The sun., 1919-09-07
FIGHT TO
CURB BURLESON
Galloway Quits After Battling
Two Years to Preserve In
tegrity Of Civil Service.
SHAM IN MERIT SYSTEM
Political FavOritism Shown in
Making Post Office Depart
ment Appointments.
SHAM IN MERIT SYSTEM
special Despatch TO TIE suv.


WASHINGTON, Sept. s.-The long ant
silent struggle which has been pro.
crossing for more than two years be-
tween Postmaster General Burlesor
and the Civil Service Commission
reached a climax to-day when Com
missioner Charles NJ Galloway ten.
dered his resignation, forced out of of.
flee, he said, because he had lost his
fight against the disregard of the Law
which has been consistently practiset
by the Post Office Department official.
headed by Mr.. Burleson. In rendering
his resignation Mr.. Galloway made tht
following terse statement OF his POSI-.
ton:
My resignation was forced because
1 would not keep with Postmaster
General Burleson in debauching the
civil service and making a sham of
the merit system. Hermon w.
Craven, the Republican member. and
l, a Democrat, were ousted from the
commission because we were not will
ing that the commission should be a
mere adjunct of the Post Office De-
cially with reference to examinations
for Presidential postmasters under
the Executive order of March
81, 1917.
A very. recent example of Mr..
Burlesons conduct is furnished by
his proposed amendment to this order,
which now awaits the signature of
the President. The existing order
provides that the eligible with the
highest standing shall be nominated.
A large number of nominations have
been held up, many of them for a
long time, evidently in anticipation of
this amendment. which will enable
Mr.. Burleson in many cases to de-
prive those standing highest in these
examinations of the nominations to
which they are already entitled.
Among the post offices affected by
the amendment are those in. Boston
and, Newark.
Furthermore. a short time ago
the commission unanimously recon-
mended that the President appoint
as chief examiner an employee of the
commission who is far better quail
fed for this position than any other
person OF whom the commission has
knowledge. But the Postmaster
| General desires that the position be
filled by another person of his own
| selection.
ton.
The Boston and Newark instance
! cited by Mr.. Galloway are alleged L
be only milestones in the long stretcl
of abuses of the powers of office whicl
will be uncovered in the investigation
which is certain to follow by the Senat
| Post Office Committee. Both at Bostol
I Araru I'll ,sv,n# f,,, o., l..
cancies in the postmasterships have beel
held, but they were competitive in char
scter and the victors in the competition
have not been politically satisfactory
| to Mr.. Burleson.
One OF the cases certain to be cite,
when the investigation begins will b
| that of the postmaster at Salinas, Cal
| There the incumbent, 1t was discovered
| had been engaged in soliciting cam
| paign contributions from post office EN-
| ployees to the Wilson campaign fund
contrary to law. He was indicted, hale,
| into court, pleaded guilty" and wa
fined 5000. The Civil Service Commis
sions demand for his removal has beei
! ignored.
| The post office at Lockhart, Texas
furnishes a variation of the foregoing
example. Following the resignation o
the postmaster an examination was hel,
| TO fill the vacancy. A near relative o
Mr.. Burleson ran fourth in the compe
tition. Under the law the appointment
must be made from the three person
having the highest standing among thos'
| examined
| The Postmaster-G General, through Chic
Clerk Ruskin McArdle, called upon tn
| Civil Service Commission TO revise tn
examination papers and ascertain II tn
! relative had not been incorrectly rated
10