Smyrna times., 1869-06-16
Government Clerks at Washington.

1t is hard to understand why any ate bod
led man should want government cerkshlp,
unless, as a few of them manage to do, he can
combine with it some other occupation. such
as correspondence and private secretaryship for
some Overworked member Of Congress. But
plain clerkship has very few attractions. The
" first class" clerks get 81 POO; the fourth
class 1900. For this sum they contract to
be and to remain on duty every day from . or
10 A. NJ. to p NJ. A somewhat sharp dis
cipline is maintained. Aside from the half
hour allowed for luncheon, they are compelled
to remain continuously y at their desks, without
conversation, and with a mass of tedious ac-
counts before them, upon which they are allow
ed no exercise Of judgment, except to see that
the rules of red tape are complied with. Fifty
or sixty occupy the same room each silently
boring away at his daily budget The chiei
clerk sits near the door, always anxious and care
worn, and often occupied in explaining to clal-
mants some error in their papers.
just after the close of the war when officers
accounts were to be adjusted before they could
| get their final statement, the scene was absO-
| lutely painful The different rooms of the sew
eral auditors Of the treasury looked like peni-
tertiary Every desk was busy, every officer
had some blunder in his papers In the main,
the clerks were extremely civil and painstaking,
but their lot was anything but enviable. At
that time, however, there was a degree OF
certainty about their position. If they had
steady work, they got steady pay and were toll
erably sure that the vast business Of tie gov
ernment would keep them in employ,
Now all that is changed. Men 50 long chain
ed to the desk, and confined to a mlSerably mar
row routine of thought and action are told by
the hundreds that their services are no longer
required. During years of desk servitude they
have grown interpretation any of the ordinary
avocations of life They cannot dig, and to bee
they are ashamed. The shabby genteel exist
ence they have led units them for active indus
try; and their removal at once plunges them in
to poverty. One poor fellow in the treasur,
fell in a faint the other day when he received
the fatal yellow envelope which contained hi
dismissal. Among the lady clerks-and in spit
of all the vile gossip aAOat they are most excel
lent and deserving woman-there are frequcn
scenes of woe. None Of them know whethe
they are to GO or stay One of them, anticipa
ting discharge, cautioned her companions tha
when the letter came they should speak NJ
word of sympathy, because she could no
"bear up" Others are less bright and brave
and sobs and tears are daily incident.
Young men and women ought to understan
that government clerkship is, and in the ma
ture of the case must be, a very precarious EN-
ployment. The moral of all this is that govern
ment clerkships are not desirable. They dwal
i, theintellcct and cripple the resources ofany ma
They may answer for a temporary emergency
but we pity the person who can be willing t
accept desk in dc partment as a lifetime o.
cupation. A few years will ruin him for a
other walks in life, and any change of admini
tration may throw him empty handed on I'll
world -NeUarIc AdrertiSer.