Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-09-18
wAsHINcToNlErrEs.


= - - ~ 49, " AAChA wv y
is no Congress, no administration, no
society, in short nobody in Washing
ton. It may not be out OF place for your
correspondent to write about the de-
partments with their teeming clerical
life, the great offices in which the ac-
counts of Uncle Sam are kept and where
the business Of the wealthiest snd most
progressive people on the globe is man.
aged. The business of the administra-
ton. has grown with the growth and
prosperity OF the nation, and requires
constant expansion and adjustment as
the nation grows in thews and bulk.
1t cannot be otherwise than that there
must be some waste in our national
housekeeping. Economy is not an
American virtue. The lavishness OF ma
ture begets prodigality in the individ-
lial 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, in
dividually or nationally, practice the
"waste not want not" irugality and
economy Of Germany and France.
Our country is young and wastes its
substance in riotous living often mis-
taking the prodigslity Of our natural
resources for thriftand prosperity. One
need not incur the reproach of pessim~
ism in predicting that We may have TO
eat husks and humble ourselves in sack
cloth and ashes before we are able TO
solve some OF the great politico-eco-
nomic question which now confront
US.
Our civil service list is the largest and
most expensive in the world. 1t can
not now contain less than 125, 900 per-
sons, and it is continually growing.
The employees of our government are
paid much more than the employees OF
any other Government. / do not hes
itate to say that as a 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 Government Off
ces are behind with their work, and
this is especially so with the U. S. Pat
ent Offices, the best paid of them all,
and the one which not only does not
cost the tax payer cent, but which
actually pays large yearly surplus into
the National Treasury.
The present Administration has
made determined effort to reform the
idleness, the absenteeism, and the gen.
eral good for nothingness of the civil
service, but it has great task 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
unacqRinted with the Departments,
bureaus, and divisions Of almost Cor
dian completely over which they were
called to preside. Their Democratic
chiefs of Divisions and Bureaus were
necessarily as ignorant as themselves.
They found the Offices filled with men
and women placed there by political
influence as reward for the political
work they had done or were expected
to do. In these Offices idleness, gossip
absenteeism, had long been the rule.
The clearks were amenable only to the
influential politicians who appointed
them, and it was common with them
to defy their official chiefs and to act
ually have them discharged. Many of
the chiefs lived in fear Of pretty female
clerks in their divisions who we're
backed by influential senators. These
clerks conscious of their strength, did
as they pleased, to the humiliation of
the obsequious chiefs, and the demon
alizatlon of the entire service. ALI this
l have said has been greatly changed.
The clerks now arrive at the depart
ments at 8 O'Clock instead OF half past
nine or ten. They remain at their
desks until the regular time for depar-
ture. Formerly it had been the habit
of many to shirk work for the slightest
illness, or to affect illness and play
truant. Now every days illness is
charged up and is substracted from the
thirty days vacation which is the an
nual allowance with pay of Government
employees. These and other reforms
have made noticeable improvement
on both the quantity and quality of the
work performed, but much remains to
be done before the work in the Govern
ment offices can be carried on with the
economy and dispatch of well regulated
business establishments. Many of the
chiefs of bureau and division ap-