American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-07-03

THE DEPARTMENTS AT WASHINGTON.
NUMBER FOUR.
We smoke in our last of the distance placed
between the Secretaries and their clerks.
Clerks are generally taken from among the
most reputable and intelligent circles in the
communities to which they belong, and enter
into the public service filed with the American
sentiment which acknowledges no superior il
social intercourse, and repudiates all caste
arising from the circumstance of vocation. A
gentleman in this position soon finds, however,
that, whatever may be the grade of his intelli.
gence, and however exalted his moral worth,
his calling is now to operate as degradation
He is treated more as mental than q gen
tleman by those in authority; and society
taking it's cue from the example of high off
Gals, who are protected against personal &C
countability, by holding at their caprice the
sustenance of families, stamps upon the clerk
exclusion from the higher grades Of social in
tercourse Looking to the sentiments of self
esteem as controlling principle in determining
the destiny of men, it is not improbable that
the fact here alluded to is the cause of such
melancholy alterations from honor and recti-
tude as have marked the career of some clerks
in Washington. Pride of personal identity is
wounded, all aspirations arising from social
appreciation are crushed, and he finds himself
with the means of sensual indulgence, and with
out the salutary restraints imposed by society,
free to follow the promptings Of his appetites
and, indeed, as respects those whose hopes and
fears are bounded by time, without an incen.
tive to do otherwise.
To correct this evil, tenure should be fixed
by law to clerks appointment, above and
beyond the power of the Secretary; the
heads of bureaux should be required to per-
form the active duties of their offices, and
should have the nomination Of all clerks to be
placed under them; clerks in service should
alone be eligible to the Office Of bureau head
and the voice of the clerks of any bureau
should be heard with great respect in these ap-
pointments. Under these regulations all the
petty dignitaries now existing, who claim caste,
either from peculiar position or difference in
compensation, would be brought to the COM
mon level in every respect of compensation;
and the head Of the bureau, instead Of sitting
in stately and bloated consequence, in idleness
and dependence upon his clerks for every
emanation of intellect that leaves his Office
should see in the clerks of his bureau his COM
peers in the public service, and the laws Of
association and natural sympathy would make
them his equals in the social circle.
The head of each bureau should hold by
H. +lat L., g.
and it would advance the public interests if the
compensation of that officer were reduced to
So, 900. To fix the salaries of clerks at 81 500,
and the head of the Office at So, 900, would tend
to reconcile outside aspirants to their exclusion
from the office, and the difference in salary be-
tween the chief and the subordinates would be
enough to keep alive a commendable spirit of
emulation.
If, as has already been suggested, the recon-
mendation of the clerks were respected in these
appointments, and the heads of bureaus made
eligible to re-appointment, it is easy to see
that personal interest would prompt them to
evenhanded justice and courtesy in the per-
formance of their duties and that part being
open only to the clerks, an individual motive
would be found at every desk for the perform
ance Of duty in such way as to lead to the
honorable preferment lying at the end of the
term of service.
To bring about these changes, and at the
same time preserve the necessary efficiency in
the departments, is the next thing to be con-
sidered and to this should be added also due
regard for the claims of the incoming Admins
tration upon the patronage of the Government,
as part, or we may almost say in truth the
principal portion of the issues involved in the
contest. Important changes in the usages of the
Government, however salutary they may be, (if
they strike at customs which length Of duration
has rendered familiar to every citizen should
not be made suddenly, nor without proper re-
gard even for errors thus sanctifed. With these
views before us, we are led to suggest that the
proposed reform shall be gradual, and shall fully
recognise the power heretofore exercised by an
incoming Administration as right which is to
De curtalled, but not wholly destroyed
But our space does not permit our enlarp;np
upon this head Of our subject to-day. We shall
endeavor to do so in our next.
CRIMINAL Court, July 3D., 1861. United
States Us. Albert II. Beach-obtain;no goo
under false pretences Verdict, guilty, Rat
cliffe for defendant
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