, 1883-01-20
W ashirgton Letter.
IFron Our REGULAR Corresponden..I


lfron Our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D. c., December 80, 1882.
/ Late Saturday night, when the stores
J and streets of Washington We're thronged
with purchasers OF halidsy goods, a bril-
liant light WAS seen in the dome OF the
capital indicating that Congress was hold
! ing 4 night session, The Senate WAS sit
ting up with the Civil Service bill, and
i. held ia visils until nearly midnight.
( The bill has since passed the Senate, but
the prospect for really practical ana re-
( formative civil service legislation is not
good. The evil Is great, but the country
! Is greater, and one. goes his way 70 his
! farm, ami another 20 his merchandise,
while third asks who Is Cirll Service
and what does he want with reform The
question stated very briefly and as con
scieuci0usly as if your correspondent we're
uLder oath, is this The United States
government, has IL lis employ about lG0,-
| 900 clerks, half Of SEom, mole or less,
/ are supernumaries Ter the reason that they
have no neeea-ary worS 10 do. They all.
/ it is true, make some pretence 10 work,
bnt critical examination Of their appar-
ent employment will reveal that their So
called work has been invented Tor them.
! Their occupation is worse than useless TO
! the government, Tor they spoil paper,
waste INK and wear ouJ the bottoms of
government chairs. have known about
fifteen pages Of copying, in miserable
scrawl Of hand, to cost the government
sixty dollars The goverrment did not
want the copying bSsides the money paid
/ there was waste Of ink and paper but
an Influential woman asked an Influential
official flr cinpIoyment, aid he, kind man,
gave her copying at sky dollars per
month
No government in the world Is supplied
With srch nume.ous anu spacious and
luxurious ,t,ices as the United States.
TAose who nave travelled with their eyes
open vii bear out this statement But
notwithstanding tie number and space ot
! the cfiaes, tl5y are 81 "rercroWded with
the sin"c"F'a haVe mentioned 'i'a' 'ii'
/ {. 5. Government mas coptauaily 70 rent
! private properly Tor otiee-room-
As night b. expected from such a 5 ate
OF things. the government ofiic.s are al
wavs uehind ~i'h their work. SdeA d
,I,;rq Is bnsinsss-li6e promptnes3 Is not
5noan anywhere C'roumlocnt'on aid
! lll,miiahle red tape is The rule IN all the
government Offices t" smeh All extent that
business cannot be transacted except by
attorneys skilled III their dvv'ons ways
# it we're not for red tape and labyrinth
inc methods the thousands Of supernu-
maries would have eren less sembianee ot
/ something to 20 tlan they now haze.
Iwiil give you an example: there isa
weekly publication printed for the Patent
. OFF 80: as many as 1900 copies. perhaps,
are bor.ht directly from the ottce; price
ten certs each. You would suppose IN
the simplicity oi yaur heart that you
.,pli present dime to boy hired for
abou, 50 per week and have your pubi'ca-
t,oa handed you over the counter. Not
So foa must |fit' a ie''e' - ''' i'',
city what you want, giving the date "i
nubl;cation au2 enclosing the sum Of ten
e''''' i",' 's'''' .tap..sn. -, ogiea and
hna'e'n, 'i,'a ;.',a.. '..' rso extract the
AlS sad % =" A. -, :. iii 6ua
dI:ES- 'ttott - H"H N''''