The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-21

lowed up his salary as fast as it
accrued and he was as totally untitled
for the duties and struggles of active life as
mummy newly taken from the pyramids OF
! Egypt. His only resource was to seek other
employment similar to that of which he had
| been deprived; and wearisome, hopeless search
| passed-and still nothing 20 do 1t was not till
absolute destitution had long been at their door
that help arrived; and then it came too late to
remedy the mischief that had been done.
The mental agony which bis wife had under
| gone Mt that trying period, together with the
| desperate and long-continued struggles which
she had made for the support OF the family, had
so affected her nerves that she became totally
blind. What might have been the effect OF a
| proongaton of that anguish can, of course, only
| be conjectured.
Mr.. F still is a clerk little. thin, totter-
! ing old man, with pale, shrunken face, and hair
that is nearly white. lie moves teebly from
| place to place, like one whose enjoyment in life
| has long ceased and who walks amid the ghosts
of his former pleasures. Its not probable that
he will ever be reduced to want again, but his
whole life is living death. His wife has but
| partially recovered her eyesght, and never will
be again what she was before their great trouble.
1t is often observed that elderly clerks very sell
dom survive their discharges for any great
! length of time. The total change of habits aud
! pursuits which is thus forced upon them is like
tearing up tree by its roots; and the anXieties
! of helpless and moneyless old age aid in break
ing down their eEfeebled constitutions.
But clerks, whether discharged or not, seldom
live very long. Senility comes to meet them
with hasty steps; and their gait becomes totter
at time of life when the farmer exults in the
full vigor of a healthy middle age.
The instances of suffering which have given
are not solitary but are taken from large classes
OF which the public nevcrhear All ofthese are due
first to the injurious influences of clerical life;
and secondly, to the present system of arbitrary
discharges. 1t is all very well 60 cry ito the
victors belong the spoils !" and to laud the doc
| n rntp in gfi Init a
try be greatly injured if the spoils were to be
placed where none could grasp them? And
does this system of constant shifting produce
| any benefits that will counterbalance such evils
as these! ! BY all means remove the incompe-
tent and unworthy; but why discharge useful
workmen merely tor the sake of change? Who
would not stgmatze man n tool who was
constantly turning away skilled mechanics from
his establishment in order that new hands might
supply their places? Yet that is precisely what
the Government is doing all the time-and
yet people wonder that the civil service is eX-
pensiVe, and far from perfect in its organi-
Zation.
There is urgent need that some plan should be
adopted similar to that proposed in the bill in
tToduced by Mr.. Jenckes during the last Con-
gressiOnal session. Applicants for appointments
should be examined so rs to test their fitness for
the position; but the examination should be of
an exclusively practical kind. This is an all
important requirement.: and yet il is one that
will very probably be overlooked. The work Of
II ClGTh is OIulUuTllN Oh lllO Simplest kluus ana
requires thorough acquaintance with the
fundamental branches of an English education,
and nothing more. In some offices knowledge
of bookkeeping is required; in others facility
and accuracy of composition; in almost all,
handsome penmanship, and spelling as nearly
faultless as may be. He who possesses these,
together with a good stock of common sense
and industry, viii speedily make the best Of
clerks for all positions except a very few. But
il is perfectly evident that the greatest genius or
most erudite SdUdt may be deficient in them,
and consequently OF little value for
departmental purposes. As before re-
marked, it is not the extent of mans
requirements so much as their adaptation to the
business in hand which constitutes their real
value: and an examination aimed solely at the
former object will fail most lamentably in pro-
ducing any good results.
Once appointed, the clerk should be removed
only because of incompetency or uuworthiness,
clearly proven by fair trial And, when worn
out in the service, justice and humanity alike
suggest that his declining years be secured from
want and suffering
Let these three desiderata be properly
attended to-the securing of competent clerks
by means of suitable examinations, the abolition
OF arbitrary discharges, and the support OF
those who have grown old in harness-and the
civil service ut Washington will become a far
more efficient instrument of Government than
II ever has been; and, furthermore, there will
be an end to this periodical suffering and hard
ship which has so long been Il disgrace 10 the
country.
A clerkship however, never will be suitable
place for any independent, energetic, ambitious
spirit nor will it ever cease to totally unfit all
who long abide in it for any other mode of life.
1t should be, and must be- the lot of that quiet
class of men who are satisfied with a lifelong
possession OF its advantages and disadvantages.
There will always be Il sufficient supply of these,
and, harassed by no external cares. and dis
tracted by no ulterior aims, they will make the
very best body of clerks that could possibly be
found. But let all others shun the departments.
| To this dictum, however, would make one
! exception. The clerkshpsIOf the departments
may be made the stepping-stones TO higher and
nobler objects by one who has the resolution to
! leave them when the proper moment has ar
rived. He who can do this is blessed with rare
opportunities for advancement. His labors at
the office occupy but portion of the day, and
| If he will Tesolutely apply the remainder to the
acquisition of the profession which he has
chosen, rapid progress lies within his power
but it is hard to keep straight on, never
glancing at the allurements which bespread!the
right hand and the left; any harder still to drop
the staff that has long upheld ones footsteps
! when it is becoming weight clogging the
heels. Yet it can be done, and he who has the
fortitude to do it will have little occasion to
look upon the years of his clerk-lfe as wasted
and proftess years"
From the Hon. John Bigelows paper on
'EFather Hyacinthe and his Church" we ex-
tract the concluding paragraphs
To us it seems incredible that any of the acts
imputed to him by his enemies shodld have ex-
posed him to the censure, still less to the perse-
cutions of any society of protesting Christians.
Let us recapitulate them:-
!. In one of his discourses he treated the Re-
volution of 1889 as political and social necos-
sity.
2 In another he denounced Pharisaism as in
the Church, as Jesus Christ had done before him.
B. In defending himself from an asper-
sion upon his charity towards persons
oil -, l.;