Evening star., 1920-02-27

Attack on the bill introduced by
Senator King last month to give add
ed powers to the bureau Of efficiency
was begun To-Day bv the Federal En-
ployes' Union No. >.
The first gun in formal campaign
against the hill is an article headed
Shall the Civil Service Have Gar
appears in the .SSle OF the t@d'rai
Employe out today. The article is
written by II. J. quinn of the union.
who now is wcrl; ing with the reclaSsi-
fcation commission.
Declaring that the King bill pro-
poses autocracy for the civil service.
the article cites the title. as follows:
"A bill to authorize the bureau OF
efficiency TO provide for the promo
ton, transfer and discharge of Ger
tain ernnIoyes in the executive depart
men3s. bureaus. boards. commissions
and agencies. ar'i for other purposes.
Recital of Objections.
The article which has the backing
of the entire employees union. de
clareS. in part:
We cannot too urgently bring TINS
bill to the attention Of all employees
of the Departmental service ana 10
all administrative officials OF the
government. high and low, because
it has in il the possibilities OF the
greatest harm to the service as
whole We may not believe that the
bill will pass but X is 4 duty that
we owe ourselves to resent rroIhpu!
and vigorously every manifestation
of a purpose TO do harm to the serv-
ice, and this bill is Enthusiastically
such a manifestation
1T is designed to take from the ad-
ministratIve officials all control over
matters OF personnel ana or organ :
xation and business methods in their
departments and Offices. and to vest
such control in the bureau OF efh-
cheney 1t proposes to make the chief
of that bureau an apPointee OF the
Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives. and apparently accountable TO
no one but the chairnen of the com
mittees on appropriations of the SEN
ate and the House of Representatives
Likened to SpoiIs system.
by removing him from executive
eupervision and control. and thereby,
in fact placing all promotions. trans
fers and discharges. and all appoint
ments except original appointments. In
the civil service under the jurisdiction
of the legisls tive branch. il opens
the way for a return 10 something
very nearly like the spoilS system,
with favors dispensed through the in
strumentality of one man. 1t accord
ingly aims at one-man control OF
the executive civil service on a scale
Do audacious, so egotlsfic. and so aDso-
lutte, that when one reads the bill that
proposes this transfer and usurpatien
of authority ne wonders at the men
tai processes of the senator who lent
the sanction of his name to the bill
Asserts Meaning Is Plain.
but the meaning is so plain that it
requires no long deliberation for any
one to realize that if the senator who
introduced the bill fully understood
its import, as presumably he did. he
is quite ready to enthrall the civil
service in such wise that the indi-
vidual employees could remain in it
only at sacrifice of manhood and
womanhood scarcely less than that
required of serfs by a feudal lord of
awakened to the realization Of the
rights of the majority And when
1t is thus shown that there is a man
in the Senate who is willing to
sponsor such a bill ktrwpuld be mex
cusable folly for US to bind ourselves
be other men in the Senate and the
House who would be willing to vote
for ii.
Other Phases Cited.
This bill proposes to put the thou
sands of civilian employees OF the gov
eminent in the District OF Columbia
under the domination of bureau that
u
the aspirations of the individual en-
ployes toward general bettsrmsrt of
the service. 1t is fair presumption
that this bureau is TO some extent re-
sponsible for the present opposition to
the retirement hill introduced by Sem
ator Sterling bill introduced by Sem
need to talk retirement if such a bill
as Senate No. 1912 should ever be
passed. because under it's terms the
chief of the bureauof efficiency would
have full and final authority TO dis
charge any one that that bureau
should decide was unfit, and there
would be no redress for the indi-
vidual.''
Thinks Prevention Easier.
prevention is cheaper. easier and
simpler than cure II such a bill as
this should be enacted into law it
would be calamitous TO the civil serv-
fee We doubt that it will pass, but
somespart of it may find its way into
law, and it is by such gradual
growths that evil gathers strength.
Russia did not spring into sudden be-
ing in its pre-war entirety. Prussia
was a small nucleus around which
the emDire of the Hohenzollerns
gradually formed. Shall we have a
czar or a kaiser to rule our civil serv-
ice? We hope not Yet this bill pro-
poses in plain terms that we shall"