The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-27
PROCTOR AGAIN
UPON WARPATH

UT ON WANT III u
(Continued from PAGE Onc9
positions in the Washington postofFicc
or the department. The department. in
making these appointments. without
doubt reverted to the practice which
the civil service act Was desisned to
prevent, and to this extent nullified the
law"
Mr.. Smiths Error.
Mr.. Smith says in reference TO the
same subject:
In 1897. before I became postmaster
general some persons were appointed
to offices about TO be classified and AFT
er classification they were transferred
TO other parts Of the service. This
practice thus introduced, continued in
a limited degree"
F. As a matter of record. there were
only four such appointments made dur
ing the latter part OF 1897 and the early
part OF 1898. prior to the appointment OF
Mr.. Smith, and 124 under his admins
tration.
Mr. Smith says: mo rule. even at
this time, forbids transfer at any time
in the exact parallel case where small
unclassified offices are classified by be
ing consolidated with larger classified
offices"
Civil Service Rule 2.
This assertion ignores the fact that
section s of civil service rule . forbids
the classification of an employee in any
offices which are TO be consolidated
with a classified office. unless he has
actually served therein during the sixty
days next preceding the consolidation.
or was appointed through competitive
examination.
He also quotes in his letter of Dec.
%. 1900. to the commission, in which he
agreed that admissions to the service
should, so far as practicable, be made
upon examination, and stated that d.
rectiOns had been given which would
remove all just grounds of complaint
Mr.. Smith now states his belief that the
commission never received this letter
and declares that he viii not comment
on the peculiar candOr which made no
acknowledgement of the removal of all
just ground of complaint then, and
seeks to suppress the truth about it
now"
After Six Appeals.
a sufficient reply to this statement will
be found on page 800 Of the seventeenth
annual report Of the commission pub
lished in the early part OF 1901. in which
statement follows the full quotation OF
Mr.. Smiths letter:
ct is gratifying to the commission to
the above letter, but one case Of this
kind has occurred.
The letter Of December =. 1900, WAS a
declaration o. Intention on the L~N.t of the
the law after six written appeals from
the commission. ranging from May 10;
the matter to the president. and the ap-
pointment and transfer OF l24 employees
by the Objectionable method.
Service Was Packed.
Mr.. Smith reseuts the statement that
the rural free delivery service was packed
with employees in the interests OF the in
dividuals. just before classification, as in
dictated by the fact that hfty-siX were
appointed in the twenty-six days just
preceding classification on November q.
1901, while only seventeen were aP-
pointed between that date and May, 1903.
He attributes the large number of APP
pointments Just before classification to
the great increase Of work. as Indicated
rural free delivery service for the year
ended June 80. 1902 was double the
amount for the preceding year.
Smith Did Not Explain.
He does not explain why. although the
appropriation was again more than
doubled for the year ended June 80. 1903.
II was necessary to appoint but seven
q, 1901. to May 1905. II seems fair in
ference that the appointments prior to
classification so far exceeded the needs
Of the service that few appointments
were necessary, even when the appropria-
ton was more than doubled for the year
ended June 90 1908.
You have been pOStma ster-g general a
year and half and you have not dsopped
one of them. If the service was packed
how faithless you have been 70 your duty.
This needless critic did not see that this
a "A s
Sex Made No Difference.
Mr.. Smith apparently fails TO recognize
the fact that the rapid growth Of the
rural free delivery service under your
administration would speedily relieve
this condition without recourse to remOV-
ais. He cites the fact that Il OF a GER
tain group OF J6 employees mentioned IN
the commissions letter were women, as
Indicating that the influences leading to
these appointments were not political
The commission has not claimed that
the influences which prompted the M
merous appointments under consideration
we're all political. nor will anything be
found in 1.-THE letter or report which ne
cassitates an ANALYSIS on the basis of
sex. It is a fact. however. that nearly
all of the persons. men as well as wo-
men. appointed or employed in evasion
or contraVention of the civil service law
and rules. who were examined during the
investigation. We're appointed through the
influence of senators and Representatives
ment. Their names and the names of
the persons who urged their appoint
ments appear in the report of the in
vestigation-
Mr.. Proctor Amused.
Mr.. Smith states that the departunc.lt
was engaged for several weeks with tie
civil service commission in framing "a
system and body of rules for the ap-
nointment OF the rural letter carriers and
that in this work Mr.. Proctor proved
so unreasonable, so dosmatic and so im-
practicable that he had to be overruled
by his own associates and eliminated
from all part in the construction of the
frame work.
This statemen. will be amusing as both
Mr. Foull,e and Mr. Garfield were aware
of tho fact that Ii Was at my request
that Commissioner FOulke took up the
oCes lion of the examination Of rural let
ter carriers with the pOstolhce depart
ment. There was never the slightest DIFF
ference Of opinion between NE three com
nissioners with respect to the advisahility
Of making the examination for entrance
to these. positions as simple and prac-
ticable as possible.
Editorial Attack.
Mr. Smiths letter closes with The So
meEt that Mr. PrOctOrs innuendoes JUS
tify "A personal statement. which will be
1 f,torr. FaNoT1fur~ n less formal MINER