Evening star., 1931-12-01
US. OFFICIAL CITES
BETTER DRY FORCE
Commissioner Says Civil
Service Has Improved
Personnel.
Special pispat tch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DELAWARE, Ohio, December L.
The enforcement of prohibition ''reeked
with scandal before the Civil Service
Commission assumed supervision over
dry force appointments, Miss Jessie
Dell, a member of the United States
Civil Service Commission. today told the
prohibition class Of the department OF
political science of Ohio Wesleyan Uni
versity
Miss Dell spoke on the general sub
ject of choosing personnel for the law
enforcement agencies Of the Govern
mert, declaring that the old adage that
ut takes a rogue to catch q rogue"
does not hold good here.
Men of high intelligence. men OF
character, men who can Withstand
temptation, men who can by their own
example increase respect for law as law.
are the only kind of men the Federal
Government wants." she emphasized.
BIames Political Pressure.
Taking up the subject of prohibition
forces under the old appointive system
prior to the act Of 1927, Miss Dell said
that 1.-The stencil OF its rottenness
reached to high heaven"
Appointments through political pres
sure or personal favor were its curse.
she continued. Here is an example OF
the way in which such appointments
resulted: A certain man was appointed
to A minor position In the Federal pro-
hibition enforcement service. His SAL
ary was $4,000 year. Six months later
he was coming to work in Limousine.
Indiscreet as that was. the employe be-
came even bolder with the result that
both he end the politician who had put
him in the job were convicted on
charges involving collusion In releasing
for bootleg purposes liquor tnaI NAG
been seized by the Government. Doubt
less the easy money was attractive to
the Government employe. Also he felt
that he was under obligation to his
influence; that he owed something TO
the power that had given him the en-
ployment. It Is possible that the whole
scheme was prearranged.
1.-THE case / have described Is au-
thentic 1t is also typical. for in the
seven wears in which the Volstead law
was operative Il put q question mark
here) under the method Of appoint
ment which prevailed before the act
of March 3, 1927, 1852 employees in
the prohibition enforcement staff were
removed for delinquency or misconduct.
In 551 of the cases the offense war
ranted prosecution in the courts.
Others Were Involved.
Usually others besides prohibition
EMPLOYEES were involved, in q large per-
centage of the cases the outsiders
being active, even prominent, in politics.
Three State directors Of Federal pro-
hibition enforcement were sentenced to
serve penitentiary terms. How many
violations within the service were not
discovered will never be known.
THE Civil Service Commission real
lied that its own organization and the
merit system as a principle would come
in for severe criticism unless it could
be shown within q reasonable time
that there had been marked improve
ment In prohibition enforcement.
When the commission took over the
Job Of cleaning house 1t adopted a pro-
cedure Of selection more rigid than any
in its history. In the first year after
the prohibition force was fully re-
cruited under the civil service system
the turnover was reduced by more than
so per cent It Is significant that so
per cent Of the personnel In ONCE when
the commission got started on the job
was out Of ONCE when 1t got through"
She pointed out the commentator
that has come from official sources since
the appointments were put under Civil
Service, and explained how the selec-
tons are made, showing in this con-
nection how many applicants succomh
to the character investigation" recall
ing that the figure was around so per
cent In the last fiscal year.