The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-01
Government Employees at
Washington
HOURS AND GOOD PAY
Many Relatives in the Depart
ments = Old Public Func-
tionaries.

| The hours are easy
The work is light
| The pay is good
| Uncle Sam never scales his wages. and
you get your money for the asking every
fifteen days. These big Government fac
tories never shut down. The tariff and
the hard times 10 not affect them. and the
man who works for the Government can
laugh at fate and finances. The thousands
who are out of employment throughout
the United States ought to look into the
matter. Right here in Washington mil
lions upon millions of dollars are paid out
every year In salaries. and there are lots OF
fat, easy places. have been looking over
the report which the committee of Con-
gress has just made on the matter and L
ind that tie patronage is by no means
equally divided. There are more than
1900 clerks in Washington. but nearly
| third OF this number are related to one
another. Think of i'll There are $500
people in the departments whose blood
flows. more or less. in the same channels,
and there are more than 1000 who have
two relatives in Uncle Sans employ.
Most of these clerks get at least $1,000
year, and at this average So, 900. 600 Is
paid out annually to parties related TO each
other.
Think of the millions of Uncle Sans
nephews and nieces scattered over this
land who cannot get near enough the pub
TIC CRIB to have smell for themselves or
their families. and look at these figures.
There are 2I9 cases in which clerks have
three relatives employed In the depart
ments here, nlnety-siX in which the num-
Der are four, ten in which they number
" N w in6 nj aip HS
related TO one another in the Government
service. There are lots of husbands and
wives employed In the departments, and
there are more than 900 brothers who work
for Uncle Sam. The number of sisters is
not quite 80 large, but it runs between 600
and 700. ana there are sons and daugh-
tiers, fathers and mothers, uncles and
neDhew5 and cousins and aunts galore. In
the Interior Department alone nearly 1900
OF the clerks have relatives in the Govern
ment service here, and there are almost
1900 treasury clerks who have blood Fela-
tons in that or other Government depart
meDts. 1t is tradition Of the service that
no relatives should be EN- ployed In the dif-
ferent offices. and that there should be
only one of a family, but this one-third of
the service has gotten In, and it is here to
stay.
InOw and then hear the clerks Directing
to their hard work. Take a look at the
Office hours are, you know. from until 4.
n o one comes to the department before 9,
and from that time until II you are sup
posed To put in three hours of clerical
labor. AT II yen have half an hour for
lunch, ana you are a very good clerk If you
get TO doing hard work before ]. At you
90 out with the rest OF the army on To the
streets and do not bother yourself again
about WORK until o'clock the next morn
ing. One month out Of the year you have
to yourself aud can go where you please
and do what you please. and your pay
goes on just the same. Ii you are sick
your wages are not locked, and | know of
clerks who get from thirty to sixty days
now and then as sick leave. AS To wages.
there is no question about the salary; tAat
is fixed by the Government, and as long as
you are in Uncle Sans employ it cannot
be raised or lowered by the officials just
above you.
Every two weeks you go to the pay-office
of the department 10 which you are work
ing and your money is handed over to you
| in crisp new greeDbacks or sometimes in
gold. Ii you are good man your job is
pretty sure 10 continue, and great num-
| Der of these clerks have been in the service
for years; some, indeed. have spent life
time there, and there is one old clerk here
who has been drawing salary for sixty
years from Uncle Sam. There are others
| who have worked from forty to fifty years,
and the number who have been in from
one to four years run well up into the
| thousands. The number who have been
just ten years in the service is more than
700 and there are hundreds more who have
| been in from twelve to fifteen years. A
great many clerks have been twenty years
or more In the service. aud the tenure OF
Government office IS by no means as I'M
certain as is generally supposed. The
surety of holding a position increases
every year and the civl-service rules are
being so extended that only the chiefs will
finally be dismissed at the close of an adj
minlstration.
AS to salaries, in proportion to the
amount of work done and its character
they are as high as those of any laborers
of the worl0. Uncle Sans factories are
run on big salary basis, and the classified
service get. as rule. from 5000 TO $500
year. The chiefs get $1,000 and upward,
and there are fat places in nearly every
depa rtMeut which command $4,000, $4,000
and $1,000. The Department OF Justice. for
instance. has three offices which bring be-
tween $4,000 and S5000 and be Assistant
Acknowledgements each receive as much as
a Congressman. 10 the Departmental Agri-
culture there are number of good $1,000
places. and the government OF the District
has about twenty offices which run from
$1,000 to $4,000 in salary. The officials who
govern Washington city are all appointed
Dy ne frtSldeD', ana the aries received
are good. The Postoffice Department has
many high-salaried places, and there are
nnmb Der of soft spots connected with he
White House whose possessors have
neither crows feet at their eyes nor wrin-
kles in their bellies. The best positions, in
point of certainty Of tenure, are those con-
nected with the State. War and Navy de-
parlments. The clerks of the State Depart
ment are rather arist0cratc than other
WISE They generally speak one or two
languages, and when it is necessary to
sheve them they are sometimes sent to
| consulships on the Other side OF the world.
| The treasury has numerous charges. 1t
contains over 1000 employees, and of these
| 1900 are women.
| And just here 1 want to say word
about these women clerks of Washington.
They are the brightest and alb est people
in the service. They do their work con-
tinnously, and some of ths most efficient
| of Uncle Sans employees are females. Ii
| had my way | would give the women the
! preference as to all classes Of work which
| they can possibly do, reserving only the
harder places for the men. AS 1t is. how
ever, there are two men TO every woman
| in the departments, and the number of
women all told amounts to less than 70o0
! These women are of all ages. from Is to