Evening star., 1920-04-05
j. s. WORKERS WILL
ASK APPEAL COURT
BIassingham Case Stirs Fed
Grafton of Federal En-
pI0yeS to Action.

Congress viii be urged to establish
a civil service court Of appeals by
the National Federation of Federal
, employees. it was announced today.
as the only means of employees OBJ
tanning fair hearing in such cases
as that of S. +. Blassingham. law
clerk of the Post Office Department.
charged with misstatement OF facts
i'm hearing before the reclsssifica-
tion commission"
The possibilities of perpetrating
monstrous inJustices against civilian
employees of the government by auto
cratic administrators are sharply
empha sized in the case of Mr.. Blass-
! ingham. declared President Luther
{. Steward of the federation today.
Although he was acting by re-
quest Of "A congressional commission
and in purely representative ca
pacity. he has no protection against
discipline and possible removal by
his superior officer. the Postmaster
General who is displeased with the
statements made to the reclassifica-
tion commission concerning employ
ment conditions in the mail bag re-
pair shop.
Condition Called .Scandai."
The conditions in that shop have
though IL is true new and better
building has been erected and condi-
tionS are to some extent improved.
the employees in the shop still com
plain of the lack of cleaning meth
ods. exhausts for the dust and other
provisions for protecting their health
against the menace of handling mail
sacks which. after being dragged over
station pltforms and floors aud bare
ground all over the country. are
brought to these women TO handle
and repair.
The vindictive spirit behind the
charges against Mr.. Blassingham IL
clear" Mr.. Steward continued. The
transcript of the hearing TO which
the charges refer shows that prac-
tically every point I'm the brief OF the
woman employees. for which, by the
way. the women themselves emphat-
ically state that they and not Air.
Bfassingham are responsible-prac-
. tically everything they say was ad-
mitted by the superintendent of the
shop. j. Il. Nady, when the latter was
cross questioned by Commissioner
Cooper. chairman for the re-
classification commission at the hear
ing.
1T is impossible to believe that the
| inspector in charge of the case or the
| Postmaster General himself actually be-
| leve that any misstatements were made
and certainly not by Mr.. Blassingham.
who. because he had been refused per-
mission to see the workshops himself.
had made no statements on his own ac-
| count al all, but had merely assisted
the woman employees to formulate
their statement
! "Marked Man," He Says.
| THAT Mr.. Blassingham was a marked
man SO far as the Postmaster General
was concerned however, has been evil
dent almost throughout the period of
| the reclassification commissions work.
At the first meeting of the central COM
| mittee of the Post Office Department.
acting with the recassfication commits
sion, Chief Clerk McArdle of the Post
Office Department, the administrative
representative on the committee. dis
played unwillingness TO recognize or CO.
operate with the employees representa-
tive, until the reclassfication commits
sion itself. through one of its members,
interviewed.
Under such conditions" Mr. Steward
concluded, lit is a travesty to have any
employees fate i'm the hands of the de-
partment. Postmaster General Burleson
is in this instance the prosecutor. judge
and jury. The only right answer is an
impartial appellate tribunal for the en-
tire civil service"