Evening star., 1914-08-08
MOVES TO WIPE OUT
CIVIL SERVICE LAW
Mr.. CuIIop Would Place Post
Office Employees in the
''SpoiIs" Column.
PROPOSES AMENDMENT
TO RAIL WAY PAY BILL
Measure Adopted by House in Com.
mittee, Although Older Demo
cratic Leaders Balk.

The crv Of the spoils hunter was heard
In the House of Representatives yester-
day. when Representative Culfop of In
diana introduced an amendment to the
railway mail pay bill the object of which
is to remove all civil service require
r7ents from all post office employees Rep
resentative Cullop who has had the hard
experience of not being able to find many
candidates for post Office Jobs who could
meet the educational requirements,
framed sweeping measure which means
in effect that the entire post office force
in each town and city walks out at the
beginning of an administration to make
way for an entirely new and unframed
force of strong politicians.
The Cullop amendment provides that
The postmasters at all such offices
shall have the power to select his assist
ant postmaster and all clerks and EN-
ployes in his said office. irrespective OF
any civil service laws TO the contrary,
and all laws. regulations and orders In
conflict with this act are hereby re-
pealed and nullihed.
Provided that. such appointments
shall be for period of four years
Section Previously Rejected.
The railway mail pay bill. in addition
to establishing II new basis for paying
the railroads for carrying mail. has
section in it which was defeated in another
bill. This section provides merely that
the assistant postmasters be taken out OF
the civil service. That has always seemed
a gigantic attempt 10 procure for tne
democratic party a big slice or patronage
bic as there are $4,000 such jobs In ex-
istence When the proposal was discussed
before it happened to be at just the time
when the incoming office-seekers were as
thick as bees around the Capitol, ana tne
hunger Of the political job hunters made
them storm the doors of congressman from
sunrise until midnight. Yesterday tnis
amendment was discussed again, with the
accompanying explanations on the part OF
the democrats who claim that civil serv-
ice. when it doesn't give jobs to democrats,
is bureaucracy in its most hideous FORM
However all previous attempts at pie
slicng We're outdone BY Representative
CuEIop. when he introduced his amendment
The democrats gasped amstin some OIL
them almos, collapsed with the boidness
of the grail. On the other side of the
House the wary republican ngnters; s
Cooper. who have fought the pie night
over and over again. eiggled in their joy.
They let the democrats have their way.
Older Leaders Balk.
1t was easily seen that the older and
wiser heads on the democratic side
did not want to adopt the Cuilop
amendment, as it was too much OF
retroactive step to take all at once
But there were enough on hand to get
1t through. and, to tell the truth. many
q republican voted for 1t in committee
of the whole. in order to be sure that
the Culiop amendment would be adopt
ed
And now it is a part of the railway
mail pay bill far as il has been per-
fected in committee of the whcle. The
House will be called upon to vote for
this pie grab by separate vote on sep
arate amendment before a week has
gone by. The republicans are waiting
to see how many democrats will go on
record in favor of the absolute destruc-
zion of the civil service in, order that
each man may have a handful of ap-
pointnentS
Mr.. Cullop Explains.
In explaining his amendment, Repre-
sentative Cullop drew i parallel which
caused considerable comment in the
House.
He said:
Did any civil service reformer protest
then" No: not one. They gulped 1t
down in quiet When the executive order
Was made putting assistant postmasters
under the classified service the blanket
covered incompetent men. and the time
between its PRONUNCIATION and its becom-
Ing effective was given to clear the decks
o. men in the service who were not as
good party WORKERS as desired and for
the appointment of partisans as a re-
ward for party services.
The most fragrant abuse Of both spirit
and letter was practiced, and now some
rnlier than thou rises up and cries 'SpoiIs,'
when We propose this action. Oh. we'll
th, Savior of mankind nearly 1000 years
ago when on earth, warned the people
q" beware OF the meu who stood in pub
fc places and proclaimed they were
better than other men. That doctrine
'as true then and II is true now and
tho same admonition should be invoked
poW and here.
Yes: these men who now declare they
ar" rctter than other people and cry
Spc!ls" ar" only doing SO because they
arr Unabl" t" control the spois II they
were. They would be doing nov as they
do when iu power. There is no use
81 deuyins this proposition"