Rocky Ford enterprise., 1914-02-06
PRESIDENT WILSON HINTS THAT
HE WILL PROTECT THE CIVIL
SERVICE SYSTEM.
vEToEs FOR ATTACKS ON IT
Probably Sorry That He Yielded In
One instance-Rider on Postoffice
Appropriation Bill Has Been
Thrown Out.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

vetoes will await appropriation bllls
or any other kind of bills which con-
tain what can be construed as attacks
on the civil service system. Is 1t
too blunt or too hard thing to say
that the president may feel that to-
day. he is paying the penalty of yield
ing in one instance thereby Civ
ing the clamorers after place their
chance to try to make him yield
again?
The house committee on post offices
and post roads has for its chairman
Representative John A. Moon of Ten
nessee. Mr.. Moon was in favor OF
keeping in the post office appropria-
tion bill the provision which exempt
ed assistant postmasters from the op-
erations of the civil service. Now 1t
is fair to say that when the Repub-
licans were in power a great many
of them were in favor of extending
the patronage lists to the depletion
of the civil service lists and SO per-
haps it is only natural that now the
Democrats are in power they should
feel the same way. The rider which
was put on the post office appropria-
tion bill and intended to exempt as
sistant postmasters from the civil
service rules unquestionably was in
tended simply to give 2,400 more
places to the politicians to fill with
men friendly to the present political
order of things in Washington.
AS had been expected. the rider met
with the objection that 1t was out Of
order. and was struck out, SO Mr.. Will
son will not have to interpose the
veto or give a reluctant sanction to an
appropriation bill which contains a
clause inimical, as he believes. to the
civil service.
He Yielded a Little Once.
The president has conferred fire.
quently with the Democrats OF the
house, urging them for the sake of
party. and probably for his own sake.
to check the disposition of some of
the majority members to attack the
civil service through appropriation
and other measures. Through the
years Mr.. Wilson has declared himself
on many occasions a civil service re-
former, one devoted to the spirit as
to the letter of the law. and yet not
long ago he yielded little with ap-
parently great reluctance. 1t seems
bad enough for the president to have
some of the old time civil service sup
porters writing articles on Broken
| Pledges" and other subjects intended
by them to show that their former
idol. the president, wobbles little.
1t is probably true that Mr.. Wilson
| fully believed when he signed a for
mer bill making exemptions to the
civil service law. that veto would
have done injury to the public serv-
ice by delaying work for which the
main part of the bill made provision.
In other words. he thought that while
the civil service attack was unjusti-
fable, he must sign in order to con-
serve the countrys best interests.
There has been sharp criticism of
some of the administrations appoint
ments to foreign Offices. 1t is said
some of the congressman. cheered by
their success in breaking down some
of the civil service bulwarks. are
turning their eyes to the heights
where the consular service has been
reposing in supposed security. The
civil service law does not cover the
consuls and consular agents of the
government. but the efforts OF two
administrations to protect them with
the spirit OF the law thus far have
been successful.
Consular Service In Peril.
If>the Democrats want to get after
the consular service. it will not be
necessary for them to pass a law to
make their work legal In the case of
the post Offices they are compelled to
| legislate and to meet the opposition
in the field of debate. thereby at
tracting full public attention to their
deeds. The consuls and consular
agents can be removed one by one
quietly provided the state department
and the administration shall give
consent.
Some of the Republicans are charg-
| ing that in many of the diplomatic ap-
pointments of the present administra
tion there has been enough to show
| that the state department is, willing to
| nay political debts by giving jobs TO
| the faithful. 1t is not believed. how
ever. in Washington that President
Wilson will allow the bars which
guard the consular service to be
thrown down. The service today is
on a good basis and every man in 1t
has been given to believe that his
| job is safe. Some friends of Mr.. vii.
| son are telling him that eventually no
mans job will be safe If the Demo
Gratis put any more anti-civil service
riders on the appropriation bills.
Aimed at the Pork Barrel,
There is just as much of demand
this year in both houses of congress
for a public buildings bill. ordinarily
known as the pork barrel bill, as there
was in the years that are passed.
1t has looked many times as If pub