Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-01-15
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
law corkshps the Government Service are Secured
10" some Phases of Department Life

the actual hunger of fellow clerk,
who was dismissed month ago, be-
cause an unrelentlng creditor COM
planned to the chief. Dismissals gem
orally come hardest on the female
clerks, who, with the charming in
consistency of women, VIII seldom have
a penny ahead, so long as fashions
change and there are candy shops ON
the avenue. This Is not true OF all
of them. however. for many are wild
ows with families to maintain, some
are supporting their aged parents and
others are educating younger brothers
aid sisters. | know beautiful wo-
man who was the adored wife of
wealthy husband rev years ago
Through the failure of n Philadelphia
manufacturer he lost his property. and
soon afterwards died. Influential
friends secured the widow a place In
the U. S. treasury. All went compare
lively well for a time; but as there
were several children to be clothed fed
and educated. nothing could be saved
out of the salary of $1,000 year. Some
months ago she lost her place, as an
told me that She had 50 in money. that
she had sold everything In the house
that could be turned into money or
bread, and that cupboard and coal-bin
were nearly empty, and another
months rent almost due. She Is hop
| ing through political Influence to get
back into the department, but If she
does not succeed, and quickly. what
them Some time ago the local pa
pers told of two young girls, orphans,
| literally frightened to death because
they lost their positions in the patent
office and had no hope of securing
| them again. What could they DO but
| suicideY Their small savings Kept
| them only few days. and then board
| .tCtts
| for money due. They could see no al
| tentative but death, and another. which
| is as overcrowded as any branch OF
! business in Washington. SO they bat
/ tened up the windows ana turned.on
| the gas and left this weary world
| for a better one, we hope.
but why multiply cases? The depart
| ments are not orphan asylums or char
| liable institutions, and those who are
| believed to have power in securing re-
| jnatatements and appointments are so
| harrassed by written statements OF
| pitfful cases and desperate straits that
| In very self-defense they are com
| PEELED to pass them over nread. VI
| course this is only one side or the ques-
| tion. More than ten thousand men
and women are TRANQUILITY pursuing the
| even tenor of their way in the various
| denartmentss in Washington, drawing
| good salaries; and IL dark visaged
| Tragedy is logging their footsteps, II
| viii reveal itself only when the day OF
dismissal comes. Meanwhile the
| civil Service commission sits aloft in
| Judgment, serene and cold. unmoved
by Individual appeals. It's WORKINGS,
though perhaps not the best thing tor
the political health of the country, are
| certainly most fair for the army OF APP
| iicauts. MS a whole. During the years
of it's existence the commission mas ex-
nmined 10000 applicants for places IN
ali branches of the public service. vi
these. Sc, 300 failed to pass. or the w, :
| 700. who did successfully pass the eX-
ominations. only about SO per cent have
| received appointments. But the mum,
her of those appointed was barely ~
per cent of those examined; SO ohiy
about one-fifth of those who sousht
places In the public service 0o,aiiieu
them. Naturally, the whole business
is unpopular among the politicians. who
try TO break over its rules. IL is as
serted by many that the civil service
| plan was shrewdly manipulated pg
President Cleveland for the sole PVT
pose of keeping his friends in, Office
after he went out of it. They say that
while a principle may be all right. the
| practical application OF 1t in the nahus
| of n partisan executive, be ne fresi-
| dent governor. mayor or county coW-
missioner, may be all wrong, and they
do not want "a law which will allow
political party to put in Office and keer
there for life men whose only quaiiii-
cation may be the fact that they have
passed an examination which Is very
likely not to be a thorough TEST oi
their capacity, honesty and character
But the shoe pinches worst on the OLD
notion that to the victors belong the
spells. 1t does look grotesque to see
the "under dog" at present in the pc,
litical fight, in peaceful possession OF
| All the bones, which II purposes &c
keep right straight along: to see mosl
of the Republican administration, II
every city, village and crossroads
hamlet of the country, administered by
| Damocrats. But the fact remains
that outside the turmoil of politics
there are some seventy million OF people
| in the United States who don't care 0
rap whether the spoil-seeker and place
hunters are disappointed or not SO lont
| as the business of the government Is
properly performed on business prin'
ciples. FANNIE BRiehAM'