The St. Johns herald., 1922-04-06
APPOINTMENTS
 CAUSE DEBATE NUMBER OF POSTAL INSPECTORS INCREASED FROM APO
 TO 520. PASS POSTOFFICE BILL APPROPRIATION MADE TO RE- STORE NEW YORK TUBE
 SERVICE.
(Wsstern Newspaper Union News seriosl

Washington.-The postoffice apprO- priation bill, carrying $623, ,779,00O, was passed by the Senate after a heated fight. The measure carries $63, ,309,- 900 more than as passed by the House, S50,00O,000 of the increase going for federal highway aid.
 The bill also carries provisions for restoring to service the New York pneumatic mail tubes and for contin- uing the New York to San Francisco air mail service. The vote on the tube amendment was 36 to 19, and came after a bitter attack had been made on the proposition by several Demo crats. The $50,00O,000 was accepted by the Senate without debate and with out a roll call.
 The fight centering around postOf- flee appointments, originating early in discussion of the bill, resulted just be- fore adjournment of the Senate in the introduction by Senator Harrison, Democrat, of Mississippi, of a resolu- ton calling on the President to supply the Senate with the number of execu- tive orders he has issued removing postoffices from civil service classifi- cation. The resolution went over un- der the rules.
 The fight which eliminated in the Harrison resolution was precipitated by an amendment increasing the num- Der of postal inspectors from APO to 520, a move which MT. Harrison charged was to make more places for Republicans. The debate quickly en- tered the subject of postmaster ap- pointments and the President was charged with having removed the Marion, Ohio, office from civil service by executive order so that he could appoint the postmaster in his home town.
 This amendment involved $235, 900, but it required two hours of discus sion and a record vote, 40 to 21, be- fore it was finally put into the bill.
 AS for the New York tubes, Sena- tor McKellar, Democrat, Tennessee, claimed that the Seante was giving its approval to something "that is dangerously near a brazen steal of fed eral funds"
 Senator Norris, Republican, Nebras- ka, predicted that another generation would see the construction of such tubes for the transportation of mail between great cities instead of in the more limited districts such as con. gested areas of New York.
 During consideration of the amend ment to increase the number of postal inspectors from APO to 520, the Senate defeated an amendment by Senator Mcclellan, to increase the number only 30 instead of 100. Senator Harrison's charges of politics aroused the Repub- licans and Chairman Townsend of the postoffice committee, informed the Senate that there were pending some 47,000 claims and protests in the pos tai service, and he believed the addi- tional inspectors would save the gov. ernment as much as $10,0OO,OOO year in cleaning up those cases.
 From the subject of claims against the government the debate went into the filling of vacancies in postmaster ships and here politics again was charged. Senator Mcclellan, Demo crat, Tennessee, described President Harding's ruling giving former service men priority in appointment after passage of civil service examinations, as the greatest hoax we have seen." He scorned statements that the ruling was being carried out