was piece of red tape that
had been left out of the transaction. The
Secretary of War called on the President
and told him the request for the naming of
a fire chief that had come from the Philip
pines had specifically stated that the presi-
dent of the civil service commission was
to name him, and what had been done was
irregular and would not do.
But" eXpostulated President Roosevelt,
Il only acted for MIR. Procter-I was
merely his intermediary in the transaction.
He asked me to write the letter, and l
wrote it,
But the Secretary of War insisted that
1t would not do; the stamp of approval OF
Mr.. Proctor had been asked for, and the
recommendation did not have 1t.
well, I'll ask Proctor if he'll approve
It, said the President, as way out of the
dilemma. Then he telephoned Mr.. Proc
ter, who went to the White House.
"They will not take my recommended
tion,' he explained. to the civil service
commissioner. Now, if you will approve
it it will be all right. l told them 1 was
only acting as your intermediary, but that
was not sufficient
Mr.. Proctor. president of the civil service
commission. forthwith wrote letter in
dorsing what Mr.. Roosevelt, President of
the United States, had done, and Inc name
of the fire chief Of Manila was then GER
tilted for appointment. ,s
When you were advocating civil service
reform twenty years ago did you think
you were laying firm foundation for it
that when you should become President it
would be necessary to ask a civil service
commissioner to indorse your recommen-
dations for appointment? the President
was asked by a friend who learned Of the
incident. And the President smiled smile
of deep satisfaction.