Opinions of Mr. Moorfield Storey, Mr. Holmes Conrad, and Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte, upon the status of deputy collectors............... Present status of the contention respecting the classification of deputy II. Complaints affecting the Interior Department: 1. Bureau of Pensions Special pension examiners and clerks.... Boards of pension examining surgeons 2. Land service Boise, Idaho.. 3. Indian service Carlisle, Pa., industrial school Mount Pleasant, Mich., school 4. Miscellaneous complaints.... III. Complaints affecting the Department of Justice: Extensions of the classified service under revision of rules of May 6, 1896, Page. 344 349 365 369 371 372 373 and resulting correspondence..... 374 Removal of office deputy marshals and appointment of their successors without examination, at Conviction of Delaney and Bunting for impersonation and conspiracy. VII. Complaints affecting the Government Printing Service: 403 PART VI.-OPERATION OF THE CIVIL-SERVICE ACT AND RULES, INCLUDING INVESTIGATIONS. [The law and the rules are of such a nature, their practical methods and effects are by many so greatly misconceived and distrusted, and their execution confronts and defeats so many partisan, personal, and selfish interests, that their enforcement is possible only when it is absolute. To yield to sympathy in this case and pressure in that would be to make the execution of the law impossible and the position of a Commissioner intolerable. The surrendering to patronage of a single place in the classified service would not only invite a contest over every other, but would bring distrust upon the Commission and the good faith of an Administration. The only alternatives, therefore, are to enforce the new system absolutely or to abandon it altogether. (Second Report, United States Civil Service Commission, page 55.)] [The civil-service regulations of a city must be construed in the same manner as a statute." (Carmody v. The City of Mount Vernon, 3 App. Div. Rep., 347.)] GENERAL REMARKS. The civil-service act authorizes the Commission to make investigations concerning the facts and to report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effects of the rules and regulations, and concerning the action of any examiner and its own subordinates and those in the public service, in respect to the execution of the act. These investigations are among the most important duties of the Commission, and its policy in this regard has been consistently pursued; for, as far as possible, it has been the aim to keep the most vigilant watch to prevent the violation or evasion of the law. Investigations have been made for offenses alleged to have been committed both under the present and the preceding Administrations, and, as a result, the Commission has recommended the dismissal of certain officers and the prosecution of others. The investigations have had an excellent effect, and produced great changes for the better. A constant watch is exercised to secure honesty and justice in examinations and certifications. A complete check is kept upon appointments, all appointments being reported to the Commission and carefully examined to see that they are in conformity with the rules; but it is more difficult to keep a proper check upon removals, and at the same time not to interefere with the discipline of the service. The extent to which removals are made is usually a fair index to the observance of the law in respect to partisanship, at least as presumptive evidence. Where one officer makes an excessive number of removals he makes it difficult to hold his successor to a rigid accountability and increases the temptation to a loose observance of the law. The watch kept has shown officers who were apparently inclined to ignore or evade the law that the Commission would do its best to see that they were not permitted to do so with impunity. The following is a statement of investigations made by the Commission of various alleged violations of the civil-service act and rules during the year covered by this report and the succeeding nine months. It includes the first year of the present Administration. Some of these investigations were made by employees of the Commission, acting under its direction, and others were conducted by correspondence. The cases embraced include those of the most importance undertaken by the Commission during the period referred to, and are illustrative of the abuses which the civil-service act is intended to remedy. A number of investigations were begun, but were discontinued when it became evident that there was no real foundation for the charges. These cases do not appear in this statement. The cases here presented for the most part relate to efforts to collect political assessments, and to appointments and removals for political reasons. Where there were a number of cases of the same type, only one is given. The statement is intended to show the scope and character of the efforts of the Commission in the enforcement of the act and rules, within the limits of its authority, rather than as an enumeration of all complaints and investigations. There has not been sufficient force and money to make the inspection of local offices as constant and rigorous as it should be in order to secure a full observance of the law. In some of these cases there has been a failure on the part of the Department to sustain the efforts of the Commission to secure the righting of wrongs. Nevertheless, the publicity given to the facts has usually resulted in stopping the violations of law and in a marked improvement in administration. The showing in these cases is not wholly satisfactory, but there has been a substantial gain, and the fact of this gain makes it easier to secure a more effective observance in the future. In some offices, where there have in the past been constant violations of the law, the Commission has been able to secure a close observance of the merit system, both in letter and spirit, resulting in a superior class of appointees. In the parts of the service which have been under the operation of the merit system for several years politics have been practically eliminated in appointments and removals. It is usually only in the newly classified branches, where the old system lingers, that there is still trouble. This has been notably the case in the InternalRevenue Service. A perusal of these investigations will show that a large number of removals in the newly classified offices and in excepted places have been made for political reasons, although offenses generally of a minor character have been alleged as the ground for removal. Where a "clean sweep" has been made the burden of the proof rests upon the appointing officer to show that it was not made on the ground of politics. Great good has been done, as is shown in the text of this report, by the President's order of last July respecting removals. The Commission could make its investigations much more effective if it had power to inquire fully into all cases of removal and could administer oaths. In its Eleventh Report the Commission gave an account of the investigations of alleged violations of the civil-service law and rules from March 4, 1889, to March 1, 1895. The portion preceding February 28, 1894, was a repetition of the Commission's reply of that date to a resolution of the Senate. A brief continuation of this statement in the Eleventh Report appeared in the Thirteenth Report. A number of complaints were received from persons removed merely for the purpose of providing places for persons dismissed in the preceding Administration. In some of these cases the employees removed were given certificates by their superior officers, stating that they had performed duty to their entire satisfaction. It was admitted in these cases that the removals were for no other reason than to provide vacancies. In answer to one of these complaints the Secretary of the Navy stated that the policy of the Administration had been to reinstate veterans when it appeared they had been removed without misconduct, and so rectify the injustice done them. He added that the reinstatement of the veteran was in no sense a political appointment, nor was the removal for political reasons, and that he had studiously avoided any such removals of employees who were within the civil service. He added that the veteran was entitled to reinstatement, but to reinstate him required that a vacancy should be made, and in this way and for this reason alone the vacancy was made. In two of these cases where complaint had been made to the Commission the Secretary reinstated the men who had been removed to make places for veterans. Several of these cases arose in the special pension examining service of the Bureau of Pensions. In this matter the Commission has held that under Rule IX a rein |