Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-02-10
OUR GOVERNMENT.
The CHANGE THAT WILL TAKE
PLACE MARCH q.

4
Present incumbcnts will Gothic
Immensity of Our GOvernmcnt,s
Bnainess and Its Rapid Increase.
Three weeks from tomorrow the
Government will "change hands"
A new lot of managers will come in
and take the places of those who are
now in control. This is the mightiest
business transfer the world has ever
seen. There is nothing else like it
anywhere in the world. No other ma
tiOn has such vast interests, measured
by the amount of money or number OF
people involved.
Great Britain would be an exception
to this if all the operations of that en-
pire were managed from the central
seat Of government in London, but
they are not. Three-fourths OF the
empire is colonial, under home rule,
except in certain matters. This is the
only nation which does a business"
every year of $j00,O00,OOO. Fix an
adequate conception of sum of
money like this in your mind, if you
can. The chances are you can't.
The greatest business house in the
world, that of the Armours of Chicago,
handles a million dollars a week; the
greatest railway system, the Pennsyl-
vania, including all lines, $3,00O,OO0 a
week.
Uncle Sans transactions in actual
expenditures reach the astonishing
total of about $l0O0OO0O a week.
This amount must necessarily in
crease as the years go by. Not only is
the country growing at a prodigious
rate, but the functions OF government
are being extended to fields unheard
and unthought of few years ago.
The evolution Of things is always
from the simple to the complex, with
corresponding and constant reaction
ary struggle of all the involved forces
to evolve order and simplicity out oi
the increased complexity. So it is in
nature and in all the affairs of man
so also in the great government oi
which our good Uncle Sam stands the
figurehead.
Evidences OF the order which per.
meates every department of the govern
ment from highest to loves. is found
in the fact that the transfer OF March
next and the ensuing months will be
accomplished without friction Oh
stoppage. Nothing will wait, nothing
suffer, nothing stop on account oi
the political revolution. The taxes
will be collected, the pensions paid
the contracts let, the navy kept going
the army run on, the mails be collect
ed, carried and delivered; the books
kept, and all the infinite operations
of government continue as if nothing
had happened.
The American people greatly as.
sisted by the American press, have q
way of making great ado over the
filling OF few thousand offices, and
from the din and confusion some
persons gain the idea that change OF
administration means complete
revolution in the personnel of the
government. Of the 10000 civil
employees of the government probably
10000 will be at their work and
drawing their salaries year hence.
In Washington, for instance. where
about 1900 persons work for the
government and where the rewards OF
politics are popularity supposed to be
bearing down the tree of patronage,
no more than 1000 or 5000 changes
altogether are likely to take place dur
ing the four years of the coming ad-
ministration. Throughout the coun-
try the changes are not very great or
rapid. Presidential postmasters will
step out as their commissions expire,
and postmasters at some of the minor
offices as soon their successors can
be agreed upon.
But, perhaps, 10000 or more of the
10000 postmasters in the country will
not be disturbed at all, and the great
army Of letter carriers, mail carriers,
railway and star route agents will 60
on at their work as if nothing had
happened. Compared to the whole
number Of public servants the num-
Der affected by the political change
is small indeed.
This general truth only seems to
emphasize the vastness OF our govern
mental machine. The capital city
of 10000 souls is built up wholly by
government. Take away from Wash
ington the public employment and
there would be little left. Every
third family in town draws its support
from the government payroll, and the
other two live by supplying the wants
of the first. Stand ON one OF the
main thoroughfares Of the capital at
at 6 As in the morning and you fail
to see the throngs of people rushing
to their work which are present at
that hour on the streets of other cities
But just two hours later every side
walk will be traversed by crowds of
men and women moving toward the
doors Of the great government de-
partments.
Five minutes after 8 the streets
are almost deserted. twenty-five
hundred people have gone to their
desks in the Treasury Department,
nearly 2 600 in the pension office, g
600 in the big War, State and Navy
building, thousand in the Interior
Department, another thousand in the
government printing Office, and thou
sands more in the other departments
and bureaus.