Senator GEORGE. Is that witness here?

Mr. PUTZKI. He is at work.

Senator GEORGE. He is not here now?

Mr. PUTZKI. He will be here later on.

Senator GEORGE. Was he under the civil service himself?
Mr. PUTZKI. He sat right next to me in the same unit.
Senator GEORGE. When he comes we will hear him.

Mr. PUTZKI. I want to state that he was under the civil service, and
I say it was purely political, and the civil service comes back and says
they have no authority to go into that case under the law.
Senator GEORGE. We will hear him when he comes.

is not here at the present time?

You say he

Mr. PUTZKI. They are closing the books at the present time and he can not be here. He is very busy. He will be here later on. Senator GEORGE. All right.

Mr. CAIN. Mr. Senator, may I ask permission to be informed or notified when this man appears? I suppose it is Mr. Frederick W. Carpenter.

Mr. PUTZKI. No. I say he is an employee, and he was framed by the agents of this man, one of the men you mentioned, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is also a member of this ring or club, one of the clubs in the Treasury Department.

Senator GEORGE. When he comes you may notify Mr. Cain.

Mr. PUTZKI. I am informing you and calling to your attention that this man is not fit for public office.

Senator GEORGE. Very well.

Miss HENANGHAN. In this same connection, there is lady who is down in Alabama now, but who wants to come here and testify. She was discharged from the Treasury Department by the same party these men are talking about. She has corresponded with Mr. Blair. Senator GEORGE. The same man that Mr. Cain mentioned?

Miss HENANGHAN. Yes. She has correspondence with Mr. Blair, very nonsensical correspondence, the most peculiar wording of things I ever read from a person who is supposed to hold a position like that.

Senator GEORGE. Was she under civil service?

Miss HENANGHAN. She was under civil service. She went to see Miss Dell two or three times, and at last Miss Dell would not see her any more. Then she gave up and said a person should not waste their time going to the Civil Service Commission; that they had no authority to do anything to do anything for her. It seems that her Congressman, or Senator Heflin, or some one helped her to be reinstated. Of course, I should not tell her story. Are any of these people going to be brought from a distance to testify? She is down in Alabama, in the southern part.

Senator GEORGE. Is she now in the Treasury?

Miss HENANGHAN. No, sir. She has been out about the same length of time I have been out.

Senator GEORGE. We probably will summon some witnesses before we finish.

Miss HENANGHAN. She is going to tell her story to somebody. Of course, Senator Heflin and her Congressman from her district, Mr. Steagall, know her story, but she wants to tell it before a committee like this.

Senator GEORGE. Have they her name?

Miss HENANGHAN. Yes.

Senator GEORGE. Senator Heflin has her name?

Miss HENANGHAN. Yes.

Senator GEORGE. I presume he will ask for her appearance here, because he introduced this resolution. If he has her name and knows the facts with reference to the case, he will undoubtedly have her brought before the committee.

Miss HENANGHAN. She wants very much to appear.

Senator GEORGE. I imagine she will have an opportunity to do so.

TESTIMONY OF MRS. WINIFRED J. WESTON

Senator GEORGE. Is there anyone else who wishes to make a statement?

Mrs. WESTON. I would like to make a statement to the committee. (The witness was thereupon duly sworn by Senator George.) Senator GEORGE. State your name.

Mrs. WESTON. My name is Winifred J. Weston.

Senator GEORGE. Proceed with your statement.

Mrs. WESTON. I am a civil-service employee. The question I wanted to bring up was a question of dismissal. I have found that a good many times those associated with me, when there were dismissals, they would be dismissed if they came from the States, and not people from the District of Columbia and the near-by States. In our own case it seems that we can figure that out, because a great many of the supervisors have come in contact with their work and they are from the District of Columbia, and they naturally favor the District people and not the people from the States generally, but the people from the District of Columbia and these near-by States. I am from the State of Missouri and came with a good civilservice standing and a fair education-I will say better than the average and still completed my education after I got here. I was dismissed with about seven or eight others. I was immediately taken back, with no question, and I had a very severe test given me after I had passed the civil service. I have not seen my test yet, and that has been four years that I have been taken back.

