New-York tribune., 1905-11-28
DISMISSED By PRESIDENT.
assistant Treasurer at Philadelphia
Violated CiziJ Seyuice Lac.


Washington. Nov. 27-President Roosevelt to-
day removed from Office William s. Leib. AS
sistant United States Treasurer at Philadelphia,
for constant and persistent violation of the
Civil Service law while in office" In formal
statement issued at the White House Mr.. Leib's
removal is announced. The President gave Nc
Le1o hearing last Fridav. at the request Of
senators Penrose and Knox. Mr. Leib sub
mltted long statement in answer to the charges
against MIN. and was supported in his defence
by Representative Patterson. OF Pennsylvania
After careful consideration Of ali the facts de-
NeIoped by the inquiry. the President decided
to remove Mr.. Leib from Office it being shown.
according to the statement. that there was
constant and consistent effort on your (Afr
Leib's) part to evade the provisions of the Civil
Service law to hamper its workings as far as
possible and 70 obstruct in every way the action
OF the commission" The President declared
that the evidence showed fraud in the Civil Ser
wee examinations. the fraud in one instance
duplicating Mr. Leib's sister. After reviewing
the case fully the President concludes;
Under these circumstances Of persistence in
wrong on your part. it seems TO me that
once. ou are accordingly hereby removed from
The position of Assistant Treasurer of the United
States
| President Roosevelt's statement, which is IN
:he form of letter to Mr.. Leib, is as follows:
White House. Washington, Nov 27. 1905
Sir; have carefully considered the papers in
! your case and the statements made BY you in
! your own behalf and by Mr.. Cooley on behalf Of
/ the Civil Service Commission. 1t appears to me
| very clear that there has been a constant and
consistent effort on your part to evade the pro-
visions Of the Civil Service law, to hamper it's
| workings as far as possible. and to obstruct in
! every way the action Of the commission. I ex-
! pect, on the one hand that the commission shall
endeavor not to hamper but to aid the other
public servants of the government in doing their
WORK successfully, ana on the other hand ex-
/ pect in return that the other public servants
| shall cooperate with the commission and aid
tnen IN their efforts TO carry out the Civil Ser
| vice law. In your case II seems to me clearly
| established that you have sought continually to
take advantage Of every kind OF technicaity in
! order to avoid carrying out the law in good
faith. BY taking advantage OF these technical
tiles you have kept upon the roll in almost con-
| tinuous positions certain of your relatives,
! and at least one person whose appointment was
| evidently pressed merely for political reasons.
| the law it applies to appointments within the
classified service. It clearly appears that in one
examination held, upon information furnished by
| your Office, there was such clear evidence of
fraud that it had to be cancelled. The evidence
as to the fraudulent character OF the exam!na-
ton implicated your sister. two persons from
your own town and one person who was at that
time serving in your office under temporary ap-
pointTnent and who was subsequently, dismissed
from the service for swearing falsely. At the
time of the cancelling of this examination you
were addressed by the Secretary of the Treasury
in a letter running as follows:
Sir: The department has given careful consid-
Grafton to your letter of the 9th ultino answer
sion of January 5, 1905 relative to alleged ir-
regularities in an examination held for your
Office on August II, 1904 copy Of which com
plant was sent you from this Office on the 9th
uItimo
The Civil Service Commission cancelled this
examination for serious irregularities, and this
department believes this action to have been
fully justified by the facts disclosed in the tes-
timony taken during its investigation. From
this testimony and your own statement, the de-
partment has reached the conclusion that your
sister, Miss Esther B. Leb was not eligible to
take the examination because she had not had
three years experience in duties similar to those
pertaining to the position to be filed, under a
reasona bic construction Of the regulations gov
erning examinations for the Sub-Treasury ser
vice. From your sisters own statement, her
claim to have had the experience required cannot
be allowed. The department cannot but feel
that personal coaching Of Miss Leib by you for
this examination was an act or Improperly on
your part in view of your official position and OF
Miss Leib's relationship TO you.
The department is also of the opinion that your
giving to Miss Lille H. Wagner. a temporary
clerk in your Office and an applicant for the ex-
animation about to take place, and known by
you to be SUCH the keys or answers to the note
and coin counting tests, in the form OF pencil
memoranda to be copied by her, was grossly
improper and cannot be too severely censured-
Such incident. known to your subordinate
force, could not fail to be prejudicial TO good
feeling and good discipline in your office and
could not fail to impair the confidence Of your
sUbordinates in the fair and equitable deternai-
nation by you Of questions relating to the per-
sonnel.
Altogether your conduct in reference to this
examination is very unsatisfactory 10 the de-
partment. and the department is giving you the
benefit Of every doubtful consideration IN the
case in not bringing the matter 20 the attention
of the President for his consideration and action
Respectfully.
l. NJ. SHAW, Secretary.
If the case had at that time been called to my
attention my belief is that l would nave theI
requested your resignation. Most certainly al
ter receiving such a letter to which you failed
in any way to make any answer clearing your
self or traversing the facts alleged by the Sec
rstary, it was your duty so TO conduct your
office that no possible criticism could come upon
YOU Instead of so conducting II you have con-
tinl1ed exactly the methods that previously OBJ
tanned: your sister, for instance having been
again temporarily appointed last August as
money counter, and Notwithstanding the TACT
that this is a permanent position and that there
were two eligioles on the register, when you
were notified that the appointment must De
made from these eIigibles, you in some manner
secured their declinations, and thereupon on
Sept enber 27. again temporarily appointed your
sister; and she is in Office at this time, so Tar
as the records Of the Civil Service Commission
show
Under these circumstances Of persistence in
5o+-,e rt