, 1876-08-27

places for some forty or fifty subordlnates,
with salaries and expenses aggregatlng over
$100, 900 yeer. To resort to the State law
for the collection Of taxes would have
rendered these Offices unnecessary
and, sooner than put these persons
out and save the 100000 year'
the Council refused to change the mode OF
collecting taxes, and, as result, the c'ty
lost 81 5000 Of its revenue for 1873 aud
1874. Notwithstanding the city IN 1870 dld
resort to the State law, the Common Council
even then refused to abolish the Office OF Lag
Commissioner and Assessor, and dur1ng
1876 actually made appropriations for these
officers. To keep these men IN Office, after
they had ceased to have any duties, has cost
the City Of Chicago over million and
half Of dollars. That is the penalty the
public pays for civil-service founded on
the principle of creating Offices for men.
Last winter, shortly after Congress met, 1t
WIS discovered that the printing, stamping,
counting, and asserting Of fractional cur
,rency cost more to produce it than the pur-
chase of silver aud coming it in fractional
parts OF the dollar. The change in the law
recalling the fractional currency and proyid-
ing for the issue Of small silver rendered
useless the services of nearly 1000 persons
employed in the Printing and other Treasury
Bureaus at Washington. Various were the
efforts made to save" these persons, and
their discharge was characterized as
despotic and cruel, The ground was
boldly taken that it was the duty OF
the Government to take care OF these
persons by providing them with places at
the public expense. At this time there is
another body of 500 or 900 persons en-
ployed at Washington who have been legis-
lated out Of Office. They were to be allowed
to resign On the 18th Of August with two
months pay or be dismissed finally on the
18th OF October Not one has resigned
Each and every one expects to be retained.
They refuse to understand BY what right the
Government discharges from its services men
because it has no use for them; they insist
it is the duty of the Government to provide
use for them.
The Government Of the United States
actually found out since last January that it
had l, 400 to 1,500 persons employed in the
departments at Washington alone for whom
it had no possible use, and, with
courage and perseverance wholly nnpre-
cedented, Congress legislated them out OF
office aud saved the amount Of their annual
compensation.
The work Of reduction hes been resisted
by all the heads Of divisions, and ominous
predictions have been made as to the result;
but there is hardly doubt that the reduc-
ton might have been carried further, and not
only at Washington, but in the civil-service
in all its branches all over the country.
A year ago the proposition to reduce the
number and the salaries of the employees of
the City Of Chicago was rejected not only As
an outrage upon the persons in Office, but as
calculated to paralyzo the Government.
But perseverance, aided by actual poverty,
has, after long and determined struggle,
shown that it WAS possible to reduce the
force aud to reduce the salaries Of all
branches of the city service, without any
detriment to the public interest, and with a
great saving to depleted treasury. The
threat that if salaries were reduced every
faithful officer would resign, has not been
carried out No one hns voluntarily re-
signed. The reduction Of tho force has not
impaired its efficiency, because the force WAS
entirely too large for the business it had to
perform. The reduction has enabled the
city to get rid Of number of pensioners
who rendered no service. We have no ques-
ton that, if the city was a private concern,
managed by its own proprietors in a busi-
ness way, the force and expenditure for
salaries could be reduced, and would be re-
duced, another 80 per cent, with h great i'm
provement in the efficiency Of every depart
ment-
The reduction OF expenditures, public and
private, is duty which each man owes to
himself and to the community. In the
eleven years which have followed the War
We have done little, voluntarily, to correct
and reduce the extrayagant habits and e1-
penditnres resulting from the unnatural con-
dition Of war. What We have failed to do
voluntarily is now an unavoidable necessity,
and Governments and individuals who do
not yield to that necessity can hope for no
result but the inevitable one-banlruptcy.
CHEAP BEER.