Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-24
Commis.ioner Harlow. Theories.

February 20, 1880
Commissioners HnrlOw's Theories.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Civil Service Commissioner Harlow's tes-
timony before the Senate committee, Janu-
airy IS, is, on the whole, somewhat surpris-
ing. He states that THE bulk of the en-
ployes are paid out Of all proportion to
the Importance of the work upon which
they are engaged" and that the entrance
salaries of government employees are en-
tirely too high, and should be little above
the entrance salaries paid by successful
business houses and corporations. Accord
ing to the recent manual issued by the
civil service commission, the minimum en-
trance salaries of clerks and stenographers
and typewriters during the past three years
have been $500; the maximum entrance
salaries of the two classes have been 81, OOO
and $1,20O, respectively. Possibly $15 per
month will nearly represent the average
entrance salary of clerks and stenographers
and typewriters. l fear there would be
little inducement for a competent clerk or
stenOgrapher to abandon position i'll
distant state, as many do pay his expenses
to Washington and enter position pay
ing less than SIS per month. The govern
ment should Day higher entrance salaries
than business houses and corporations be-
cause greater proficiency is required. NO
civil service examination is required for
admission to a private business establish
ment. Many incompetent employees are
therefore admitted, who must soon be dis
charged, whereas it is the boast Of the
civil service commission that very few
government employees obtained by examina-
ton are discharged because of inefficiency.
Does the commissions experience in re-
cent years in maintaining an adequate reg
lister OF stenOgraDhers and tyDewriters in
dictate that the entrance salaries paid to
this class of employees are too high? To
the ordinary mind the special examinations
from time to time would seem to prove that
he fppl n
writer's are undergrad. Commissioner Har-
low argues at considerable length that per-
sons of training and education should not
be appointed as laborers. messengers and
watcnmen, and cites the case of an officer
who was embarrassed in having to ask
messenger to fill an inkstand whom he
was accustomed to meet in social circles.
No embarrassment should have occurred
under such circumstances. either to the
officer or to the messenger We do not hear
Of embarrassment when an officer requests
a subordinate clerk to perform some duty,
and Commissioner Harlow will hardly deny
who are the social and Intellectual su-
periors of their so-called superior officers.
The whole civil service scheme of appoint
ments Is based upon the principle that,
other things being equal, the most efficient
service will be rendered by the most intel
ligent employe. If the principle be found
erroneous with respect to messengers and
watchmen perhaps it may be shown to be
inapplicable to clerks whose work is mere
1y mechanical, and whose officers might
become embarrassed upon the development
of too great social superiority on the part
of the clerks. Indeed, it is difficult to
what positions might not be excepted by
following such a line of reasoning. The
government should have the best educated
employees obtainable. regardless of the
places to be filed. If all the messenger
work could be done by ex-congreSsmen the
work would be better performed and the
position of messenger would be elevated. If
fewer requests would be necessary in keep
ing the inkstands filled and the waste paper
baskets emDtied.
Some months ago Commissioner Harlow
evolved the idea that the good of the postal
service requires clerks and carriers of a
limited education The reason for this, we
were informed, is that an educated car
rier, while traversing his route instead of
thinking of the work in hand, will be medi-
tating upon some abstruse problem in meta
physics or higher mathematics, and will
absent-mindedly deliver Smiths mail at
Jones door. In other words, man who
has received a thorough mental training is
less able to control his mind than he who
has received no training.
1t Is mistake to suppose that the best
service is performed by the employee that
Hope of advancement will often stimulate
to greater effort. The clerk who expects
one day to be head of a department Is more
efficient than he who is content to remain
WHeie he is. NSSicCt VI uuty III lower
grades may come from false pride. but I
think never from education. Capacity for
filling higher position units no one for
holding the one he has.
Perhaps the statement that verges most
nearly upon the ludicrous, however, Is the
one that Commissioner Harlow sees no
reason why a clerk should work fewer
hours than skilled laborer. That mental
labor Is more fatiguing than physical Is
so patent that 1 deem argument unneces-
sary. No one familiar with both will at
tempt a denial, ] am confident. l have fol-
lowed the plow from morn Ill night, and
have clerked in store from 6 am. until
pm, and 1 unhesitatingly testify that 1
have never felt more completely exhausted
than after six and one-half hours rigor-
Gus mental labor in a government office.
February %. 1898. JULIUS