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halo 'round his head, to distinguish him from the ordinary Congressional scrub.

"Throughout the entire three years of my service in this body, I have been up against the little machine that dominates the proceedings and deliberations of this House.

"I, for one, expect to live to see the day in this House, not when the Speaker will tell the individual members of this House what he is going to permit them to bring up, but when those individual members constituting a majority will inform the Speaker what they are going to bring up for themselves.

"When we go into Committee of the Whole for the consideration of bills on the Union Calendar, every man with a bill on that Calendar has, or ought to have, an equal chance to get his bill considered.

"But, under the other system-the unanimous-consent routeunfair and inequitable, the Speaker of this House stands up and passes out recognitions for "unanimous consents" like so many sugar-coated doughnuts. He recognizes those he desires to recognize, and he does not recognize those whom he does not wish to recognize.

"What is the Union Calendar of this House, and what bills go upon that Calendar? Every bill containing an appropriation of money or creating an office goes upon that Calendar. It is difficult to conceive of any important bill which would not include in its provisions one or the other of those features?

"It is never called! Only once in the last seven years has this House gone into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of bills on the Union Calendar.

An Annex to the Committee on Rules.

"What do we amount to as individual legislative units in this House-this House that was once the great House of Representatives, the popular forum of a patriotic people? What is it now? It is an annex to the committee room of the Committee on Rules. Here is where we go through the stupid formality of ratifying the legislation that is determined upon by the Speaker and his Committee on Rules. When I contemplate the system now in vogue in this House, under and by virtue of which no man can do anything unless the Speaker of the House and the Committee on Rules are willing that he should, I say, when I contemplate that system it gives me a pain in my patriotism!"

Mr. Cushman is a young man, and probably thinks that the Republican party can be reformed, but for years the autocratic power of the Speaker and the Committee on Rules has gradually grown stronger, until it is now almost absolute. These Republican leaders are absolutely dominated by the trusts and corporations, and this corrupt system has grown up to preserve their hold on the legislation.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

THE REPUBLICANS TAKE A LONG STEP BACKWARD.— PERNICIOUS POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF FEDERAL OFFICIALS.

Civil serivce reform has been brought to its lowest ebb by the order issued by President Roosevelt.

The partisans who now control the departments have full sway to "promote the efficiency of the service" by getting rid of those under them who raise a word of protest against the policy of the Republican party on any question.

The Rebecca Taylor Case.

The case of Miss Rebecca Taylor, who criticised the political policy of President Roosevelt in his administration of the Philip

pine Islands, and was summarily dismissed from the service for so doing, is a sample case under the new ruling that the President has set up. No charges against her character or work were made by the War Department. In fact, there is every evidence that she was a most exemplary employee of the Government.

The rule as now laid down by the President is that the partisan chiefs of bureaus are to be judge and jury of the fitness of the clerks under them, and that the least show of independent thought will be cause for dismissal. This will result in the removal of all the Democratic clerks in the Government service unless they bow the knee and keep their mouths shut on imperialism, the protection of the trusts, Cuban reciprocity and ship subsidies. Most of all, they must not utter any word that would reflect on the Presidential doings and sayings. That would be lese-majeste.

That was the crime that Miss Rebecca Taylor committed, if we can judge by the facts in the case. On May 12 a communication from her appeared in the Post, of Washington, in which she criticised the speech of President Roosevelt delivered before the Sons of the American Revolution on "The Flag Shall Stay Put."

This communication evidently came to the notice of President Roosevelt, for a few days after it appeared Secretary Root notified the chief of the bureau in which Miss Taylor was employed to ask her if she had written the communication in the Post This, of course, was an official formality, as her name was signed to it, and she acknowledged that she wrote it. Her dismissal did not follow at once, but on June 8 she was notified that she had been dropped from the rolls.

During this time, from May 12 until June 8, the President made a new and extraordinary ruling on the civil service, as follows:

Civil Service Ruling.