Senator GEORGE. You are now in the service?

Mrs. WESTON. I am now in the service, but I am with the same people, which is unfortunate for me. They are keeping my rating down on efficiency so I can never get any further. They took me back with the understanding that I should have a full investigation as to education, qualification, civil-service examination, and I have been back four years and it has never been mentioned since. That shows of itself that my dismissal was a fake.

Senator GEORGE. When were you dismissed?

Mrs. WESTON. I was dismissed in 1924.

Senator GEORGE. Immediately after your appointment, or had you been in the service some time?

Mrs. WESTON. I had been in the service since 1918.

Senator GEORGE. You went in the service in 1918, and in 1924 you were dismissed?

Mrs. WESTON. Yes.

39513-29--9

Senator GEORGE. Then you were immediately taken back?

Mrs. WESTON. Yes. I went back, and there was no question. I asked them, Will you investigate me thoroughly? That investiga-tion has been postponed. It has never been brought forth yet. Senator GEORGE. Nothing has been done?

Mrs. WESTON. Nothing has been done, except to keep my efficiency rating down.

Senator GEORGE. What department are you in?

Mrs. WESTON. In Loans and Currency, Treasury Department. At the time I was dismissed I was the wife of an ex-service man.

Senator GEORGE. Did they give any reason for separating you from the service or dismissing you?

Mrs. WESTON. Reduction of force.

Senator GEORGE. Reduction of force?

Mrs. WESTON. But I noticed in my case there was only one person. from the District of Columbia that was dismissed, and all the rest of them were from far-away States. There was 1 from Nebraska, 1 from Indiana, 1 from Missouri. We also asked an investigation. We also noticed that the people that were dismissed came in under civil-service examination, and a good many were kept at work for years with no examination and had a very hard time to qualify. That is the question many of us are interested in, to see if we can have a thorough investigation.

Senator GEORGE. That is a very pertinent inquiry and directly within the scope of the duties of this committee. I understand you came in under civil service?

Mrs. WESTON. Yes, sir.

Senator GEORGE. And others from some far-away States?
Mrs. WESTON. Yes, sir.

Senator GEORGE. And in the particular group of dismissals in which you were included only one resident of the District of Columbia was dismissed?

Mrs. WESTON. Yes, sir. I can give you the names of practically all of the others, or I can hand them to the committee in letter form. Senator GEORGE. You may hand them in to the committee in letter form. We will be very glad to have that information.

Were you alone taken back of that group, or were other members of the group taken back?

Mrs. WESTON. I had to go back. I was alone. I had nothing to live on. When I got home I had a letter giving me a position.

Senator GEORGE. The other members were not taken back?

Mrs. WESTON. The other members were not taken back. They went back some time later at a lower salary.

Senator GEORGE. You went back at the same salary?

Mrs. WESTON. I went back at the same salary, and I have never been investigated since, but they have kept my official rating low all the time. If they would investigate they would find my qualifications are better than the average of those I am working with in the same grade and drawing the same salary.

Senator GEORGE. Is there any particular matter you wanted to bring to our attention; any particular practice that obtains there? Mrs. WESTON. That is the practice that has been obtaining there all the time. Another practice that obtains there is military pref

erence for men and women. I was supposed to have some military preference, but I have never been given any as the wife of a disabled veteran. I am supposed to be given some preference. I came in before I was married, but under retention I am supposed to be given some military preference. I believe it is five points, as the wife of a disabled man not able to work. He is not at work. Senator GEORGE. And your salary is now the same? ceiving the same compensation?

Mrs. WESTON. Yes; $1,860.

Senator GEORGE. You have had no promotion?

You are re- '

Mrs. WESTON. No promotion since then. If I had been inefficient they would have had an investigation, but they never held one. They would not have demoted me to this low a grade. But they knew if they did investigate they would find that my qualifications were, in fact, better than others.

Senator GEORGE. Is there anything else?

