Daily public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1892-191?, 1896-10-17

gresham told him to go to the secre
tary of the treasury and tell him so il
person. The fool did so, and the secre'
tary gave him first-class clerksh;p
When he found out the mistake he hac
made, he was mad all over, but ht
could blame nobody but himself. Con
gressmen usually do the best they car
for their constituents, and whatever is
given, especially in these civil service
days, should be thankfully received
The Office seekers should tha'
beggars should not be choosers; anC
Office seekers are practically beggari
for fuvors.
The civil service law is a delusion anc
a snare, and the sooner the people un'
derstand that fact the better. 1t il
constantly violated and affords abso
lutely no protection to clerks. Any
girl with a pretty face and figure car
pass the civil service examination
There is pretty woman in the interior
department to-day who draws salar,
of $1,000 per annum who never passeC
the examination and who has not edu
cation enough to pass any sort of al
examination. She was a widow anc
knew how to charm a congressman ane
take complete possession Of him. She
then insisted upon having an Office, il
order to be independent and apparent
ly self-supporting. How the law wal
circumvented it is difficult to tell. Blu,
there she is.
The law does not protect the clerks
There is no clause and no section and nc
lins or word in the civil service law OF
in the regulations to prevent the dis
charge of clerk, and the clerks canlsot
even ascertain or demand any reason
for their dismissal when it occurs. Noel
p. Aldrich was one of the best clerks
and one of the finest penmen in the
post Office department. He had been
there for Is years and was efficient. He
was discharged, and could never get
any reason for it. The head of de-
partment his autocratic power to dis
charge. The law only hampers him in
appointing. No matter how efficient a
man may be, he cannot be appointed to
an Office in the departments without
passing a civil service examination. To
give a plain practical illustration let
me tell you a story from real life.
James N. Tyner was for years n
post office inspector. He served in the
railway mail service. He was first as
sistant postmaster general. He was
postmaster general. He was assistant
attorney general for the post Office de-
partment and construed all of the
postal. laws. He knows the postal
service in all its qualifications probably
better than any other living man. Now,
suppose that the present postmaster
general should want to appoint James
N. Tyner to first-class clerkship he
could not do so. No matter how much
he might need the services of James N.
Tyner, the law stands in the way to
prevent the appointment of Tyner, I'M
less he should go through the farce of
passing a schoolboy examination.
The office seekers are like rats. A
well-provisioned ship is always fairly
swarming with rats, but when a leak is
sprung, the rats desert the ship. AS
long as a man is prominent and holds
himself above the average in public
life, the Office seekers are after him
constantly. When 1t becomes known
that the local bosses intend to turn him
down, however, the Office seekers de-
sert him. A former member of the
house of Representatives says: II knew
long before the blow came that was
not to be renominated. knew that
word had gone forth to slaughter me.
] could tell IL because the letters beg
cling for Office ceased to come in my
mail. That is always q sure sign that
a Statesman is sinking, when the Office
seeking rats begin TO desert him."
SMITH d. FRY.