The Washington herald., 1920-01-04
TO HOLD
JOBS FOR YANkS
American Legion Opposes
Discharge Of Service Men
In Temporary Places.
THOUSANDS AFFECTED
Congress Will Be Asked to
Pass Law Granting Full
est Protection.
THOUSANDS AFFECTED


charged soldiers, sailors and Ma
rines have been certified for APP
pointment to clerical and other po-
sitions in Washington and the coun-
try at large, according to state
ment made yesterday by Commits
sioners Martin A. Morrison and
George r. Wales. of the Civil Serv-
ice Commission, who vigorously de-
MED that ex-service men who are
threatened with loss of their jobs
in Washington in the War Risk and
other bureaus that are reducing
their forces. have, failed to receive
preference in appointments to gov
eminent positions.
Inasmuch as all former service
men in the government employ in
Washington who have not been
certified. whether they have taken
the civil service examinations or
not, are facing loss of their posi-
tions under the government in the
general retrenchment program. the
American Region has taken upon it.
self as a sacred duty to see that
these men receive the treatment to
which they are entitled.
Demand Enforcement.
The legislative committee of the
American Legion. of which John
Thomas Taylor is counsel. will de-
niand the rigid enforcement of sec
tion 169. of. the Act of Congress of
1876, which provides that in making
any reduction of force in any OF the
executive departing nts, the head
of such departments shall retain
those persons who have been hon.
orably discharged from the military
or naval service OF the United
States.
Effort will be made through the
proper channel to secure an interpre-
tation of this provision by the attor-
ney general. and in the event it should
be construed as meaning only fOrncSr
service men. who hold permanent CT q
service appointments and not tenn
porary appointees. additional legisla-
ton will be sought at the hands Of
Congress to protect the ex-service
men holding temporary appointments.
but who have not been certified or
reached in the order of their standing
on the eligible lists.
The Civil Service Commission holds
that these men must be reached in
the order of their standing On the
preference lists before cert'fication on
the ground that they have got to COM
pete with each other.
While this may be the law as it
stands, its enforcement will not ben
eft ex-setvice men who are on the
eligible lists with higher ratings than
those obtained by temporaries already
in the government employ. With
practically all the departments cut
ting down their forces there will be
few. if any. appointments for many
months to come. With no vacan-
cies, there can be no appointments
Hence az q practical thing there can
be no competition for something that
does not exist
This being SO. legion officials point
out. the competition argument falls
to the ground. and the only Dues
ton they are asking bureau chiefs
is. Are you going to retain eX-serv-
ice men when YOU make cuts in your
forces. or not?
In the event that all doubts as to
the construction of the preference
laws are not Interpreted in favor
of the men for whom they were
passed. the legion is prepared to
carry the fight to Congress. where
the first move will probably be the
introduction of a joint resolution
directing department heads not to
discharge any former service man
except for irefficiency.
$4,000 Pass Tests.
Figures made public yesterday by
the Civil Service Commission show
that there are now only 100 former
service men on the eligible list ut
the commissions office here who
have not been certified. In the
civil Service districts outside If
| Washington there are approx
,mately 400 men on the preference
list. but the latter have requested
to be appointed to positions in the
various States and not in the eX-
ecutive departments in the National
Capital.
More than 5000 eX-service men have
taken Civil Service examinations in
the country at large since July. 1919,
Commissioners Morrison and Wales
state. and their preference claims
have been allowed OF this number
about $500 successfully passed the
tests. and approximately 1900 have
been certified for appointment to
classified and unclassified positions.
In the War Risk Bureau in Wash
ington there are sc eX-service men.
OF this number there are 15S holding
temporary appointments. some of
whom have passed the Civil Service
tests and some who have not. They
have not yet been certified. and hence
are affected by the ruling of the COM
mission that temporary appointees
must go first when reductions are