The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-03
THE FRENCH REPORT.


The ''verdict" of the French commission is
only what everybody expected, and expected
even before the commission met, and before it
had heard word of so-called evidence"
We do not impeach the purpose or the fair
ness of the gentlemen who composed the
board, for that their decision is in accordance
with the testimony they heard and is logi-
cal necessity of the circumstances under
which the investigation was ordered and con-
Quoted, no one will dispute. The attitude
the journal has maintained toward the affair
remains unchanged by reason of the decision,
and is, indeed, only settled and indicated
by it. There can be no doubt that Mr..
French thoroughly understands the railway
service, that he is a competent officer, that he
is an efficient" overseer as that word goes,
and that he held in his hands all the trumps
in the game which the "disgruntled" postal
clerks were misled into entering. That Mr..
French has a good ''record" in the department
is also well known and conceded; for, as was
expressed by one clerk who was quoted APP
provingly by the defense, the ''poor devils of
clerks do the work. and Mr.. French
gets the credit" of running the Fifth division
about one-third more economically than any
other. That is, Mr.. French exacts about
one-third more work out of his clerks than do
other superintendent. While all these points
in favor of Mr.. French are well known and
conceded as well as that there was no tangi-
BILE foundation for the charges of dishonesty
in the weighing of the mails, it is quite as
notorious that Mr.. French has so administered
his Office as to gain the ill-will of large per
cent of his subordinates. This feeling
on the part of the clerks is well founded;
it grows out of acts and a general
line Of conduct that cannot possibly be formu-
lated into charges and specifications and
every man Of experience in the affairs of the
world knows that full well, and we make no
doubt the members of the commission appre-
ciated the fact as well as we do. 1t is impos-
sible, in the nature of the case, that these
complaints that have been in existence to our
personal knowledge for at least seven years
should all be foundationless. They do not
exist in other divisions with any
thing like the same frequency and
pertinacity. The department confesses
that 'the complaints against Mr.. French are
numerous and persistent" Complaints are
not so against any other superintendent
Arguing a priori, and from the fact that
human nature is no different in the Fifth than
in any other division, the conclusion is ire
sistible that Mr. French's manners and meth
DDS are not such as secure for him the good
will and cooperation of his subordinates. In
this Mr. French is not alone, although con-
spicuous. There are other efficient over
seers, in both public and private life, who
can make good records, but who are heartily
despised by those out of whose work and
manhood they coin their regulations.
The verdict of the commission will certainly
change nObody's opinion. If it had been the
reverse, it would have been equally lame and
impotent. Despite the patient and laborious
investigation made by the board, the careful
and conscientious summing up, and the final
verdict, the fact of widespread irritation re-
mains; the fact remains that the really efficient
and fair conduct of the service demands such
a change as will insure good feeling for ill-will
between those who superintend and those who
do the actual work; change that will not offer
premium upon an efficiency" that grinds the
character out of men who hold relatively sub
ordinate positions; change that will make
the government service one in which men can
can live, move and have their being in which
employees need not become either machines
to wear out their lives in accomplishing sub
lection, or galley slaves doing their "stints7
with bitterness in their hearts. The investi-
cation and the verdict of the commission leave
the Postofice Department with the French
puzzle on its hands unsolved.
-
GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON, of Georgia,
hos uoada a nilo,,,i,Y, ca +o CpavS+opa tba Dan,