Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-04-19

enough to hurt them or to make
them feel it as the poor people of 9TH
er countries feel the burden. Never
theless the salaries paid to our gov
eminent officials are ample, and mill
lions of dollars are expended which
might be saved with greater economy
in the Legislative and executive
branches of the government.
What Uncle Loren" Fletcher SAYS
about the difficulty of securing ap-
pointments is entirely true. The civil
service law, which has never been an
adequate protection for government
clerks, bars out many worthy people.
1t has never been properly admins
tered, and is not now properly admin
istered. Men and women of excellent
education and ability are unable to Sc
cure employment in the civil service
because they cannot pass the con-
temptibly unbusinesslike examina-
tions; because they cannot answer
questions in geography, arithmetic or
algebra which have nothing whatever
to do with the work to be done by
government clerks.
FL ''There is one paramount reason why
these promotion-hunters are exasper-
ating to practical congressman" added
Mr.. Fletcher, land that is their lack of
appreciation of their superior advan-
tages and environments. They only
work from nine o'clock in the morning
until four o'clock in the afternoon.
That constitutes a days work; and
they have half an hour for lunch at the
noontide, when people in the states are
taking their dinners. They call it
lunch in this city. Nobody gets less
than $50 per month, and very few get
less than $75 per month.
1 snow every congressman knows
scores of good people in his own district
who live on $40 or $50 per month, and
they work from sun-up until shutdown.
The young men who work in railroad
offices or in large stores, and get SIS
per month, are able to get married and
rear families, and be satisfied. have
in mind three excellent young men
right now who would be glad to have
the opportunity to come here at $50 per
month, and they would make good
clerks. But the civil service law bars
them out of government employment.
While I would be glad to help them,
know from experience that as soon as
they might receive appointing here,
they would begin nagging me for pro-
motions, just as the others have done,
instead of waiting for advancement on
their own merits."'
While all of this is true, and while il
only tells half of the story Of what the
congressman endure, it is only fair to
point to the fact that all of us are try
ing to better our conditions, and that
this instructive mental process is at the
root of all of this promotion-hunting. It
is in the heart of every man and every
woman to be not dissatisfied, but I'M
satisfied. The trouble is, that they are
In too big hurry. Montesquieu says:
Success in most things depends on
knowing how long it takes to succeed"
Confucius says: "Our greatest glory
is not in never falling; but in rising
every time we fall" But government
clerks are not philosophers, nor readers
of PHILOSOPHERS, and hence do not de-
serve uncharitable description in tell
ing their story. @& ~ #.
The trouble with the clerks is that
they permit their selfish desires to in
duce them to make too much haste, and
therefore too little speed. The trouble
with the congressman is that they are
too busy in their own self-seeking to be
charitable to those who are also trying
to hasten their own betterment. The
congressman are all trying to be SEN
ators or presidents, and the govern
ment clerks are all trying to become
chiefs of divisions, or chiefs of depart
ments. Probably nowhere else on this
continent do we find human nature rub
bling against human nature with 90
much friction as right here.
With charity for all, it may neverthe-
less be said that the government clerks
certainly overdo their cause, because
they are all asking something for moth
ing. They are asking the congressman
to advance them, while they are utter
~ powerless to do anything to advance
the congressman. This salient fact all
of them overlook. SMITH D. FRY.