New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-12-12
Where are the Civil Service
SchOOlmasiers

Our readers hardly need be told that we
have very little faith in the Civil Service
Board as reformatory institution, and tina,
we believe that it has and must continue ut.
terly to fail to improve the civil service Of the
country. This distrust of the merits of the
competitive system for ascertaining the fit
ness of applicants for public positions, is
based on common sense and those principles
which experience has shown to be necessary
to success in all business operations. But
there is work for which the 'schoolmasters"
who are said to compose the board ought to
be peculiarly fitted and in which they could
be of some practical use to the civil service.
A sense of public duty, imposed by our
position, has led us to an occasional exam
ination of the annual reports of Heads OF
Bureaus, as we'll as the Presidents Message
and the reports Of the various Secretaries.
The result of this examination has been to
force upon US the inquiry at the head of this
article, "Where are the Civil Service School
masters ?" and prompted us to suggest that
they be assigned the special duty of putting
ins2decent and ineligible English the Lam
guage of these reports. In many Of them the
most glazing contempt for all the rules Of
grammar is exhibited, often obscuring the
meaning, or rendering it ridiculous. And
then there is tautology, or repetition Of
words, that is extremely disagreeable to
lovers Of pure English. We will illustrate
our meaning by quoting few lines from the
statements Of some of the Chiefs of Divisions
to the Third Auditor-these statements be-
ing embodied by him in his report to the
Secretary of the Treasury, in the language
We suppose, in which they were written. Fol-
instance, the bookkeeper says:
1.-The average number of clerks engaged
in this division during the period embraced
in this report has been nine, and that num-
Der now constitutes the active force Of the
division"
To have informed the Auditor that the av.
erage number &C., in the division is nine,
and that number now constitutes
its force, would have improved the language
and saved "vain repetitions" in our opinion.
But this is far more tolerable than the at.
tempt of the Chief of the Quartermaster's Di.
vision to inform the Auditor what its duties
are. He says:
1.-The accounts of quartermasters cover q
wide and varied range of disbursements and
property accountability, embracing disburse-
ments for barracks, quarters, hospitals, store
houses, offices, stables, forage and transport.
alton Of all army supplies, army clothing,
camp and garrison equipage, the purchase OF
cavalry and artillery horses, fuel, forage,
straw, material for bedding, stationery Tired
men; per diem to extra duty men; of the
pursuit and apprehension of deserters; of the
burial of officers and soldiers; Of hired es-
corts; Of expresses, interpreters, spies. and
guides; OF veterinary surgeons and medicines
for horses; Of" &c.
If the chief had avoided repeating /" dis
bursemsnts," and simply said the duties of
his division cover disbursements
for barracks, &c., the Auditor and the coun.
Try would have understood him quite % well.
The civil service schoolmastsr would prob
ably have suggested this omission, and they