Show I The Civil Service WASHINGTON June 3The reduction of Mr Fowler to a thirdclass clerkship from the position of chief which was accepted from the civil service rules was made according to the rules which provide that if a man is appointed to an accepted position his position ij not protected by law before the law was passed He may be reduced to classi fied rank but that if he was appointed since the passage of the law he cannot be1 so reduced Commissioner Gregory informed a Star reporter today that there had been everalsuch casestwo or three in the Treasury one in the Postoffice and some in other departments probably and that the reduction had been uni formly allowed when the official had held hisoffice before the law went into effect Inane case he said a man who was a chief exchanged places with a thirdclass clerk but this he said does not open up the way for avoiding the civilservice examination as any man now appointed to be chief of a division will be debarred from classified service except through the regular course The law is very clear on the subject and no attempt being made to evade it Sixth Auditor of the Treasury McConville in speaking today of the recent changes in his office aid that they were made for for the purpose of increasing the efficiency effi-ciency of the service There were some 378 clerks in the office and he thought of this number that there were probably sixty whose services could be dispensed with advantageously to the public work This number of changes would not be made at once but would take place gradually He had made no discharges except for cause and when acances occurred in the classified service he depended de-pended on the civil service to supply new material He observed the civu service law and knew of no instances where it had beenviolated and he did not believe that there was any disposi tion on the part of the administration to disregard the rules |