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Show Ickes Charges Clique Ruled Mines Bureau Says He Discharged Finch Because of Failure to Control This Inner Organization WASHINGTON, Jan.. 4 (AP) Secretary Ickes, saying he discharged John W. Finch as director of the bureau of mines because Finch lacked "iron in his veins," 'charged today that "cliques" born of the civil service system sabotaged the work Of administrative officers. "When a man comes In as th head of a department some of the old, entrenched civil service employes em-ployes frequently take the attitude that all they have to do la dig In and wait," Ickes told his press conference. con-ference. "They adopt the attitude that they are here now, will always be here, and that the department head may but two years, tour years, or at the most eight years. "With this in mind, .if the man wants to sabotage he has a better opportunity If he Is under the civil service." Ickes hastened to say that he favored more civil service (the merit system) In government, that he considered It the lesser of two (Continued on Paw tfvt IColuna F1v Ickes Explains ' Firing of Finch (Continued from Paga One) evils In directing federal employes. "But," he added, "government must be alert against the small cliques which show resistance to orders from their temporary superiors." su-periors." A bureau of mines "clique," he said, was too prone to accept any plausible explanation of accidents from the mine operators. These Instances, and others, he said, convinced him that the clique and not Finch was the real boss of the bureau. ' He characterized Finch as a "fine scientist, scholar and gentleman," but a man without enough "Iron In his veins" to run his own bureau. For that reason and none other, he said, he asked Finch to resign. He did not, he said, discipline Finch for his association In 1928 with the committee of engineers organized to support Hoover for president. Ickes said he did not contemplate contem-plate other dismissals In the bureau, bu-reau, but Intended to correct the situation through selection of a new chief who did have "Iron in his blood." "If he has not," Ickes said, "I'll get a man who has. I want to leave this department in better shape than it was when I came in and not to impress my own personality per-sonality on anyone." To disprove alleged punishment of Finch, he said he was well aware of Finch's connection with Hoover, but that even after an issue had been made of it by Postmaster Post-master General James A. Farley he still Insisted to President Roosevelt Roose-velt that Finch be given the job. Ickes was critical of newspapers which he said had "Jumped on him for dismissing Finch." 'They are always lambasting the administration for not correcting inefficiencies in government. Now, when we find one and take definite defi-nite action, they try to smear us for doing exactly what they have been howling for us to do." The mines bureau, he said, not only opposed his policy of denying the sale of helium to Germany two years ago, "but actually tried to sabotage my orders." |