Civil service positions--Classification

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Civil Service Commission

President Roosevelt informs the Civil Service Commission that he is making two exceptions to the classification of civil service employees. He is making temporary positions held by two daughters of Civil War veterans permanent. While the government should take care to avoid allowing political pull to secure positions for employees, exceptions to civil service rules can be made with appropriate documentation of the reasons for such appointments.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-25

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William H. Taft

President Roosevelt writes to President-elect William H. Taft about his desire to begin classifying fourth-class postmasters. Roosevelt has already taken steps to remove them from politics by ordering that their tenure will be permanent unless there is a valid reason for their removal. He expects that Congress and other politicians will be angry and oppose this action, and so he would like to do it in December so that he, and not Taft, will bear the brunt of their anger.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-16

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Albert J. Beveridge

President Roosevelt informs Senator Beveridge that he believes the office force of the Internal Revenue Service should be classified soon. Roosevelt does not know whether they should go further than that, or if legally they can even go that far. He is having the matter looked into.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-11-20

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethan Allen Hitchcock

President Roosevelt is concerned over statements in a memorandum by Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock. Hitchcock seems to imply that there are Senate-appointed men in the civil service who are unfit to hold their positions and do not follow the rules of the departments they work in, who cannot be removed by the Executive for proper cause. Roosevelt tells Hitchcock that this is not the case, and that placing these positions under the classified service would not allow for the hiring of better men than the current appointment system allows.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-10-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to the United States Civil Service Commission

President Roosevelt asks the United States Civil Service Commission when the classification of the laborers employed as clerks will be ready, as he wishes to take up the matter. Laborers have previously been classified, and the reason to not classify the laborers employed as clerks has disappeared.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-01-10

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Charles J. Bonaparte

President Roosevelt believes that it was a mistake for President Cleveland to promise that all offices would be filled according to the principles of civil service reform. Roosevelt discusses the post office investigations and the reclassification of positions. Roosevelt also explains that he would like to see justice done even at the cost of his political ambitions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-15

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Ethan Allen Hitchcock

President Roosevelt has signed legislation to create a permanent Census Bureau and discusses how the Census office will be reorganized according to the legislation in July of 1902.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-03-06

Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge reports on the election results from Massachusetts, where William H. Taft increased the Republican plurality, and where Eben S. Draper lost Boston by 12,000. Lodge encloses a letter for President Roosevelt regarding the nomination in Alaska. He has recommended George Sutherland, but the letter writer recommends Peter D. Overfield. He also encloses a letter from Alfred W. Brown, the Appraiser of Boston. Lodge feels that the Civil Service Commission’s ruling against two men is harsh — they were at the top of the list before a new grade was established following their examination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-06

Letter from Francis E. Leupp to James Rudolph Garfield

Indian Affairs Commissioner Leupp refutes Civil Service Commission President John Charles Black’s assertion that allowing an Indian student to fill a non-competitive messenger position in the Bureau of Indian Affairs is against the civil service code and would lead to non-competitive hiring of unqualified people. Leupp tells Secretary of the Interior Garfield that he believes that placing a student from one of the Indian schools in the messenger position would encourage him to better himself and work to achieve promotion to more competitive roles, thus helping integrate into white society.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-10

Letter from United States Civil Service Commission to Theodore Roosevelt

United States Civil Service Commissioners John Charles Black, John Avery McIlhenny, and Henry F. Greene oppose President Roosevelt’s order to allow Indians non-competitive consideration for messenger positions in the Office of Indian Affairs. Their main objection is that the order goes against both the commission’s conduct of orderly affairs and Roosevelt’s own prior instructions. The commission provides documentation showing that no rules provide for the noncompetitive consideration of Indians and expresses concern about taking race or color into consideration in the classification of service.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-02-01

Letter from Civil Service Commissioners to Theodore Roosevelt

The Civil Service Commissioners enclose a report of civil service positions filled by President Roosevelt’s executive orders, including the circumstances surrounding each case. They suggest a procedure for documenting future such exceptions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-08-01

Miss Todd’s removal

Postmaster General Henry C. Payne and Henry F. Green, a member of the Civil Service Commission, have met to discuss the dismissal of Delaware postmistress Huldah B. Todd, and discovered that they are actually in agreement about her removal. The article notes that the civil service rules allow for the removal of classified employees who misuse their positions for political gain.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-16

Letter from Henry C. Payne to Theodore Roosevelt

Postmaster General Payne was shocked at the clipping in the Washington Evening Star that stated that fourth-class postmasters are in the classified service, and believes that President Roosevelt is as surprised as he is. Payne had asked Charles J. Bonaparte to examine the Civil Service Act and rules and regulations to ascertain whether fourth-class postmasters were transferred to the classified service, and encloses the reply that he received. Payne balks at transferring the fourth-class postmasters to the civil service, as it would be a radical shift.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-15

Comes back at Payne

Civil Service Commissioner Henry F. Greene rebuts Postmaster General Henry C. Payne’s assertion that civil service laws do not apply to fourth-class postmasters, because they are not in the “classified” service. Greene cites the civil service rules to show that although they are not hired by “competitive examination,” fourth-class postmasters are classified employees and thus subject to civil service laws.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-14

Letter from Alford Warriner Cooley to Theodore Roosevelt

Civil Service Commissioner Cooley writes President Roosevelt to say he has received instructions from William Loeb to not make any statements regarding fourth class postmasters. Cooley has been careful not to say anything about the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-10-05

Status of fourth class postmasters

Review of provisions pertaining to the classification of fourth class postmasters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-29

Letter from Henry C. Payne to Theodore Roosevelt

Postmaster General Payne encloses a blank commission for the office of fourth class postmaster and points out that the commission states that postmasters hold their office at the pleasure of the Postmaster General. The Attorney General of the Post Office Department has serious doubts that the Civil Service Commission can abridge this power of appointment and remove fourth class postmasters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-29

Letter from Alford Warriner Cooley to Theodore Roosevelt

Civil Service Commissioner Cooley clarifies his position regarding the classification of fourth class postmasters. According to Cooley’s interpretation, fourth class postmasters are exempt from examinations and can be appointed without regard to civil service rules. However, they are also within the classified service and subject to rules pertaining to removal for political reasons.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-25

Letter from James Rudolph Garfield to Theodore Roosevelt

Commissioner of Corporations Garfield writes President Roosevelt to clarify his position regarding the classification of fourth class postmasters. Under the old rules, fourth class postmasters were under the executive civil service, which was different from classified service. The new rules classified the entire executive service under the classified service but left exceptions, including fourth class postmasters, from examination. They remain subject to rules relating to political and religious discrimination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-25

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Theodore Roosevelt

Charles J. Bonaparte believes that J. D. Cameron will need to be indicted when his connection to the postmaster case becomes public knowledge. It appears that Cameron’s political influence has given him immunity thus far. Bonaparte does not believe that Commissioner William Dudley Foulke was attempting to deceive President Roosevelt. However, Foulke’s interpretation that fourth class postmasters are exempt from the schedule as “employees in post offices having no free delivery service” should be used or these postmasters will be in a classified, competitive class. Bonaparte also warns against Postmaster General Henry C. Payne showing sympathy towards the Addicks faction in Delaware.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-21