Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-12
OLD SPO|LS SYSTEM
VIRTUALLY REVIVED
IN POSTOFF|CE JOBS
Tho Atlanta Journal News Bureau,
623 Riggs Building.
BY THEODORE TILLER

WASHINGTON, May 11.-A COM
promise between an outright "spoiIs
system" and appointments as at
present under civil service procedure
is embodied in the executive order
issued by President Harding, gov
erning the naming of first, second
and third-class postmasterS Care
full reading Of the order will reveal
that it will utrn postoffice jobs up
side down in Georgia and other
states, and there is a hole left in
the patronage fence through which
any deserving Republican may crawl.
The compromise order bears out
exclusive dispatches to The Journal
from it's Washington correspondent
six weeks ago that the new admin
istration would neither revoke tSe
Wilson order nor retain it, but that
middle course would be pursued
based on selection from among three
high eligibles' and a change in the
method of examination. There are
now well more than 100 postoffice
vacancies in Georgia, with others oc-
S0L ING l.Oul NSSh ~ Week, OF 11Ou
to month, as comm: ssions expire.
That the Republican state organiza-
ton will be virtually supreme in
filling these vacancies is apparent
if one will closely examine the pro-
gram for selection proposed. In
brief, here is what the order pro-
vides:
New G.. o. p. Plan
1. In case of a postoffice vacancy
open competitive examinations will
be held to fill it, unless the post
master general wants to fill it with
somebody already in the classified
service-such as an assistant post
master, superintendent of mails, a
carrier or an inspector.
2. II an examination is held, not
the name Of the highest eligible,
but that of the three highest eligibles,
shall be sumbitted to the appointing
power. Any one Of the three may be
selected. For instance, if one Re-
publican and two Democrats top the
list, it will be a simple matter to
appoint the Republican if the or
ganiZation wants the Job.
8. However, if a postmaster's term
expires and that postmaster stood
an examination during the Wilson
administration and got in, he may
be continued in his place in the
discretion of the present postma ster
general and not required to take an
other examination. Again, there is
chance here for political byplay. If
Republican was appointed after
competitive examination within the
past three or four years, Postmas-
ter general Hays may say that he
shall be reappointed without further
examination. If a Democrats was
appointed, and the administration de-
be required to compete in another
examination.
That is the blunt, practical mean
ing of the executive order. Whether
it will be administered from the
standpoint of politics or efficiency
pie room, however, for the sway of
will gradually develop. There is am
politics and, 10 before said in this
correspondence. some of the practical
politicians of the Republican party
have long been demanding that the
administration reaffirm the doctrine
of the victor and the spoils.
Publication of the order will mean
an immediate tightening of the pa
tronage lines in Georgia and else
where. Unquestionably it means
more jobs to go after and in all prob
ability to get.
The president expressed the desire
that eventually congress shall put
all postmasters actually under the
classified service, as fourth-class
postmasters are now placed.
Applied locally, the Harding mod
ifcation of the Wilson orders makes
postoffices in Georgia as Atlanta,
Rome, Dalton, Griffin and other i'm
portant cities where vacancies exist.
Postmaster General Hays may pro-
mote some one fro mthe classified
service now in one of these Offices
and not require a competitive exam
ination, or he may wipe the slate
clean and call for new examinations
all around.
When President Wilson quit office
he had two to three thousand post
office nominations before the senate.
They were never confirmed and the
makes a new deal and leaves it OPP
tional with the postoffice department
to reappoint somebody now acting
as postmaster or on the classified list
or to call for wholesale new exam
nations.