New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-01
THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE
WHAT II Is TO-DAY.
IMPROVEMENTS WITHIN THE PAST fE" ~
TENURE or oFFICE-rHE Fohcb ioo i'"'
rupt OyNfFNT OF WOMEN.

=
naturally arises in the minds of many; ha' Is
the service to-dayfo How loes it stand Tor non
estv and efficiency take it whole, the county
over ~ These questions were put to one Oh eno
most Intelligent and experienced men IN the ser
| VICE the other day. who has had occasion 10 stuuy
| many branches of it. His reply was; r"i
efficiency, fair; for honesty, in the very hgheS'
rank Certainly, neither of these ratings IL 10"
high The average of the Government service al
efficiency has greatly improved within Few years
in response to the public demand for such an iIn-
proyement and many members OF it Will douptiesS
claim that the marking is too low. 1t may 10
that the service as good now as 1t can DO uiuo'
| a purely partisan system OF appointments
II is certainly true that Government clerks ana
officials of the minor grades as seen here are az
| rule earnest in their work and anxious 10 VIII pro-
| motion by good records and it is also true tna0
promotion does follow good work now with regu-
| larity that was unknown some years ago. Also
| that the Government service VIII compare lor
freedom from dcfalcations and small scandals with
| the average IN business life, perhaps to the disad-
VANTAGE of the latter One reason for this IS ull-
doubtedly that the affairs Of Government must DE
conducted more carefully and accurately IMAM pii-
vate business, and here Is system oil cnecHs anu
| balances which business men Will not Durdeb tncih
| selves With. Anybody who may have been led ny
| sensational Democratic orators and newspapers to
suppose that the Washington departments are IN
| habited by red-nosed politicians who Keep their
| feet on their desks chew tobacco and read the
morning newspapers up to the time that 'h'
| evening papers come out or that the Treasury Is
harem" would find it interesting and instructive
to stand outside one of the great departments at
the close of the days work and study the crowds OF
men and women who pour into the street. ma
| iority of the women middle-aged. plainly
! dressed o number of them soldiers widows, whose
faces seem to tell the story of the effort to support
| family on a small salary. Many of the men have
| been soldiers, and carry the marks of service on
| their bodies. The young men may be students OF
| one of the evening law schools, which are feature
of Washington, they may be OF the same careless
| unthinkng class to which belonged young man
| who was greatly euvied by Salmon p. Chase when
the latter was young here, trying to get some
EMPLOYMENT and asked his uncle, then
| a Senator to secure him depart
| ment place. The old genteman's grum
| response was that he had ruined one nephew that
way already and must decline to ruin another, but
| he would gladly lend the young mau the money 10
| buy shovel. When Mr.. Chase came back to be
] Secretary of the Treasury, his former chum whom
he had once regarded one of the most fortunate
| OF men, was Treasury clerk still.
Ifit be conceded that the service about as good
as IT can be under purely partisan system OF APP
pOintments that does not show that there are not
| improvements which can be made and evils when
can be corrected by change to the system of APP
| pointment by merit alone 1t is only few years
| since Mr. Mcpherson found the Bureau of Engrav-
ing and Printing filed with a herd of persons,
many of them women, who were Dot needed there
and were appointed simply to please Congress-
men, and in some cases for the worst purposes.
IT,, olalr cd thp rplucPd
expenses 80 per cent in year. instead OF 60, as
stated the other day. and built the handsome build
ing of the Bureau with one-half of one years saw
ing Another instance of the way in which unneces-
sary work has apparently been manufactured some
times to keep appOintees with Influence" on the
payroll is seen in communication in January OF
this year from the Office of the Lighthouse Board,
giving the work done by the Office basis for it
share of the Treasury estimates. In 1873 work was
wanted for number of clerks and i'll default of
anything else, they were set to copying in books
the press copies of all the letters written by the
Board since the year 1854 work considered by
Treasury officials having knowledge of the facts to
be wholly unnecessary. IL makes total
up to January of 2,74l,2S2 lines of writing,
which kept busy number of clerks
how many is not stated-from S76 to 1881, when
the major part of it was accomplished. These are
extreme cases, however, and probably nothing like
them COulu DC I0unu IN Une service tO-uay; Duu
they show what was possible and might be again.
Removals OF competent clerks comparatively
rare nowadays, and purely political appointments
are correspondingly difficult, but pressure for office
is just stroAg ever, and many officials declare
it is even stronger With all the changes for the
better the system is still the same.
When the Pendleton Committee was taking testi-
mony last winter it was stated by officials from
some of the departments that the Cabinet changes
which then being made had almost democrat
lzed the clerical force with the fear of arbitrary
remoyals-meraly on the ground that new head
was always more likely to make changes than an
old one This not than year ago 1t
is not very many years ago since woman who
had job of washing towels for one of the depart
ments. at $40 or a month, was required by high
officer of the Government to share il with another
woman who had influence" Nor is it so many
years since a woman holding Government place,
which wanted for some else, dis
charged on the pretext that she owned a piano
This taken proof that she above want
and did not need place. Another woman re-
moved because she had saved few hundred dollars
and had bought house. with the idea of gradually
paying for home. In one bureau here there were
G4O removals and designations during the six years
preceding 1882, and $50 appointments. portion
of the removals were on account Of reduction of
force, Dut the majority were SIMPLY 10 make places
for new appointees In one year 146 persons
were removed and 14l appointed, and
the Office kept IN continual terror
and anxiety" to quote the words of one of the men
in it, At the opening of the XLVlIth Congress.
knew of Mt least one case in which lady in one
OF the departmentS-one so experienced aud COM
petent that IN business house her tenure would
be open to any quesion-felt it necessary to
90 to the House of Representatives and see
the new member for her district who had
been constituted by the voters thereof her
"inhuence." the department phrase goes |
Thia ~ nrnhnhlu rennllnr nrnntinn Tho rnnpnha.