Evening star., 1934-11-30
800 DRY AGENTS
TO STAY ON Jobs
Pay Up to Congress. With
Treasury OodgIng All
y Responsibility. II

The Treasury Department today
sidestepped the patronage rider"
which is threatening to Gust more
than 900 employees in the Alcohol Tax
Unit tonight by notifying the men
that they could. if they desired. re-
main on a duty status and take
chance on Congress appropriating
funds for their pay when the new
session opens.
This action was decided upon the
basis of an opinion by Attorney Cen
eral Cummings. sought as a last re-
sort by Secretary Of the Treasury
Morgenthau in an effort to hold in
tact his investigative force. which is
charged with the important duty Of
enforcing the liquor laws.
AS soon as the Attorney Generals
opinion was received at the Treasury
orders Immediately went out all over
the country to the employees affected.
advising that previous notice of dis
missal was being thereby rescinded.
Will Stay on Job.
1t is confidently expected that the
men will stay on the job, though
they will have to work without pay
for more than a month at the min
imum. 1t is also believed the neces
sary funds will be forthcoming from
Congress. Numerous members have
informed the Civil Service Commits
sion that, in approving an appropri-
alton rider cutting off pay from unit
employees coming over from Justice.
until they had passed competitive
civil service examination. they thought
mistakenly they were proceeding
against political employees "blanketed"
under civil service instead of a class
that had obtained jobs by an earlier
competitive test and character inquiry
In ruling that while this rider cut
off pay. it was not self-executing. and
thus did not require the dismissal
of the employees. the Attorney General
sided with the arguments advanced
at an injunction hearing earlier this
week by Gen. Samuel T. Ansell. coun-
sci for a large group of those facing
removal.
AnSell, former judge advocate gen.
eral of the Army. pointed out that
some 60 years ago the Army went
for year without pay. due to the
failure of Congress to appropriate, but
later recovered through the Court of
Claims. 1t was his contention that
in this instance the positions ARE Gre
ated by general statute and that Con-
greSS could neither order the dismissal
of the men nor order an adminiStra-
tive officer to dismiss them.
Chief Justice Wheat declined to
issue a temporary injunction to keep
Secretary Morgenthau from dropping
the men. but application for a perma-
nent injunction still held on. Under
the development today, however, the
reason for this no longer exists
The 900 plus, around whom the fight
has revolved, include both those who
failed on the new examinations given
by the Civil Service Commission sew
eral weeks ago, and those who stood
on their competitive civil service
rights and declined to take the test.
The supposedly original intent of
the appropriation rider was to force
new examinations on those who had
actually dropped from the former
prohibition set-up in Justice, and then
reappointed into the Treasury. Con-
troller General McCarl, however,
brought several hundred additional
within its terms, when he held that
under an executive order, every for
mer prohibition employe had theoreti-
cally been separated from service IN
the reorganization of the Prohibition
Bureau which preceded transfer to
Justice. This ruling caught group
consequently, whose term of service
had been continuous, although under
different agencies.
Force Shortage Halted.
After the temporary injunction pro
ceedings failed. Gen. Ansen advised
his clients to proceed along the lines
that the Treasury today proposed.
Until today's development the
Treasury faced the prospect OF pro-
ceeding for some time with short
ened force, despite the fact that Illicit
operations might be expected to be on
the rise at this time Of the year be-
cause of the holiday trade.
Some 700-odd men had been re-
Amounted, effective tomorrow. but
hardly more than half Of these were
experienced. These were the hold
overs who passed the second test, and
the rest Of the force Is made up Of
new appointees. whose selection. 1t
has been pointed out, was of neces-
sity slow because OF the necessary
character inquiry.
Treasury officials have said that
the demoralization of the force which
resulted from their uncertain status
already has cost millions.