Evening star., 1905-10-19
Order Inspired by Mr.. Cooley.

1t was stated today that the Presidents
order regarding the dismissal of clerks in
the government service without hearing by
the heads of the departments was really In
spired by Civil Service Commissioner
Cooley, aided and abetted by Secretary
Root and Postmaster General Cortelyou
and that the President considered the mat
ter a long time before submitting to the
wishes of his advisors.
There are several elements that entered
into the argument in favor of the new rul-
ing which are supposed to have had weight
with the President. Ever since he has been
a member of the civil service commission
Mr.. Cooley has been convinced that the or
der of 1897 which required clerks to be
given an opportunity to submit explana-
tions when cited for dismissal, did not
operate for the benefit of the service He
made a quiet investigation of the matter
in his round of visits to the various Sec
tons of the country official business
and his conviction became strengthened by
what he saw.
According to Mr.. Cooley's argument, q
good demonstration OF the value of the new
ruling Is given in the condition of affairs
In the administration of the affairs of the
city of Los Angeles, Cal, where civil serv-
Ice reformers have held forth in strength
When the various rulings regarding the
municipality had been thoroughly tested, It
was found that there was absolutely no
|
| city departments could get rid of inefficient
! clerks. The rules there were much more
drastic than they were In the general gov
| ernment service. The result of this state
| of affairs is that there is a strong reaction
| in Los Angeles against civil service meth
! ods and advocates OF the reform have al
most given up hope of maintaining their
| hold on the city. Indeed, 1t Is asserted thai I
| civil service rules Will be In disfayor in that
| particular locality for many years at least.
| because of the failure of the rules to pro-
vide method or getting rid of useless and
| inefficient employees. These facts coming to
| light served to confirm Mr.. Cooley In his
opinion and he lost no time In laying the
| matter unofficially before the President sew
eral times
| While on a visit to Oyster Raw a counIe
| OF months ago Mr.. Cooley met Mr. CorteIyou
and one of the matters they discussed was
the unsatsfactory state of affairs The old
| ruling gave the officials exactly the same
power they have under the new one. so MT.
| Cooley states, but the system was SLOW
| NOW. 1t Is claimed. the system is simple and
I not tied up with official red tape
The Aim Of Administration.
The fundamental principle of admins
tration as l see IT, declared Mr.. Cooley
today, is not to tie the hands OF the head
or the department; not to hamper or con-
strain an honest, decent officer because of
| the likelihood of getting one who is dis
hohest or inencient. In a private business
| concern VIII the employer permit some one
from the outside to dictate just how he shall
dismiss an employe whom he does not
want or whom he finds to be inefficient .
| You go TO an employment agency to hire
/ a cook, but would you permit the en-
| ployment agency to tell you when and how
you shall dismiss her If her service is not
satisfactory? That seems to me to be the
position. The government service is not
| being run by dishonest, incapable heads of
| departments and rules are not made for
| SUCH If one should get into the service
| and take advantage of the new rule to rid
/ himself of his employees for political or re-
| ligious reasons, isn't it possible that the
1 new ruling will show his dishonesty quicker
than the old way, where some charge must
| be brought against clerk? There never
/ has been a time that the head of a de-
! partment could not get rid of a clerk IL he
i found his service unsatisfactory. and the
i department work, In my judgment would
suffer Ii such a state OF affairs did not ex-
| list. There Is not person in the govern
ment service who does not at some tima