"Whereas certain misunderstandings have existed in regard to the proper construction of Section 8 of Civil Service Rule 2, which provides as follows:

"No removal shall be made from the competitive classified service except for just cause and for reasons given in writing, and the person sought to be removed shall have notice and be furnished a copy of such reasons and be allowed a reasonable time for personally answering the same in writing. Copy of such reasons, notice and answer and of the order of removal shall be made a part of the records of the proper department or office, and the reasons for any change in rank or compensation within the competitive classified service shall also be made a part of the records of the proper department or office.'

"Now, for the purpose of preventing all such misunderstandings and improper construction of said section, it is hereby declared that the term 'just cause,' as used in Section 8, Civil Service Rule 2, is intended to mean any cause other than one merely political or religious which will promote the efficiency of the service, and nothing contained in said rule shall be construed to require the examination of witnesses or any trial or hearing except in the discretion of the officer making the removal.

"White House.

"Approved May 29, 1902."

"THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

It is impossible to escape the conviction that this ruling was made expressly to cover the case of Miss Taylor. It would have been extremely awkward for the President and Secretary Root to have given reasons in writing for the dismissal, as the old rule required, so a new ruling was made to fit this case and any other cases in the future.

That the letter and spirit of even this latest partisan ruling have been violated by the Administration in the case of Miss Taylor is also certain. It will be difficult to make any unpreju diced person believe that the removal was not made for "merely political" reasons.

The effect of this ruling upon the personnel of the civil service must be disastrous. No clerk now will dare to speak or write his political sentiments unless favorable to the powers that be.

Miss Taylor has appealed to the courts of the District of Columbia for redress, and under the advice of eminent attorneys is preparing to carry her case to the highest court.

Secretary Root in his answer to the petition of Miss Taylor asking for a writ of mandamus to compel her reinstatement, denies her statement that she was dismissed without being given an opportunity to reply to formal charges against her.

He submits to the court that Miss Taylor has no right, title or interest in or to the place held by her, and that his action in discharging her from the department is a matter "wholly within the competence and cognizance of the political departments;" hence his action as head of an executive department "is not subject to be reviewed or set aside or controlled by law, nor can his action in that behalf be commanded, directed or compelled by the writ of mandamus, as the petitioner in her petition has prayed,"

Thus the Secretary of War on the part of the Administration claims that the acts of the executive departments of the Government are above and cannot be controlled by the law courts, no matter how gross an injustice may be done to any employee of the civil service. That would be imperialism, for under the provision of article one of the Constitution, which secures freedom of speech, Miss Taylor or any other Government employee is surely entitled to speak and write freely on the political questions of the day, and yet this constitutional right is denied by the Administration.

Arbitrary Reductions of Clerks.

It would be an injustice to give the names of the hundreds of clerks who have been reduced in rank and pay, mainly because they are not in political unison with the party in power, or have not sufficient influence or "pull" wita Republican politicians. To publish their names would only lead to their further reduction or discharge. They are mostly Democrats and are marked for sacrifice. In the Government Printing Office and other departments where partisan rule prevails the employee who has no Republican member of Congress to intercede for him is indeed in a sorry plight.

Pernicious Activity of Federal Officials.

One of the chief reforms which the civil service law was expected to bring about was to prevent Federal officers from using their official position to aid the bosses in retaining power. The intestine war that is now being waged between the Roosevelt and Hanna forces in several of the States has produced a saturnalia of pernicious activity on the part of the Federal officers to aid one faction or the other. In Wisconsn this was so pronounced that it was especially denounced in the State platform adopted by the Republicans of that State in July last, in these words:

"We condemn the pernicious activity of Federal officials in this State in flagrant disregard of civil service laws in attempts to

forestall and control conventions and caucuses of the party, and assisting professional lobbyists before the Legislature and elsewhere in the work of defeating legislation in refutation of party pledges."

The same "pernicious activity" has been displayed in other States, though the party platforms have not denounced it as in Wisconsin.

Beating the Civil Service Commission.

In addition to these very serious charges, the departments have been loaded down with temporary clerks who were appointed during the war with Spain, nearly all of whom have now been given permanent places, in spite of the protest of the Civil Service Commission. One day 800 clerks who had been employed on the temporary census work were placed on the permanent census roll, and this in spite of the protests of the commission. There are thousands of applicants for positions in the civil service who have taken the examination and are waiting their turn for a vacancy, who are thus defrauded of their legal rights given them by the civil service law.

WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY.

THE VICTORIOUS AMERICAN ADMIRAL-THE REPUBLICAN CONSPIRACY TO DEGRADE AND ROB HIM OF HIS WELL-EARNED LAURELS.

The treatment of Admiral Schley, the victorious commander of the American fleet at the battle of Santiago leaves an indelible stigma upon the Republican Administration and its supporters in Congress. This officer has to his credit a record of distinguished services to his country for more than forty years. Soon after his graduation from the Naval Academy the Civil War broke out, and for four years he rendered honorable and efficient service in the perilous campaigns of the United States Navy. After the war of 1861 he continued to the date of his retirement in active service, and achieved especial distinction on more than one occasion.

Rescues the Greeley Arctic Expedition.

When Lieutenant (now General) A. W. Greely was ice-bound in the Arctic regions, and many months had passed with no tidings from the missing expedition-when the chance of discovering the stranded crew was almost despaired of-Schley volunteered to command the vessel which was sent to attempt their relief. How well he performed that duty is a matter of history. In 1891 he commanded the United States cruiser Baltimore, then stationed at Valparaiso, Chile, during the civil war then going on in that country, and by his coolness prevented serious difficulties, which seemed likely to result from the riot between the Chileans and the crew of the Baltimore. At the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Spain in 1898, it was assumed that Schley would be assigned to a command appropriate to his rank and distinction. Schley was then a commodore, and Roosevelt (now President) was then Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

Crowninshield Has a Grievance.

At the head of the Bureau of Navigation of the Navy was an officer with a grievance against Schley. This man was Crownin

shield, who though far below Schley in rank, was his practical superior, by reason of his position in the department as the head of the Navigation Bureau. Through the influence of this naval coterie one of their favorites, Captain Sampson, was, without the consent of the Senate, promoted over the heads of Schley, Watson and others, skipping entirely the rank of commodore, and assigned to duty as a rear-admiral and made commander-in-chief of the Atlantic squadron, and Schley, though of superior actual rank, was made subordinate to this acting rear-admiral.

Admiral Schley Victorious.

The battle of Santiago came on. On the morning of July 3, 1898, the Spanish fleet under Cervera left the harbor of Santiago for the open sea. Half an hour before the Spaniards appeared in sight of the Americans the "commander-in-chief," with one of the two largest and swiftest vessels of the fleet, left the scene of action and moved away a distance seven to nine miles, taking the precaution before starting to signal to all the vessers of the fleet an instruction to disregard the movements of him, the commander-in-chief. This order, if it meant anything, left Commodore Schley the ranking officer, in supreme command of the fleet during the absence of the commander-in-chief, and until the revocation of the previous order.

Schley took command; the Spaniards came out; Schley and the Brooklyn, accompanied by the splendid battle-ship Oregon, were in the thickest of the fight from the beginning until the end, during a running engagement extending along the coast for forty miles, where the last vessel of the enemy was sunk or captured, The commander-in-chief arrived an hour after the finish, and Schley was immediately ordered off to intercept a vessel erroneously supposed to be an enemy.

The bombastic message from the commander-in-chief, presening as a Fourth of July present the destroyed Spanish fleet, will be remembered as one of the most nauseating incidents of the

war.

The people were not slow, however, in recognizing the officers to whom was chiefly due the great victory. As the facts came out, Schley and Clark, of the Oregon, were recognized as the heroes of our Navy in that great battle.

Conspiracy Against Admiral Schley.

Crowninshield and his clique were furious at the fame Schley had acquired and at the honors which were unniversally awarded him by his countrymen. An overruling providence had upset the cunningly devised schemes to degrade Schley.

Something must yet be done. The press of the country was with Schley; but the naval history of the country, used as a textbook at the Naval Academy, and supposed to be official, was still under the control of the Navy ring. This work was prepared by an employee of the department who was assigned as a laborer at the Brooklyn navy-yard.

Schley is sent off to a distant station in South America, where communication with the United States is infrequent and slow, and where he is kept many long months out of touch with affairs at home.

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