The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-10
CIVIL SERVICE FUR
 INTERNAL REVENUE
Deputy Collectors Are Too
 Active in Politics
ORDER MAY BE ISSUED SOON
Deplorabe Conditions In North Caro- lima First Led to Investigation and Uniform Civil Service May
 Be the Result.

Washington October 9.-(Special)- The deputy collectors of Internal revenue throughout the country, numbering in all over eleven hundred, with salaries aver aging about $12oO per annum, will in all probability be placed under the civil ser vice by the executive order of January l. The civil service commission is now preparing a report to the President on the subject and it is believed they will strongly recommend that the President take this course,
 Civil Service Commissioner Greene has returned from trip to Kentucky and other states where he has been investigat ing the matter. In Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina there have been for years complaints of the perncious politi- cal activity of deputy collectors and testi- mony goes to show that assessments have been levied by them on wholesale or der. It is believed by the civil service commission that such an order would go far towards removing the constant com p1aints which are reaching the commis- sion. In fact. it is understood that the President. with whom the matter has been discussed informally, is only waiting for the official recommendation of the commission to put the order in effect.
 Led to an Investigation
 Last year the conditions became so bad in the western North Carolina district that the President placed the deputies in that district under the civil service. This led to an investigation in other dis tricts with the result that the commission believes 1t in the interest of the public service to insure every deputy collector.
 At present all storekeeper-guage who are drawing in excess of $500 per ahflum are embraced in the civil service list. It is only the collectors, who are presi- dential employees and the deputy col ectors who hold their places through the appointing power of the collector. who are outside the civil service provisions.
 From political standpoint the proposed action of the President will be most inl- portant and far-reaching. For years, in Inc, border states especially the internal revenue force has been a potent factor in controlling elections. While the prin- cipal storekeeper-g have been un- der civil service for some time, their as signments have been at the will of the deputies and it has not infrequently been foisud that storekeeper- guagers who 1ailed to take orders of a political nature. had little chance to make the regular per diem.
 Many Collectors In Sympathy.
 Tn his visit to the several districts Com missioner Greene found a number of col lectors who were heartily in sympathy wit h the proposed extension. The collec- tor of the Louisville district one of the largest in the country, was firm in the belief that the order should be issued. As Commissioner Greene explains. there is no reason why incumbents should oppose the extension as they now hold their places. From a civil service standpoint, how ever. the proposed order will in the future mark a decided step in the progress or civil service extensions.