Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-07
THE AUSTRIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
strict Honesty One of Hts DistAn'
gushing characteristics.

gushing Charncter1stlcs.
.It would hardly occur to Englishmen
resident in this country to describe the
Austrian Civil Service as q model worthy
of imitation, writes Vienna correspond
ent of the London Telegraph. "ln one
respect, however, it is exemplary-name-
lv its strict honesty. 1t must also be
admitted that the Austrian Government
official is very superior to the regierungs
beaute of ante. Constitutional times. lie
ia. as a rule, man OF intelligence and
education, having in many instances
taken his university degree. He is al
most invariably civil and obliging,
whereas in former years he was petty
tvrant. ready to snub all who had the
misfortune to require his services, and
looking upon the long suffering public
as his natural enemy. In other respects
there has been little improvement. Red
tame still reigns supreme. 1t is next to
;mnossible to obtain from any Austrian
Government official, even from those in
h;oh nositions, a verbal answer to the
most trivial inquiry. In general they
aro irresolute, and reluctant to assume
responsibility. The following instance
sbnws 10 what extent red-tapism exists
in different branches of the Administra-
tion. Some three months ago foreign
conirere of mine applied for permission
! to open an office for the sale OF MS paper
"a leading continental contemporary
in Vienna. According to the Austrian
press laws, a special authorization Is re-
auired for the purpose. he nrst hao 70
address himself to the Ministry. OF
the Interior. There his appiica-
&ion met with no objection, and the
Minister forwarded it to the stadt,
k.&holder's office with the mention: 'Urgent.
~ went through three departments OF the
Statdtholders office, which only took
about as many weeks, the document
being marked urgent Thence it was
sent to the Prefecture of Police, where 1t
fell into the hands Of clerk who likes
TO see things properly done. On scru.
tinizing the application he discovered
that there was an important omission,
which had entirely escaped both the
Minister of the Interior and the Stadt'
holder. The person on behalf OF whom
the application was made--for my con
frere did not intend to stand behind
the counter himself--had not appended
his signature! He was accordingly in.
yited to call at the prefecture and sign
the document. This had to be done be-
fore it could be submitted to the Prefect.
Noimmediate decision was taken, and the
application was sent for approval to the
Commissary of Police belonging to the dis
trict where the paper was to be sold. II
is at present on its way back through
the different Government departments
concerned. Though my confrere has
lost all trace of it, he hopes that the
matter being dealt with as Urgent, nc
will some day hear more about it. The
Austrian Government employees are gen.
erallv Industrious. Those connected
with the pestoffice, who are the parahs
of The civil service, are overworked, and
that to the detriment of the public,
The postal service leaves much to be
desired. Letters and newspapers are
NOT delivered with that regularity which
ouohttob be observed in large towns. The
reason is the small staff employed at the
general postofiice. The Hungary non.reg
~fstered letters are never sure of reaching
4 their destination. In Austria letters are
seldom lost, but frequently delayed.
"The absence of corruption ia the
Austrian civil service is more praise
worthy as salaries are small, although
thew were increased by the Liberal Gov
eminent when in Office. They art
divided into eleven classes, as follows
No |. 200; No. 2, fl,000; No. 8
$500: No. 4, f700; No. 5, 5000; No. 6
$500 to f2So; No. 7, f240 to f2OQ; No