New-York tribune., 1902-04-21
RErOTtL OF INCOKPETENTS.

Some of the officers of the city government
are greatly embarrassed by incompetent sub
ordinates vet they seem afraid to use their
mower TO dismiss them. In making the reduc-
tion of expenses demanded by the Board OF
Estimate the places of the least desirable em-
Moves are being abolished. leaving the men
themselves on the reserve list with claim to
any office Of similar character which may
become vacant in the city government In this
way some money may be saved, but little can
be done to improve the efficiency OF the service
What is more needed is severe discipline, en-
forced by the peremptory discharge or every
person who is found TO be unfaithful or incom-
petent The more strict the heads of depart
ments and the quicker to remove for cause the
sooner those who remain will learn to do a full
days work for days pay and take no chances
OF being dismissed. There is, however, an I'M
pression abroad that the hands of the admins
tration are tied in this matter, and one member
of the Board of Estimate has said:
II would he a good thing for the service If the
incompetents could be sifted out but the Civil
Service protects an incompetent, once ne is IN,
Just about efficiently as 1T does an efhclent
employe.
This is, Of course, true with respect to police
men and members of the other uniformed forces.
They cannot be dismissed without trial and
proof of wrongdoing which would be sufficient
to uphold conviction in criminal court if the
offence was there being tried. The most noto-
rious scoundrel cannot be removed unless spe-
cifc wrongful act is established not merely in
the opinion of the superior, but to the satisfac-
ton of the Court of Appeals. This absurd over
protection of employees practically blocks the
wheels of progress in the Police Department
Heads of all other departments are not, how
4lA
courts overrule police removals frequently
that they may not unnaturally have come TO
underestimate the scope of their own discretion.
The power of removal is indeed limited to dis
missals for cause. and q method Of procedure is
prescribed. but if the simple procedure is fol-
lowed the appointing powers discretion is as
absolute as is that of the Governor in removing
a sheriff and the finality of his judgment within
the sphere Of his activity has just been most
emphaticalIy declared. The law forbids
movals for political reasons, and provides that
removals of persons in the classified service
may be made only after written notice to the
employe, stating the ground Of complaint and
giving him an opportunity to make an explana-
ton. State Civil Service Commissioner Collier
in his exhaustive work on the Civil Service law
says Of the proceeding:
charges but a mere opportunity to explain after
notification Of the causes. The decision of the
superior officers is not renewable by the courts
upon certiorari If the form of the proceeding
has been complied with, and if the causes of
removal alleged are in their nature sufficient to
Justify a removal. The court does not inquire If
those could be established by evidence.
Under that rule an officer who finds a sub
ordinate doing bad work is as free to discharge
him account of it private employer. if
he only gives the delinquent a chance to ex-
plain and files q statement of the reasons for
removal. He is the final judge of the proofs
and the sufiiciency or iDsufficiency Of the
planation. The citys standard of efficiency
need not be lower than that Of the private
business concern. An official has not the pri-
vate employers liberty to dismiss in mere
caprice, but he has right to exact the same
degree of efficiency and TO discharge the sub
ordinate who fails to show it. If q Park
Department employe is found lounging in an
arbor when he should be at work the Commits
sioner may properly discharge him after giving
him notice and chance to explain. and the
Commissioner is under no obligation to give
more weight than he chooses to the excuse that
he was looking to see If the arbor was all right
If a Street Cleaning Department engineer
smashes a steam scow's machinery under sus-
pieious circumstances the Commissioner is the
sole Judge Of his guilt or innocence. If he is
satisfied in his own mind that what is excused
as an accident" was malicious mischief he can
refuse TO accept explanations as satisfactory
and make removal from which there is no
appeal 1t is a pretty clever mischief maker
who can really cause trouble to the head of his
department without giving sufficient excuse to
that head who is at once complainant, judge
and jury, to remove him. This power should not