Evening star., 1939-03-19


welt, then a member of the Civil
Service Commission, and the late
Senator Arthur Pue German of
Maryland, for many years a promi-
nent figure in Democratic councils,
was recalled yesterday when John
7. Doyle, veteran commission aide,
came across the copy of a letter
Commissioner Roosevelt had di-
rected to the Marylander 48 years
ago, vigorously resenting a Senate
attack on commission examining
practices.
Couched in a tone unknown in
this day for communications of the
kind, the let'er ascribes the Sena-
tors criticism, in a case involving
a constituent, % ignorance or de-
llberate misrepresentation and de-
mands proof of the charges.
Mr.. Doyle, former secretary. who
was with the commission from its
inception in 1883 until he resigned
in 1882, said that 1T. r." had drafted
the letter and then turned it over
to him to be copied. He does not
believe that Senator German re-
piled. Mr.. Doyle was assembling
some material from his files when
this document came to light.
Text of Letter.
The letter follows:
March 1st, 1891.
Senator Arthur P. German.
Sir: On February % last YOU
commented with some temper upon
me for having in a letter to YOU
and also in public speeches called
you to account very severely for
what you said on the floor of the
Senate, a couple of years ago, in
crlticizing the action of the Civil
Service Commission; and you fur
ther remarked that you had at the
time sought to correct a great evil
which had arisen owing to our stu
pldity':: and that I had gone beyond
the bounds of propriety' and been
guilty OF 'audacitv' because as you
said I had found fault with you for
having attempted to correct the de-
tects growing out of Cthe commits
sioners) want of ability to enforce
the civil service law in a practical
and fair way You added that you
had neither answered nor taken any
notice of my letter, deeming my
action outrageous and insolent.
Permit me to refresh your men,
ory as to the facts in the case. In
a speech in the Senate in 1889 you
criticized the alleged extraordinary
and impractical questions which the
commission propounded to appli-
cants. and gave an account of a
tpurely imaginary outrage perpe-
trated by our local board in Balti-
more upon friend of yours, "a
bright young man who tried to pass
the letter carriers examination. You
said they wanted him to tell them
what was the most direct route from
Baltimore to Japan, and, as he said,
he never intended to go to Japan,
he had never looked into that ques-
ton, and he failed to make the
proper answer. Then they wanted
to know the number of lines of
steamers plying between the United
States and Liverpool or London. I" =
They then branched off into geom-
etry and passing over every
thing that looked to his qualiflca-
tions he was rejected There is not
one word of truth in this statement
from beginning to end; each indi-
vidual assertion is a falsehood. No
such questions and none even re-
motely resembling them have ever
been asked in any of our examina-
tions for letter carriers, whether at
Baltimore or elsewhere. In these as
in all our other examinations, the
questions asked are practical and
are relevant to the duties to be per-
formed in the place sought for.
Says Answer Imperative.
Later in the same year you sub
stantially reiterated these state
ments in interviews in the press,
and they were widely quoted and
used as arguments against the COM
mission. Your high official position,
which gave them currency and Gre
dence, made it imperative that they
should be answered.
LAS there was not a word of truth
in your allegations it was evident
either that you were willfully stat
ing what you knew to be false or