Mrs. WESTON. In the case of the ex-service men, as I say, it is a case of the ex-service men being treated disparagingly in the places where I have been; and the dismissals-and not only dismissals but taking them on in the District of Columbia instead of from the States. The District, it seems, gets the preference, not only in the appointments but in retention.

That is all I have to say at present.

Senator BROOKHART. Let me ask you: Do you think the employees' union has anything to do with this matter of dismissals?

Mrs. WESTON. I can not say, as I am not now a member. I was at one time a member, but I am not now.

Senator BROOKHART. When you were a member, was there any indication that they were favoring the District as against the rest of the country?

Mrs. WESTON. I don't know. I could not say that. The only thing I can say, I am in favor of unions, but I believe Mr. Stewart is not as capable in working for the employees as some others. I mean that Mr. Stewart-it is a case whether he prefers one section of the country against another.

Senator GEORGE. Mr. Sandridge wants to be heard. He was introduced by Senator Glass. Will you come around, Mr. Sandridge?

TESTIMONY OF NORMAN SANDRIDGE

(The witness was duly sworn by Senator Brookhart.)

Senator GEORGE. Now, Mr. Sandridge, you may give you full

name.

Mr. SANDRIDGE. Norman Sandridge.

Senator GEORGE. Mr. Sandridge, are you now in the civil service? Mr. SANDRIDGE. No, sir.

Senator GEORGE. You have been?

Mr. SANDRIDGE. I have been almost my entire adult life, sir.
Senator GEORGE. Where were you last assigned?

Mr. SANDRIDGE. In the Government Printing Office.

Senator GEORGE. Will you just give us your experience in your own way, and briefly and concisely?

Mr. SANDRIDGE. As I stated, I have given almost my entire adult life to the Government service. I will try to tell briefly my life

history, because it is necessary to do so to get to the all-important point.

Early in life I was impelled to take the examination for printer in the Government Printing Office. In 1904, 1905, and 1906 I served three temporary appointments in the Government Printing Office, covering six months each, with time in between, the entire time covering about two years.

When the Mergenthaler linotype machine came in vogue I wanted to learn that, and I went to a technical school in Brooklyn, and in Chicago, and I worked after that in private employment.

In 1907 I entered the service in the Weather Service, at Raleigh, N. C. By constant application to the scientific branch of the service, I mastered the technical matters and the technical examinations and passed them, and I was appointed to assistant observer and then observer.

Later, in 1912 I think it was, I was transferred to Albany, N. Y., where I did service in the field service.

During the Great War, in December, 1917, a man, a valued employee in the central office here, dropped dead suddenly, and I received a telegraphic communication informing me that they needed a man of my qualifications here, and I was brought here, in great need at that time, under almost impossible conditions here at the time. I came here, and did outside night work and other work to support myself, and having to leave my family there that winter, I had to support myself here and my family there. The next spring I went back and brought them down to my old home in Virginia and brought my small belongings here and put them in storage. I had them there from that time, and in November or December, because of the living conditions in Charlottesville, even there. And finally I had to put a man out of a house I had bought to get a place for my family.

I am telling all this that my whole life may be before you, that you may understand that my whole life and thought has been one dominated by the thought of service absolutely.

In November, 1919, no longer being able to stand the strain of outside employment, and sticking to the Government job because all during that period we had placards set up telling us, "Stick to your job," "Don't embarrass the Government by resigning or seeking to transfer." In order to keep people in the jobs and not embarrass the Government during that time, you remember that Congress passed an act prohibiting one being transferred or being reemployed within a year if they resigned.

In November, 1919, in order to get back to my trade, I had to relearn, going through the changes that had come in the 12 years I had been in the Department of Agriculture in the Weather Service. After 10 years of tremendous application and training and industry relearning the trade, I was reappointed, or I was appointed in the Government Printing Office in May, 1922.

I would like to add here just the things I did in this stage of my life to stick to my job as a patriotic employee. I have shoved a truck in the express office over here 11 hours a day at 25 cents an hour, among these foreigners and the colored laborers, in order to add to a small salary. Another thing I have done, I have carried messages for the Western Union on evenings and Sundays. This