The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-09
SESSION WAS
 HILARIOUS House Discussed Civil
 Service. SYSTEM WAS CRITICISED Gr0svenor and Williams En- gage in Repartee. Members on Both sidest Agree That Present system Is Hardly m
 Improvement .. old
 Spoils Regime.

Washington, Dec. s.--The annual fight on the Civil Service Commission was begun in the House today during consideration of the legislative appro- priation bill. The opposition came from Messrs Bartlett (Ga.), Hepburn Uowa) and Grosyenor (Ohio).
 MT. Hepburn moved to strike out the entire appropriation for the commits sion and it's force of clerks. at the same time denouncing the civil service as not having improved since the days of tho spoils system, but. on the contary, growing less and less efiicient.
 The discussion brought out some semi- humorous comment on the last Presidential election. It related to the lack ot votes which were cast for Judge Parker. MT. Williams of Mississippi and Mir. Grosvenor of Ohio participated in this feature of the debate.
 The session lasted five hours and fif- teen minutes. The legislative bill was scrutinized carefully in consequence with the Presidents recommendation against extravagance. Mfr Bingham. in charge of the bill. was required con- stantly, to explain some particular ap- propriation.
 When Mr. Bingham tPa.1 called up the legislative. executive and judicial appropriation bill, the House went into committee of the whole. with Mfr Dal- zeil tPa) in the chair. Mir. Bingham made an explanation of the bill
 Tn few vigorous remarks, Mir. Lfv- ingston (Ga.) defended the appropria- tions committee in the preparation for the bill. but lamented the fact that bills appropriating millions of dollars should be hurried through In fifty days. This hurried legislation ought to stor, he declared. Congress. he suggested, ought to meet in May and thus give decent time to the legislation of the country.
 The committee, by vote of n to 65. reduced the pay of committee stenog- raphers from s5.oOo to 5000.
 The paragraph relating to the civil service commission eiicited from Mir Maddox tGa.1 severe criticism because of a proposed increase of twenty-three employees to constitute the rural car rier examining board. He declared there was no necessity for them. and that 1t was the duty of this Congress to retrench, If the statement of the Secretary of the Treasury be true, God knows he said. T want this gov ernment to stand and be able to pay It's debts without issuing bonds. or raising additional taxes t
 Mir. Littauer, (N. Y.) endorsed MT.
 
 the case. in point happened to be one of the few items of the bill where re- trenchment was brought about by the action of the committee because the twenty-three clerks referred to al- ready were at work by detail from other offices.
 The discussion shifted to the salary of the secretary of the civil service commission. The committee had in- AA kN amendment by Mir. Bartlett( Ga.) put ting 1t back to the former amount was adopted.
 MT Grosvenor( Ohio) inquired, amid laughter, if 1t would not be we'll to strike out the provision for the three commissioners and let the clerks run the office.
 Equal to Spoils System.
 Mir. Hepburn Uowa) moved to strike out the appropriation for the commis- sion and bitterly denounced 1t. He civil service. but the present merit system did not improve on the old spells system. The present civil ser vice was not as 1t was twenty years ago and was constantly becoming less and less efficient. T denounce it," he said with emphasis, "as un-American and unfit for our uses. as insufficient to accomplish the purposes that men say they desire of civil service com mission" He was roundly applauded on both sides of the chamber.
 Mir. williams (Miss.) the minority leader suggested that 1t would be an improvement over the system to fix q certain period for which an employe should serve the government
 MT. Grosvenor (Ohio) speaking in @ humorous vein. said 1t would hardly be legal. constitutional or satisfactory if the paragraph should be passed without himself adding a little some- thing to the hilarity of the annual oc- casion." He spoke of the civil ser vice commissioners as these great gen. tlemen, and these $3.500 gentlemen" and referred to a package of papers which had come to him today from a rural carrier who had been IFopounded certain question by the commission as to whether or not he had used his in- huence in behalf ot the election of President Roosevelt in Ohio, and whether or not he had turned over his route to his substitute and weEked for the Republican ticket.
 Now. think of holding up a poor devil of a 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 conn mission and was losing his pay while a great body of men are Investigating. not now what is the matter with the woman in Cleveland that robbed every body but did that man vote for Roose- welt and did he work at the polls op election day?
 MT. Williams, directing his remarks to MT. Grosvenor. said he had been wondering if Mir. Grosvenor could pun ish the House with such a hard luck story out in Ohio because a fellow had shown political activity in the case of President Roosevelt. what might possi- bly, have been the fate of a fellow who would have dared to have shown po- Iitical activity in behalf of Mir. Parker. This reference to MT. Parker created con siderable laughter on both sides of the chamber.
 "The indications are." replied MT. Grosvenor. which caused renewal of the laughter, there were a great many unterrified."
 Prom the numerousness of their scarcity at the polls" responded MT. Williams amid more laughter, T im-
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