Evening star., 1921-06-30

mittee that an employe under charges
in that department was never permit
ted to confront the complainant, or
even to know. who the complainant
the papers and evidence upon which
the charges were based.
Ihe accused. said Mr.. Madden,
cannot face his accuser or even
know who he Is"
Cannot Get the Truth.
without an appeal to civil service
tribunal, Mr.. Madden said, Congress
cannot get the truth about the ex-
ecutiVe departments. He cited vari-
Gus instances of discharges solely for
tcstifying before congressional COM
mlttees Some of these cases. he said.
involved employees of many years
service. who had been dismissed on
trivial grounds and without their day
In court. They were discharged"
he said, "wholely on the basis of
charges made by their superiors, and
without fair trial"
/, MIR. Madden mentioned various
other bodies which had examined the
facts and found substantially the
same situation. Among such bodies
! had been the original reclassification
commission and the industrial con-
| ference called by former President
Wilson. of which Secretary Hoover
was member. The latter, he said,
had urged the establishment Of such
| tribunal. especially for government
employees He denied that there would
be any tendency to congest a civil
! service court of appeals with COM
plants. On the other hand, it would
! eliminate. he said. the trivial and
foolish charges ON officer would file
| complaints without reasonable
! foundations; petty annoyances would
| disappear
| The city of Chicago. said Mr.. Mad
den, has had the system which he IA
vors in operation for many years. No
one OF the 10000 employees of the CITY
may be discharged without the right
oI an open hearing. at which time he
| may be confronted with his accuSer
and guaranteed the right of counsel.
| German Tells Experience,
Representative John J. German q,
tnlcaso who was an employe of tho
government until three Years ago. relat
so MS experiences in the postal service
| ooth as clerk and carrier. and laid be.
IRE tne committee many personal recol-
| lections of instances Of arbitrary dis
| criminations and dismissals without fair
hearings. '"i'
| What We need in the postal sery-
| zee, he said. is a statute of limita-
tions. ! know of cases of charges
pIeIerred against men in the service
wherein were introduced old charres
lhese men had every reason to as
sumo that such charges had been dis.
| posed Of when originally made The
| DOORS should be closed some time on
the right of trial"
| Other Witnesxes.
I among other witnesses who apnear.
go IN favor of this legislation w..r.
| lhomas F. Flaherty, secretary-treas. &.
urer OF the National Federation q,
| noSt Ofhce Clerks: Miss Gertrude NJ
MMcNally, thlrd vice president Of the
nauonai Federation of Federal EN-.
proves; Edward Cantwell, secretary.
treasurer of the National Associatior
OF Letter Carriers: Edward ]. RYAN
president of the Railway Mail Asso.
! cation; Robert H. Alcorn, Dresid-n,
OF the National Association of Super.
ylsors; n. P. Alifas. representing the
internationai Assoc iation of Machin
~ u.s. Miss Mary Endicott. representing
1he National Women's Trade Union
League. and ]. Cletus Stambaugh OF
the National Federation of Rural
Letter Carriers
! Arguments for the passage of the
Maloney bill. to increase the annuitjes
paid to retired employees Of the gov
ernment, were also heard by the com
mittee. Jacob Starr. president of the
Association of Retired Government
employees. introduced the witnesses
and spoke in favor of the bill.
Theodore. F. Swayze. a member of
me EXECUTIVE committee of this or
ganizatfssl. in citing the efficiency and
lcyaity or the average government
empioye.- recalled an instance during
! his service as chief clerk of the
Treasury Department in 1885, when
an examination of the Treasury ac-
counts on the advent of new ad-
| nlnistratton had revealed an error of