Speech 25
GOVERNMENT EMPLOY AND THE LABOR UNIONS

THE following letters and remarks were called forth by the “Miller Case." On May 19, William A.  Miller, assistant foreman in the Government Printing Office, was discharged by the Public Printer.  He filed a complaint with the President and another with the Civil Service Commission, charging that his removal was in violation of the civil service law.  Civil Service Rule XII provided that no person should be removed from a competitive position except for such cause as would promote efficiency in the public service.  The Civil Service Commission reported that the only cause assigned for Miller's removal was his prior expulsion from the local union of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, and this the Commission did not consider a legal cause.  An investigation was also made by the secretary of Commerce and Labor, Hon.  George B.  Cortelyou, whose report to the President elicited from the latter the following letters:

OYSTER BAY, N.  Y.
July 13, 1903.
 MY DEAR SECRETARY CORTELYOU:
In accordance with the letter of the Civil Service Commission of July 6th, the Public Printer will reinstate Mr.  W.  A.  Miller in his position.  Meanwhile I will withhold my final decision of the whole case until I have received the report of the investigation on Miller's second communication, which you notify me has been begun today, July I3th.

On the face of the papers presented, Miller would appear to have been removed in violation of law.  There is no objection to the employees of the Government Printing Office constituting themselves into a union if they so desire; but no rules or resolutions of that union can be permitted to override the laws of the United States, which it is my sworn duty to enforce.

Please communicate a copy of this letter to the Public Printer for his information and that of his subordinates.

Very truly yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.  
HON.  GEORGE B.  CORTELYOU,

Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
OYSTER BAY, N.  Y.
July 14, 1903.  
MY DEAR MR.  CORTELYOU:
In connection with my letter of yesterday, I call attention to this judgment and award by the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission in its report to me of March i8th last:

It is adjudged and awarded that no person shall be refused employment or in any way discriminated against on account of membership or non-membership in any labor organization, and that there shall be no discrimination against or interference with any employee who is not a member of any labor organization by members of such organization.

I heartily approve of this award and judgment by the commission appointed by me, which itself included a member of a labor union.  This commission was dealing with labor organizations working for private employers.  It is of course mere elementary decency to require that all the Government departments shall be handled in accordance with the principle thus clearly and fearlessly enunciated.

Please furnish a copy of this letter both to Mr.  Palmer and to the Civil Service Commission for their guidance.
Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.  

HON.  GEORGE B.  CORTELYOU,
Secretary of Commerce and Labor.
On September 29, 1903, the President granted a hearing on this and other matters to five members of the executive council of the American Federation of Labor, and made the following statement on the Miller case:

As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I have already said.  In dealing with it I ask you to remember that I am dealing purely with the relation of the Government to its employees.  I must govern my action by the laws of the land, which I am sworn to administer, and which differentiate any case in which the Government of the United States is a party from all other cases whatsoever.  These laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and can not and must not be construed as permitting discrimination against some of the people.  I am President of all the people of the United States, without regard to creed, color, birthplace, occupation, or social condition.  My aim is to do equal and exact justice as among them all.  In the employment and dismissal of men in the Government service I can no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not belong to a union as being for or against him than I can recognize the fact that he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew or a Gentile, as being for or against him.

In the communications sent me by various labor organizations protesting against the retention of Miller in the Government Printing Office, the grounds alleged are twofold: 1, that he is a non-union man; 2, that he is not personally fit.  The question of his personal fitness is one to be settled in the routine of administrative detail, and can not be allowed to conflict with or to complicate the larger question of governmental discrimination for or against him or any other man because he is or is not a member of a union.  This is the only question now before me for decision; and as to this my decision is final.