New-York tribune., 1902-05-19
PED TAPE AND EXECUTIVE POWER.

NH III 4 h-'p 'Shh<'' ~ - 4 Wv INV
At the annual meeting Of the Civil Service
Reform Association last week some few acts OF
the President with respect 10 appointments and
removals in the government service were criti-
cised Among them the summary removal
of Edgar s. Maclay, the former empOye in the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, who published book in
which he denounced Rear Admiral Schley as
"caitiff" and a coward" The association
thinks the President offended against Civil Ser
vice reform principles in making exception
to the rules and displacing Maclay without
statement of the cause Of removal and offering
the emplOye an opportunity 70 make reply.
This criticism. il seems to us. is one of those
not infreQuent illustrations of the habit of max
ing fetch of machinery-especially good ma
chinery. That the Civil Service machinery is
good is beyond doubt. That appointments
should be made for merit and removals for
cause is essential 10 the proper conduct of
government. The association Is rightly critical
of the conduct of public officers, including those
in sympathy with its ideals and is to be
mended for its frankness and candOr in express
ing its honest opinion on this and other acts Of
the President, even while electing him. dis
tingnished Civil Service reformer one Of IT'S
vice-presidents. The Civil Service rules, how
ever. exist for the government, and not the
government for the Civil Service rules That
is a fact which persons interested in those rules
sometimes forget. The President violated no
law In the Macay case; he merely used the
authority unquestiOnably vested in him by the
constitution and statutes. Maclay, after his
removal appealed to the Civil Service Commits
soners, and was informed that the President
had acted within his rights.
True he took extraordinary action. Com
monty he would leave removals 10 subordinate
officials who under the rules. must make a
statement Of cause and give opportunity for
reply. But this was extraordinary case.
We have never been partisans of Rear Admiral
Schley, and have thought his conduct in some
respects open 10 serious criticism. We have
been frank to say, however, that a subordinate
in the Navy Department could not be per
mitted publicly 10 blackguard Rear Admiral
Schley or any other officer and superior In good
and regular standing Pending the Schiey in
/ quiry Maclays offence was properly ignored
but when the findings of the court had been ap-
proved by the President, with the injunction to
! the two services TO cease from controversy, It
was highly proper TO take prompt and eXtraOr-
! binary action concerning this extreme offender
! The specially commendable feature Of the re-
mOval was that it made, as the assoca-
ton complains, under circumstances which rem
dered it conspicuous An example was needed
and was given. If there had been any doubt Of
: the facts and a possibility that an explanation
would excuse Msclay complaint might he rea-
sonable. But there was not. The scandal was
notorious and Maclay was paTadng a hero
for having vilified his superior. Half Of the
virtue of his removal was its character as the
personal act Of the President in the exercise of
the reserve authority vested in him.
When the law makes the President not the
/ creature but the master of the Civil Service
rules it means to give him authority to meet
emergencies unhampered. He is justly account
able TO public opinion for any abuse of that
/ liberty to gain improper ends, but it is his to
use al his discretion. If on special occasion he
/ believes the Civil Service rule should be set
! aside, he does not violate the spirit Of proper
and reasonable Civil Service reform in acting on
! that belief. That Is what his final authority IL
/ for The idea that the President in the exercise
! of his functions is a mere automaton who must
walk eggs for fear Of transcending rules for
/ the government of his subordinates, which by
! law he makes and can unmake is n vicious one.
! Fortunately the executive power in the United
! States is atrOphed political vermiform ap-
! pendiX but an organ with vital functions. able
to act. and act decisively, of its own initiative
unhampered by red tape when in its discretion
occasion requires