Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-27
DEFY SPIRIT OF
CIVIL SERVICE
CASE SHOWS VIOLATION BY
COMMISSIONERS
TAKE POLICE BAILIFF OFF THE
CLASSIFIED LIST
Action is in Open Defiance of the City
Ordinance Requiring Appointment
from Regular Eligibility
Records

| Has the civil service commission vio-
lated the spirit of civil service, and
was the civil service commission the
tool of Harper and his police commits
sion?
The records of the civil service COM
mission conclusively prove that the
civil service has violated the very reg
ulations they were put in office to pre-
serve. One specific instance VIII Illus
trate how this was done.
At the request of Harper ana ms
police commission, the civil service TOOK
| the position of police court balm out
/ OF the classified service and merged the
position with that of patrolman' SO
| Harper and his associates could control
the appointments of bailifts. rms Is d
particularly nice plum in the police
department. as 1t pays $125 month!
In June. 1907, the police commission
| induced the city council to pass an or
dinance giving the chief of police the
power to appoint bailiffs instead of
taking them from the classified civil
service list This ordinance was
direct violation of the charter, which
provides that employees shall be APP
! pointed from the civil service eligible
! lists. ignoring the civil service alto
gether, and taking advantage of the
ordinance passed by the council, the
police commission appointed the man
they wanted.
The civil service soon learned of this,
and when they discovered they were
! found out, the police commission has
! tened to ask the civil service commits
sion to take the position of bailiff out
of the classified service. This was done
| in a communca ton to the commission
dated FEBRUARY 2S. 1908.
At the next session of the civil serv-
! ice commission the matter came up for
| discussion. -Four commissioners, w.
| Ona Morton, NJ X. Young, Dan Lau-
J bersheimer and DIR. D. w. Edelman
/ lined up on the side of the police COM
mission. and only DR.. John r. Haynes
opposed the matter.
Explain Reasons
DIR. Haynes opposed the proposal so
strenuously that in an effort to defend
themselves the commissioners who were
so anxious to favor Harper and his
police commission felt it necessary to
place themselves on record by dictat
| ing statements giving their reasons for
! favoring the measure. In answer to
this DIR. Haynes dictated a statement
answering all the pleas of the other
four commissioners and telling why he
was opposed to the measure.
In his statement DR.. Haynes says
that the classifications for patrolmen
and bailiffs should differ because the
duties of a bailiff differ from those of
a patrolman, for not only should a
bailiff be cognZant of the duties of a
patrolman, but owing to the fact that
he has to keep a daily record of many
cases, sometimes running into the hun
dreds, he should be a good and rapid
penman and should be examined on
this qualification. knowledge of other
! languages than his native tongue also
should be qualification, so the bailiff
may act as interpreter in the police
| court. The examination for bailiffs
! should not be restricted to patrolmen,
! but open to any one who chose to take
them. is DR.. Haynes opinion. The sal
airy is larger than that of patrolman
and more should be expected of a
| bailiff.
Alleged Lack Of Control
The other commissioners held that
| heads of the police department have
not sufficient control over bailiffs as
! long as they are kept in the classified
service. DR.. Haynes designated this as
| special pleading and said it was strange
that this was never thought of before
| during all the years civil service has
been in operation in Los Angeles. If
heads of the police department fail to
maintain discipline among the bailiffs,
said DR.. Haynes in his recorded OBJ
| jections, so much worse for them and
the service. If they cannot maintain
discipline, it is an acknowledgment of
inefficiency on their part These facts
and the history of the agitation, DR..
Haynes concluded, was sufficient in
itself to cause the civil service COM
mission to deny the request.
He declared frankly that he believed
the request from the police commits
sion was solely for the purpose of keep
ing in office a bailiff who had been
illegally appointed, and whom the po-
lice commission wished to favor
But in the face of these facts Nor
ton, Young, Laubersheimer ard Edel-
man voted to give Harper and his COM
mission what they wanted. Mayor
Alexander points to this example of the
violation of the spirit that should gov
ern civil service as one more reason
why he is justified in demanding the
designations of the commissioners, and
failing this, in asking the removed of
Young and Edelman, who are not only
guilty of this, but of more flagrant
violations of civil service spirit and
| principles