The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-10-19
INTERESTING READING.
what m Investigation of the Departments
 Is Bringing to Light

what an Investigation of the Departments Is Bringing to Light.
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.-The Dockerv- Cockrell joint commission, which is in- vestigating the executive departments to see how the service may be im- proved, is gathering some surprising information. It is usually considered that one member out of family is enough at the public crib The com mission finds 5,6l0 people with rela- tives drawing salaries in the depart ments at Washington. Five officials have eight relatives apiece on salaries with them. Four have seven relatives each in government service. Ten have six apiece; twenty-six have five apiece; ninety-six have four apiece; 279 have three apiece; 1,036 have two apiece, and 451 have one apiece. There are 17,599 persons in the departments at Washington, and 5,610, or one-third of them, have relatives similarly favored.
 In thirty-seven cases both husband and wife are drawing government sal aries.
 In one case, husband, wife, brother and son, and one other relative are on the pay roll.
 In another, a husband, wife, sister and five other relatives are provided with places.
 There are SS7 cases of brothers in service and 627 cases of sisters.
 One woman clerk has her husband, two brothers and one sister drawing salaries with her.
 ~ala snl. %1~ apiece in office, besides three other relatives each.
 The parents employed who have sons in office number 333.
 Fifteen officials have both sons and daughters in office.
 This wholesale nepotism in the de- partments, the length and breadth of which nobody imagined until the com mission unearthed the facts, will be the subject of legislation of radical and stringent character.
 There is a very strong sentiment in this country against a civil pension list Yet the commission finds what amounts to the same thing prevailing on large scale in the departments. Men and women who have outlived their usefulness are being carried upon the pay-rolls because their superiors are too sympathetic to dismiss them. They do next to nothing. There is one person over 90 on the payroll. There are six between S5 and 90 years of age; thirty-three between so and s5 yearsi thirty-six between 75 and so, and 1S2 between 70 and 75 years The number between 65 and 70 is SS6. The number in the departments is over 60, which is thought to be the limit of efficient ser. vice, is 1,418, which is nearly one-hah the entire departmental force in Wash. ington. The great defect in the gov ernment civil service is that there is not limit of age or service. There is no way of getting in fresh blood. There is much truth in the old saying, that government officials seldom die and never resign.
 One person now in office at Washing. ton has been drawing government pay for sixty years. Eleven have been on the payroll forty years One hundred and nine have records of thirty years. Those who have held their official posi-. tlOho I"Chby ySdAo VI ofSl lCdSh blc number of 2,O65, or one-eighth of the en- tire force. Nearly half of the 17,599 officials in the departments have had ten years or more of the good salaries and easy duties which make these posi-. tions so highly coveted.
 Women now hold 5,637 places in the departments. They number one-third of the entire payroll.
 Most of the persons in office in Wash- ington got in without having to pass any civil service examination. They were in before the law went into opera ton ten years ago, or they escaped the formality some way. It appears from the investigation of the commission that there are only S,675 officials now in service who have passed the civil service examination, just one-ffth of tho eptira num her dra yyinu nav