The Sunday globe., 1901-07-21
CAPITOL LOOTERS.
The COnditiOa of Affairs Due En-
tirely TO
THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW.
The Brokers ON The Outside who "ORy With
Officials for Appointments - COngrsSSmeH
and Senators Shut Out and Forced 10 Make
Places in The Capitol for CIamurOus Con-
slItuentS-COored Brother in The Swim.

The revamping by the daily press
the past week of the expose made last
winter Of capitol employees, clerks, etc,
drawing salaries for work they never
performed, farming out the same, and
patching salaries 80 as to provide for
men not carried on the rolls, had for
its inspiration the report Of Messrs.
William Dudley Foulke, Richard
Henry Dana, William A, Aiken, Chas.
Richardson and George McAneny to the
the National Civil Service Reform
League Of Representative Woods com
mittee, which thoroughly aired this
subject about the last days of Con-
gress.
This National Civil Service League
can never find anything Of itself, 1t is
blind to the violations of the civil serv-
ice law, practised by every head Of
Department and Appointment Clerk in
the service of the Government. Every
official, Congressman and Senator
knows that the civil service law is not
worth the paper upon which it is print
ed. 1t is a gigantic fraud, and is used
not to retain competent men in the
service Of the Government or TO pro-
tect the meritorious. but to find places
for the cast-off mistresses Of high Of
hcials, promote spies sycophants and
lickspittles, and weed out the manly,
competent men and the virtuous wom-
en- who can not be used by the chiefs,
auditors, and other superior officials
for their base purposes.
Congressman and Senators have been
4 IL. 81
capitol and after the manner detailed
in the report of the sniyel ceryice in
vestigators for their friends because
every avenue in the Departments is
closed to them until they stand in like
Mark Hanna and Charley Grosvenor.
Whenever either a Senator or Con
gresham tries to land a constituent
by the civil service route he is baked
by the ingenuity Of the Department
chiefs and appointment clerks. These
fellows, after exhausting the list OF
their relatives and saddling them on
the public. farm otu the other appoint.
ments to outside brokers and stand in
on the divide"
Here is a case in point:
A colored man, well known in the
city as the head Of the Blaine Club, Sc
cures positions, humble ones, of course,
for his constituents by an arrange
ment with the several chiefs or ap-
pointment clerks. From this source
this thrifty colored gentleman draws a
handsome revenue. In the Govern
ment Printing Office he is reputed to
have secured, however a higher class
Of employment for over fifty employees!
This is scarcely to be believed but if the
colored farmer-out of jobs puts us to
the test we will come dangerously near
naming them. One of those fifty, more
or less, is reported as stating that for
six months he gave up his entire wages
to the thrifty head of the Blaine Club
When a colored jockey in Offices can
do such a prosperous business in only
one Department Of the Government,
the intelligent reader can deduct for
himself the extent of such graft"
when worked for all it is worth in the
other Departments of the Government
by both black and white brokers.
The snivel cervice investigators
wouldn't find out in a year what The
Globe can ascertain in a day, touching
the demoralized public service under
this fraudulent law. Here are a few
things they found out ABOUT the cap
itol employees by reading Representa-
tive Moody's report:
There are 357 persons on the pay
rolls of the capitol. The places are di-
vided up among the parties, the
dominant one receiving practical
ly all OF them. Men on the rolls
as holding semi-clerical positions
are declared by the report to be unable
to read or write. They receive small
salaries while others on as laborers
do practically nothing at all, and re-
ceive large salaries.
Employees have been called upon to
pay through recesses of Congress, the
salary of one Of their number, who
must be kept on account of his politi-
cal backing, but who has been so un-
lucky as to find himself without a reg
ular position at the time Of adjourn
ment. Men who spent eleven months
of the year outside of Washington have
held excellent positions, their salary
checks going to them by mail regularly
every month.
"The executive officers Of the House
testified to the existence Of these con.
ditions.
Among the interesting facts deVel-
oped by the House Committee, testi-
mony and commented upon by the re-
port to the Civil Service League are:
"The House telegrapher, o. NJ En-.
vert, never officially touched a key I'm
the capitol and is assigned to a sine
cure in the library Of the House. His
substitute J. ]. Constantine, draws
5000 salary from the appropriation for
hire of horses and wagons for the
clerks office. The man who is the Of
fetal but inactive telegrapher receives
81 200 per annum. The man who, as
teamster, carts about boxes and sta
tionery for the Members, for which the
5000 was appropriated, gets $40 per
month, which is made up by contribu-
tions from certain OF the officials
John J. COnroy, carried on the rolls
as a page, is employed as a driver OF
the House wagon, because, Doorkeeper
Glenn testified, Conroy can not read
or write, and was valueless as a page,
but had to have some place. The man
who is entered on the rolls for the
drivers place. which Conroy holds, is
employed in scrubbing floors and clean
ing cuspidors.
MANY employees are shown to have
teen absent most Of their time without
loss Of party One, Leroy j. Hooker,
drew pay from May, 1897, till Deeem-
Der of the same year, though he was
absent from Washington continuously
during that time. c. c. Leavens, a
clerk in the Dewey Hotel, was permit
ted to draw full pay in a folding room
position, though his labors at the hotel
ceased only at noon and the only time
he devoted to his duties at the capitol
was i'm the afternoons. When asked to
explain this case, Doorkeeper Glenn
said that LeaVens had a long line Of
Endorsements
"llr. John Boobar, now librarian OF