Middletown transcript., 1886-09-16
FROM WASHINGTON.


AND LEAKS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE.
FORMER IDLENEss AND ABsEN-
TEEIsM. REFORMS.
WASHINGTON, Sept. IA, 1885,
When there is no Congress, no Admin
istration, no society, in short nobody
in Washington, it may not be out of
place for your correspondent to write
about the Departments with their
teeming clerical life,-the great offices
in which the accounts of Uncle Sam
are kept, and where the business of the
wealthiest and most progressive peo-
pie on the globe is managed. The bus
mess of the administration has grown
with the growth and prosperity of the
nation, and requires constant expan-
sion and adjustment as the nation
grows in thews and bulk. 1t cannot
be otherwise than that there must be
some waste in our national housekeep-
ing. Economy is not an American
virtue. The lavishness of nature be-
gets prodigality in the individual and
in the home. Our government is very
like the units which compose it. / am
afraid we will have to be much older
and sadder people before we, individ-
ually or nationally, practice the "waste
not want not'' frugality and economy
of Germany and France. Our country
is young and wastes its substance in
,iotous living, often mistaking the
prodigality of our natuaal resources
for thrift and prosperity. One need
not incur the reproach of pessimism in
predicting that we may have to eat
husks and humble ourselves with sack
cloth and ashes before we are able TO
solve some of the great politico-eco-
nomic questions which now confront
us.
Our civil service list is the largest
and most expensive in the world. 1t
cannot now contain less than Ia, 900
persons, and it is continually growing.
The employees of our Government are
paid much more than the employees Of
any other Government. do not hesi-
tate to say that as rule they are
paid more than their services are
worth. Added to this is the fact that
in spite of their premium wages it has
never yet been found possible to make
them work. Nearly all the Govern
ment offices are behind with their work,
and this is especially 30 with the United
States Patent Office, the best paid of
them all, and the one which not only
does not cost the taxpayer cent, but
which actually paysa large yearly sur
plus into the National Treasury.
The present administration has made
a determined effort to reform the idle
ness, the absenteeism, and the general
good-for-nothingness of the civil service
but it has here ulean task k before it
and it must be admitted that it had no
other equipment in the campaign Of
reform than good intentions. Mr..
Cleveland and his cabinet were totally
unacquainted with the departments
bureaus, and diyis ions of almost Cor
dian complexity over which they were
called to preside. Their Democratic
chiefs of divisions and bureaus were
necess arily as ignorant as themselves.
They found the Offices filled with men
and women placed there by political
influence as a reward for the political
work they had done or were expected
to do. In these offices, idleness, gos-
sip, absenteeism, had long been the
rule. The clerks were amendable only
to the influential politicians who ap-
pointed them, and it was common with
them to defy their official chiefs and
to actually have them discharged.
Many of the chiefs lived in fear Of pref
ty female clerks in their divisions,
who were backed by influential sena-
tors. These clerks, conscious of their
strength, did as they pleased, to the
humiliation of the obsequious chiefs,
and the decentralization of the entire
service. All this, l have said has been
greatly changed. The clerks now ar
rive at the departments at 9 O'Clock in
stead of half past nine or ten. They
remain at their desks until the regular
Time for departure. Formerly it had
been the habit of many to shirk work
Tor the slightest illness, or to affect ill
ness and play traunt. Now every days
illness is charged up and is subtracted
from the thirty days vacation which is
,he annual allowance with pay of Gov
,rnment employees. These and other
'eforms have made a noticeable i'm
on both the quantity and
quality of the work performed, but
much remains to be done before the
work in the Government offices can be
carried on with the economy and
lispatch of we'll conducted business
Establishments. Many of the chiefs of |
bureau and division appointed by the
present administration are capable,
and thoroughly determined |
% reform the deep rooted abuses that
appear everywhere in the immense
,ivil establishment of the United |
States. These abuses cannot be swept |
Iway by a magician's wand. They |
must be removed by patient, devoted
work.
According to an Associated Press
lispatch from Washington, mo de-
nand, peremptory or otherwise, for
he release and restoration of the
Canadian vessels saiZed in Alaskan |