The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-02-28
WARRINGTON LETTER.
In Relation 10 1.-The Best civil Ser
vice that the World Ever Sa" -
How the Government Clerks are
EmpIoyOd-"satan will Find Some
Nt.cbiefStilI for Idle Hands to do

WASHINGTON, February 70, 1876.
From our regular correspondent.
At no previous time in the history OF
the civil service has the office holder
been so unhappy as he is now. In con-
versation with clerk in the redemption
division of the Treasury Department,
last evening, he told me that there was II
wide spread belief among the less intel
hgent clerks and employees, that it is the
cold blooded design of the present Con
gress TO overthrow the government by
the reduction of their pay, and the aboll-
ton of the superauous clerical force. L
only mention this to show the alarm
which the Democratic policy of economy
has created in minute class, the only
class in the country, perhaps, that does
not regard NJ as the gentle dew. To say
that they wall and gnash their teeth, is
scarcely an exaggeration; and ten thou
sand of them in this small city, make it
pretty clamorous. 1t was hardly to
be expected that the clerk who
has been receiving one hundred
and fifty dollars, more or less, per month,
with eighteen hours tor sleep and ele-
CANT idIeness at the National capital
should rise to such sublimity OF self i'm
notation, as to be willing to yield his
r.bbery for the public good. This re-
ouires rarer patriotism than that when
follows the pomp and circumstance OF
war. And yet / question if there is one
Young man in ter, in government en-
ploy, who does not feel species OF hu
initiation whenever he draws his ILL.,
earned pay. He cannot avoid the con-
sciouspets that he has furnished no equiv
alcnt for it, that he is in certain sense
a pensioner, II pimple of the excsescence
that is sapping the life of the nation.
True, each individual has about eighty
five thousand to keep him, in constltu-
ency. but even this supernumerous host
is small when compared with the forty
millions who say: Young man, seek al
! honest living. The coantry is sick unto
death of taxation. In Heavens name
stand alone; support yourself, and give
YOUR burthened fatherland breathing
/ spell" Blu: it seems this force increases
/ rather than dinlinishes. More than three
4 hundred Representatives, and Senators,
( with the President, Cabinet, and an
! army of politicians, have for the las: ten
wears been finding places, without regard
/ TO fitness, for their relatives, political
/ friends or m!stresSes on the Government
nsv roll. Each new member tina: comes
TO represent his district in the Nationa
! Congress must have places for his specia
friends, and, BY some miracle, places are
found for them. 1t is a law of phySlc!
,ba, nctwo bodies can occupy the same
,,Iaca ST the same time, and there are ex
cantions To this law. the Government pay
roll like a street car, will always hoi(
| one more.
There was originally no work for them
but "Satan will find some MISCHIEF SUI
for idle hands to do, so there has peer
invented a ponderous labarynthian sys
tenn of accounts so enigmstlcsl in the re
dundance of its circumambulstory rec
tape, that an investigating committee o
Philadelphia lawyers would become IN
sane in the effort to comprehend 1t.
Last week Congress passed resolution
of inquiry as to the number OF prlvst
buildings rented by the Government
The inquiry was addressed to the Secre
tary of the Treasury. In about eigh
DAYS an answer was returned containln:
the signatures Of no less than ST.
clerks besides that of the Assistan
Secretary. 1t had passed through
all these hands before the desires
information could be obtained by due
form and circumstance. All that Con
rress desired to know on the subjec