The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-21
BREEZY TALK
FROM WASHINGTON
Special to The Age-Herald.

the recent discussions In congress In re-
gard to the merit system and the civil SER
vice in general had been to some purpose
after all. President Mckinley has been
brought face to face with the alternative
of either amending the scope of the law
or seeing it wiped from the statute book
entirely. The demand for offices and places
under the government has assumed such
enormous proportions that leading republic
done to appease the demand. A number of
prominent republican senator's among them
Senators Hanna, Fairbanks and Mason
! have called on the president and told him
that If he values his own political future,
as we'll as that of his party, he must re-
scnd the blanket order of President Cleve-
land by which 5000 positions were added
| by one fell swoop to the classified service.
There is every probability that before con-
gress will have re-convened the president
will have issued an order that will exempt
from the operation of the civil service laws
and regulations all or nearly all of the po-
sitions covered by the blanket orders of
! Mr.. Cleveland This would include deputy
marshals, deputy collectors. of internal rev.
enue, assistant district attorneys, all posi-
| tions the sub-treasuries and customs
houses outside of Washington and all po-
sitions less than 5000 per annum in the de-
| partments. 1t would provide places for
| about $4,000 republicans and would go a
long way towards appeasing the hungry
spoilsmen in congress, who have been
clamoring for something that would let
down the barriers of civil service and give
them a chance to reward the party work.
ers in time for the next election.
If the president takes this action there
will be considerable agitation by politicians
that the government printing office be
taken from the classified service. There is
considerable doubt whether there ever was
any authority of law for putting it there
in the first place. The law under which
these executive extensions were made gives
the president the power to extend the
| classified service over any of the executive
departments, but expressly exempts from
| it's operation workmen and those who are
engaged in purely mechanical pursuits 1t
| is contended by those who want to see the
government printing office removed from
| the classified service that It is not an ex-
| ecutive department, but, according to the
| ACT WIiCl CIcdl6Q lIo SAINT, d VI
the legislative; Also that, as the employees
are workmen in every sense of the word,
| printers, pressmen and compositors, they
| cannot rightly be classified. The friends of
| the merit system will rests to the utmost
| any effort to exempt this great office, which
| employees thousands of people from the
| operation of the merit system.
The need of so many clerks to the house
committees and to the different branches
of congress was brought up during the con-
| sideration of the legislative appropriation
bill the other day by Mr. Moody, of Mas
sachusetts, and while no action was taken
thereon, it served the purpose of calling
| the attention of number of new men,
bers who are not familiar with the work
ings of things in congress so far as pat
| ronage is concerned, just how things are
| DONE Congress appropriates twelve hun
bred dollars to provide each member with
| a private secretary, or clerks as they are
called officially. In addition to this each
| committee of which there are ffty-seven
| in the present house, has at least one, and
| in the case of larger committees, two and
sometimes three clerks.
Twenty-Five of these clerks receive
| eighteen hundred dollars per annum,
while about twenty more receive salaries
ranging from two thousand to three thous-
| and dollars, the latter amount being paid
| to the chief clerks of the committees on
| ways and means and appropriations. The
| balance, who are rated as assistant clerks,
receive fifteen hundred dollars per annum.
| 1t should be borne in mind that these sal
aries are paid for the whole year, while
| work is required, in most cases, only dur
| ing the sessions of congress. In addition
| to these there are eighteen clerks to COM
mittees who receive six dollars a day DUR
| ing the session, something like a dozen
messengers who get down at 10 O'Clock
and leave when the house adjourns, and
whose duties are to sit in front of the
doors leading to the floors and galleries
| and see that no one who is not entitled to
| the privileges of the same enter In ad-
dition to these, which employed for
| the house of representatives only, the
senate employs about the same number of
persons and is a great deal more lavish
in regard to salary. But these are by no
means ALL The doorkeepers, postmasters,
secretaries. financial clerks, sergeant-at-
arms, and their numerous assistants, all
go to swell up the total until we have the
| gent expenses of congress, without count
| ing the salaries of members and senators,
which alone amounts to $225O,OO0, the enor-
nous amount of $2OO0,0OO. Still the MEM
bers talk about economizing in the de-
partments.
The southern members, especially those
along the gulf and Atlantic coasts, are hav-
ing great difficulty in arriving at any con-
clusion regarding national quarantine
| law. Representative Henry d. Clayton, OF
EufauIa says that the great trouble which
confronts the Southern members is the
fear of conflict between the federal and
local authorities in the case of an epidemic
1T have not decided yet" he said, "as to
how will vote when the question Is pre-
scented and 1 think a majority of the men,
bers find themselves in the same predica-
ment.
stIoobiI;tu of tho state boards to keep out