Evening star., 1934-09-16
|, 1,4)DU.S. WORKERS.
FACE lob THREAT.
Alcohol Tax Unit Employees
Must Enter Open Test
Under Justice Ruling.

new alcohol tax unit of the Internal
Revenue Bureau face threat to their
Jobs and notification of their civil
Attorney General. made public yester-
day, requiring them once again to
enter open competitive examination to
qualify for the places they now hold.
A scattering of other Treasury workers
may be likewise affected.
The group. comprising many classes.
clerical, was transferred from
The Justice Department in the general
governmental reorganization plan
which brought liquor law enforcement
into the Treasury. Their plight re-
suits directly from legislation enacted
by the last Congress at the instance,
of Senator Mcclellan,
Of Tennessee. He charged
that the alcohol tax unit was being
loaded with Republicans, and pushed
through an amendment to the internal
revenue appropriation, which osten-
sibly would have forced only some
700 men in investigative positions to
be re-examined, but which the Attor-
ney General now interprets as ap-
plicable to all those shifted.
Examinations Ordered.
The investigative examinations al
ready have been ordered by the Civil
Service Commission, which said yes
terday that the additional examina-
tions necessitated by the new develop
ment would be arranged as soon as
possible.
With the tests based on open COM
petition, not only the incumbents of
the positions, but any one else may
enter, and after the list of eligibleS
is established by the commission, ap-
pointments rest in the Treasury.
Incidentally, in addition to the
l 400 or so who must defend their
tenure, approximately $50 patronage
employees of the unit, who got places
under this administration from which
workers with Civil Service status we're
dropped, also must take the open
tests, it was said.
Many Hundreds Dismissed.
The Attorney Generals opinion adds
another chapter to the hectic career
of the former Prohibition Bureau and
its remnants, in the past 13 months.
First of all, under the reorganization
order issued by President Roosevelt
shifting Government agencies gener-
ally, the bureau-then in Justice
was abolished. Its investigative func-
f,-o 20
Beverage Unit Of the Bureau Of In
in Justice, and its permit
functions went to Internal Revenue
DismisSalS ran into the hundreds un-
der this abolishment, but large
group held on, principally in the Bu-
reau of Investigation.
All these had competitive civil Serv-
Ice status, but in the shift to the Bu-
reau Of Investigation. they lost this
because, it was explained, Investigation
Is a non-civil service group.
This change in status permitted
at will, and appointments
likewise, and the result was that some
thing like $50 patronage appointments
were made in the former civil service
group.
Ordered to Take Test.
When these investigational func-
tions were transferred to the Treas
ury in March, however, President
at the instance Of Secretary
provided that this pat
ronage class must take examinations,
and non-competitive tests were pre-
scribed. These will have to take the
new tests now, it was pointed out yes
terday.
Meanwhile, in building up his liquor
regulation group in Internal Revenue,
had reappointed some TOO
former prohibition agents, all with
classified status, who had
been dropped when the Prohibition
Bureau was abolished. Senator Nc
Kellar, provoked because of the re-
puted predominance of Hoover Re-
publicans" in the group, instituted
an investigation, in an effort to force
the objects Of his attack to take ex-
He contended the re-
we're in violation Of the
automatic separation" clause of the
reorganization order, because they
mad not been made within four
but the Attorney General
him.
The upshot of this was McKellar's
to the Internal Revenue
appropriation, which barred payment
after December /, next, to any Of sew
,ral classes specifically named, "or
my other" who did not undergo a
lew competitive test.
Queried Attorney General.
While this restriction obviously was
timed at the cases of the former dry
agents, the Civil Service Commission
aw the possibility that it might go
much further, and, accordingly,
Iueried Attorney General Cummings.
The commission asked:
If the examinations were necessary
or employees transferred from Justice
% Treasury Immediately upon the
;hift of functions, and II the same
held good when the employees were
dropped temporarily, but then re-
sPPOLlOCO W IIlC llCW SIOuR- PtOCCuuIc
by executive order-and
what classes should be considered as
coming within the terms of the ex-
The Attorney General answered the
irst two items affirmatively, and then,
With regard to the second, amplif1ed:
THE positions covered are
not necessarily limited to those posi-
ions the incumbents of which are
in the performance Of the
functions transferred from the De-
,artment of Justice, but include all
positions in the Treasury Department
similar in type or kind to those for
nerly existing in the Bureau of Pro-
libition and the Alcoholic Beverage
Unit. Hence (the law), applies to
my employe in the Treasury De-
)artment who was separated from
ervice in the Bureau of Prohibition
" the Alcoholic Beverage Unit be-
ween June 10 (transfer order date)
md December 81, 1898, and whose
lutieS are similar in kind, but not