Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-10-26
An Inside View.

One of the natural and obvious evils of
civil-service founded upon patronage
is the enormous multiplication of offices
and of needless officers. Astriking Illus
tration of this abuse was furnished IN
the spring by the report of the committee
to investigate the condition Of the Bu-
reau of Engraving and Printing to which
il is by no means too late to refer. This
bureau is in Washington, and IL, is
very convenient place for members of
Congress who wish to pension their prf-
vate henchman upon the public. The
committee was composed of men Of
knowledge and experience in the Treasu- .
ry service, and the first thing that they
discovered was the great excess of force
employed. They found that the SER
vices of two hundred and thirty-seven
persons, with the annual compensation
of $136, 900, could be dispensed with
without imparing the efficiency of the
bureau or changing the methods OF doing
business Looking little further, other
reductions we're found practicable, so
that the figures were as follows: The
number of persons employed, on the
payroll of Arpil 1, was nine hundred
and fifty eight. The number employed
on May 1, was four hundred and nine
teen. The total decrease was about
ffty-six per cent. of the force of April 1,
and the saving to the Treasury is about
$500, 600 The committee were of the
opinion that still further reductions were
practicable, and that at least seventy more
persons could be spared.
They give interesting details of the
manner in which the work was done, and
show that in some rooms the employees
we're in each others way and actually
hindered the work This policy OF over
crowding the bureau led to the spending
of the enormous appropriation of 81
000, 900 for the last fiscal year in little
more than seven months, and to the con-
sequent stoppage of printing the public
securities and the throwing out of en-
ployment of 1, ZOO persons. Another IL
lustration of the working of this kind of
civil service is found in the fact that in
April of last year the wages of the
women employed were reduced from
$1.75 to $3.50 a day, not as economy,
but that the amount thus saved might be
spent in the employment of more peo-
pie. And the reason assigned for this
action was that the pressure for place
was so great that something must be done
to satisfy the demand. And all this, it
will be remembered, was in single bu-
reau. E...s .sr .-
The committee find the causes of this
state of things to be two, each of which
is the complement of the otber-lavish
appropriations andappointments through
| political influence. 1t is a vicious circle.
Appropriations were secured by making
appointments for members of Congress
without regard to the fitness of the ap-
pointees or the necessities of the work;
and, when secured, the money has
been spent so as to retain the
goodwill of powerful friends and to se-
cure others. Moreover, the bureau has
been made to serve the purpose of an
almshouse or asylum, and the committee
assert that many persons who in any other
city would have depended on some pub
lie or private charity, have found ref
uge in this bureau. They state that they
cannot condemn too strongly the system
of patronage, which is chiefly RESPONSE
BILE for all this extravaganza and irregu-
larity, and which, in their judgment, has
cost the country millions of dollars in
this branch of the service alone. They
r recommend that hereafter the appropri-
ations should be based upon careful es-
Inmates not only of the work to be done,
but of the cost of doing it, the cost to be
, ascertained from the prices charged at
, private establishments; and no increase
: of force should ever be permitted, except
upon a written certificate from the chief
, of the bureau that the work has increased
, in branches specified, and that a certain
number of persons of q certain class of
, clerks are required to perform it. The
, persons nominated for employment
should then be simply examined, and, if
, found qualified, should be appointed
: upon probation for three months. At
the end of that time the chief should re-
port whether they are entitled by charac-
ter and capacity to permanent appoint
ment. They should then be appointed,
and no removals made except for cause
or reduction of work. The whole report
shows how intelligent and thorough an
investigation was made by the commit
tee, and how singularly competent il was
for the work. We refer now only to so
. much of the report as illustrates the nee
6 essary extravagances and evils of a
service founded wholly upon political
patronage, and which shows the SINGER
: ity and the courage with which the Ad'
ministration has not hesitated to expose
, the abuses that have grown up under Re-
! publican dominance, and which it pro-
: poses to correct. There is nothing sureI
! than that the evils produced by the
a spoils system in this bureau are produced
!, in every department OF Tho government
= -Hdgper's Weekly.