The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-09
SP0ILSMEN IN
FIGHTING TRIM
Civil Service Commission Has
Few Friends in House.
HEPBURN'S ANNUAL ATTACK
APPLAUSE ON BOTH SIDES OF
THE CHAMBER.

llAi AsHINGTON Dec. S.-The annual
wv fight on the civil service COM
missi n was begun in the house
today during consideration of the leg
I isiative appropriation bill. The oppo-
/ sition came from Messrs. Bartlett Of
I Georgia. Hepburn of Iowa and Grosve-
nor of Ohio Mr.. Hepburn moved to
strike out The entire appropriation for
/ the commission and it's force of clerks.
\ at the same time denouLcing the civil
service commission as rot having inn
( proved since the days OF the spoils sys-
TEN, but. On the contrary as growing
! less and less efficient.
/ The session lasted five hours and TWEEN
/ ~ minutes. The legislative bill was
! scrutinized carefully, in consOnance
with the presidents recommendation
against extravaganza.
/ The pay Of the stenOSraphers to inc
! committees Of the house was reduced
/ from $4,000 per annum TO $1,000, and
/ the house refused TO accept the pro-
1 vision Increasing the pay of the secre-
/ tary to the civil service commission.
Little progress was made on the bill.
Read For Amendment.
Mr. Livingston of Georgia, minority
member of the subcommittee. made a
brief explanation of the various pro-
visions of the bill. 1t then was read
for amendment and dis ssion under
the fve-minute rule.
An appropriation for janitor to the
house committee on the library met
some Democratic opposition, led by
Messrs. Bartlett of Georgia, Maddox of
/ Georgia and clark Of Missouri. Mr.
Clark aid fhpra r4-arp MANY e11npr-
numerary officials around the house
who ought to be gotten rid of. The
presidents message, ne said, had urged
| economy. and Mr.. Clark COntended that
II the house was going TO economiZe
/ the best place to commence was the
house itself.
Defended the Bill.
In a few vigorous remarks, Mr.. Liv-
| ingstOn of Georgia defended the appro-
| priations committee in the preparation
of the bill. but iamented the fact that
bills appropriating millions of dollars
should be hurried through i'm fifty Gays.
This hurried legislation ought to stop,
he fdeclared. Congress. he suggested,
ought to meet in May and thus give
decent time TO the legislation of the
country
Mr.. Gillett Of Massachusetts thought
that too little attention was paid in
the house to appropriation bills
Mr.. Bingham insisted that the bill
had been cut more than any similar
one handled in recent years. and said
it had been considered fairly by the
subcommittee, whose conclusions had
been accepted by the full committee.
Stenographers' Pay Cut.
The committee, by a vote of seventy
one to siXty-five, reduced the pay Of
committee photographers from 5000 to
$1,000
The paragraph relating to the civil
service commission ELECTED from Mr..
Maddox of Georgia severe criticism.
because of a proposed increase Of
twenty-three employees to constitute the
rural carrier examining board. He de-
clared there was no necessity for them,
and that il was the duty of this con-
gress to retrench if the statement Of
the secretary of the treasury be true
The discussion shifted to the salary
of the secretary of the civil service
commission. The committee had in
creased it from $3.50 to $4,000, but an
amendment ny Mr.. Bartlett of Georgia
putting it back to the former amount
was adopted After Mr.. Lilly of Con-
necticut had expressed the opinion that
the secretary of the civil service COM
mission could not earn $3.50 elsewhere,
AIR. Grosvenor of Ohio inquired, amid
laughter. if il would not be well to
strike out the provision for the three
commissioners and let the clerks run
the office.
Hepburn on the Warpath.
Mr. Hepburn of Iowa moved to strike
out the appropriation for the commits
sion. and bitterly denounced it, He
was not. he said. opposed to a proper
civil service, but the present merit
system did not improve on the old
spells system The present civil serv-
ice was not as good as it was twenty
years ago, and was constantly becom-
ing less and less efficient. L denounce
il" he said with emphasis. "as un-
American and unfit for our uses: as in
sufficient TO accomplish the purposes
that men said they desire by a civil
service. He was rOundly applauded ON
both sides of the chamber
Mr.. Gillett of Massachusetts, chair
man of the committee on civil service
defended the system. and said that.
even should Mr.. Hepburn's amendment
prevail. the law itself would go on Just
the same.
Mr.. Williams of Mississippi, the mi
ncrity leader. suggested that it would
be an Improvement over the present
b
an employe should serve the govern
ment
Grosvenor Reports a Case.
Mr.. Grosvenor of Ohio spoke of the
civil service commissioners as these Z
great gentlemen" and these $500 gen
tlemen," and referred TO a package of /.
papers which had come TO him today
from a rural carrier who had been pro-
pounded certain questions by the COM {
mission as to whether or not he had
used his influence I'm behalf of the cleo
ton of President Roosevelt in the Ohio
campaign, and whether on not on GER
tain day he had turned over his route
Ia his substitute and worked for the
Republican ticket
Now, think of holding up a poor
devil Of rural carrier like that The
man had simply gone to the polls and
voted.
The man in question. he said, had
been held up by the civil service com
mission and was losing his pay while
a great body Of men are investigating.
not what is the matter with the woman
at Cleveland that robbed everybody.
but did that man vote for Roosevelt
and did he work at the polls on election