Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-10-24
IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE
Secretary Gage Talks of Its Pos
 abilities and Faults.
A civil Pension List for worn-Out Clerks Needed A Plan He Is Trying-The Chances for
 Promotion.
TCopyright, 1Ss7.1

 Gage says the civil pension may not come in the present generation, and 1t may not come at all. Congress may even repeal the civil service laws and go back to the conditions which ex- isted in the Grant administration. But if civil service reform develops on gem eral lines, it will ultimately be neees- sary to pension clerks who become su- perannuated in the service. Mr. Gage says he is in favor of pensioning clerks now, but realizes that public sentiment is against it.
 The problem of the superannuated clerk is one which confronts every cab inet officer in Washington. There are many old clerks in the government ser vice whose ineapacity is clog on pulp lie business. Most of these old men are without fortune, and age has in- capacitated them for earning a living. They are virtually civil pensioners now, No cabinet officer has had the courage -or the crue1ty-to clear out this weak timber. Secretary Lamont got rid of some of it in the war department, but not all. Most of the heads of the de- partments have met the difficulty with a proposition to authorize an assess ment on the clerks for the creation of a pension fund. Speaker Reed favors that plan, and bills to carry it out have been introduced in the house and sen ate from time to time. Secretary Gage, too, says that he would create pen sion fund by pruning the salaries of the clerks"
 'Why not cut down the salaries of the clerks now?" l suggested. 1 was sitting opposite the secretary in his old office in the First national bank build ing. He was taking his first vacation since last March, and his idea of rest ing apparently was to visit his old headquarters and talk business with his old associates.
 It might be done to advantage" said the secretary, refectively. "The government pays good salaries, and perhaps it pays some people too much. I have no doubt it does. I am not in favor of a horizontal reduction of sal aries, however. The reductions, if made, should be made by commission after a thorough investigation.
 q have made an attempt to solve the question of superannuated clerks i'll an- other way" continued Mr. Gage. ''The change is only tentative. It will be some time before we know how it is go- ing to work. have established roll of honor to which are to be transferred all clerks who have grown old and in- firm in the service. They will receive the lowest clerical pay, and we shall require of them work commensurate with what we pay them. The question of superannuated clerks was suggested to us by one of my auditors. He is a good man-in fact the whole corps of auditors and their assistants is first class. 1 am surprised that the presi- dent was able to find so fine set of 'appointees. We'll, this auditor came to me and said that he wanted to raise the standard of his office, but he did not see how he could do it when he had so many old clerks under him. They were not equal to the duties of their positions and they blocked the path of promotion for others. There were, in
 
 clerks over 50 years of age, and one of them was 75. There were some old men who actually had to be lifted on their stools. It was decided, as I said, to create a roll of honor for clerks who had grown old in the service. They are to have the record of their services spread on the rolls of the department in honorable recognition of their faith ful work They are to receive $900 a year, and we shall require of them only labor commensurate with their pay What we shall rely upon and value most highly will be their experience and their memories. How this plan will work remains to be seen. Of course, in some cases, it is going to re- duce mans pay from $2,000 to 5000; and that will be hard, because govern ment service seems to develop in man the habit of spending each year the full amount of his income. But, then, if these clerks are very old they presum- ably have no families to care for, and their transfer to class E will give a chance for promotion to younger men who have greater responsibilities"
 The coming session of congress will probably see the most serious assault on the civil service law known in many years. In the executive department the law will have no frmer supporter than Secretary Gage.
 q believe in the civil service law" he said, "but think one mistake was made in first applying it. When the net was thrown over the employees of the government every man in its meshes should have been made to pass the examination now required of ap- plicants for appointment. It might not have been convenient to examine all of them at once; but 20 per cent. could have been examined tic first year, 20 per cent. the next year, and so on. If a standard for the civil service is set up, it should be made the standard for all alike''
 s'Is it practicable to do that now?"
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