Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-17
CLERKS RETIREMENT
GREAT INTEREST AMONG GOT
ERNMENT WORKERS.
Comment of an Old Chief Clerk Upon
Recent Events in the Civil
Service.

Recent events in the civil branch of the
government service in Washington have
brought the question of retirement there
from to the fore in an acute phase" said
an old and experienced chief clerk this
morning to a Star reporter, land have en-
phasized the four conclusions that were
forcibly brought to my notice when l en-
tered the service ten years ago.
I'm several Of the departments, and in
one in particular, number of old clerks
have been reduced to low salaries and to
other work in one sweep, as preliminary.
1t is supposed, to their ultimate retirement
from the service, or, to be exact, their dis
missal Most of these government employees
have given from fifth to fourth Of a
century to the service of their country, and
their dismissal by the government at such
q time when the same government pensions
on liberal annuities its employees in other
branches calls up question which vitality
effects a large portion of the population Of
Washington.
In the military, naval, revenue marine
and, to a limited extent, in the hfe-savins
service, the government in two instances
educates and in all maintains these em-
ployes literally during active service and
retires them upon age or physical disability
upon good pensions. In the judicial branch
the government practically pensions Its
judges by making the appointments for Efe.
But anonymously in the civil branch 1t dis
misses it's employees when by reason Of age
or physical disability they cannot perform
their duties according to the standard set
by their chiefs. neither will 1t allow by
legislation these civil employees to estab-
fish fund from their own salaries upon
which retirement may be effected.
while in the other branches Of the serv-
ice OF the government employees look for
ward to retirement in comfort when in
"a ri "a ed w ~ IN
inevitable results, as follows:
The Civil Employees Outlook.
Il. Reduction in salary.
a. Dismissal.
"3. Voluntary resignation when incapac-
itated for work to forestall dismissal.
a. Death In harness.
For a striking local illustration I will
quote from the report of the first assistant
postmaster general for the year 1901 in
commenting upon the inhumanity in dis
missing old employees. Letter carriers in
greater or lesser number are each year dis
missed for physical disability, and in nearly
all instances they are men who have been
in the service over twenty years. The re-
port In part reads:
Sooner or later the entire free delivery
system will be threatened by the physical
dSa abilities which are overtaking these
venerable elnplOyeS. AS the men grow Oio
and unfit to cover their usual mileage
postmasters and superintendent are dis
posed to curtail their routes and thus
create short special routes commensurate
with their endurance. This is an expensive
plan, amounting In some respects to an in
dividual pension, and the practice is not en-
couraged or authorized. carrier almost
worn out in a physical sense, yet retaining
full possession Of his mental faculties, is
an employee who challenges the sympathy
they are convinced that for his relief
well as for the good of the service some
change in his employment should be made.
ITO dismiss him simply because he is
old is heartless; to continue him to the
detriment of the service is hardly justifia-
bic. 1t is question of the highest i'm
portance, worthy OF the careful considera-
ton both Of Congress and of this depart
ment.
Other Official Comments.
1.-The general superintendent of the rail-
way mail service. having an army approx
mating 10000 men under him, in his report
for 1901, urged that legislation be passed
which would enable the faithful men in
service who had become incapacitated to
protect themselves out of a fund raised
from their own pay. He pointed out how
railroad companies, banks and other cor
porations had already established this sys-
TEN, and contributed largely to the en-
ployes fund, and continued:
" The matter of experimenting employees
has become a burning question with many
of our large railroad corporations and
other corporations for some time past, and,
though 1t has been said that corporations
have no souls, we can now truthfully say
that some of them have advanced along
humanitarian lines in this age of reason
and progress and left behind them the ira
TheV
steps to pension their faithful servants who
by reason of age and other infirmities are
disqualified for performing further duty.
at would seem that if Congress will not
establish pension fund for its civil en-
ployes in the form of retirement as in the
army, navy, revenue, marine and life-sav-
ing services, it ought at least allow its
employees in the civil branch to safeguard
themselves by maintaining a retirement
fund out Of their salaries which may be
used for protection in old age.
THE recent heavy reductions and the
prospective dismissals have stirred up the
department workers to an astonishing de-
gree, and it Is the one absorbing topic dis
cussed in every department in Washington
among all classes of clerks, young and cid.
All feel the utter hopelessness of their po-
sition. 1t may be said that 1t is a fortunate
thing that all Of the heads of the different
departments and the chiefs OF the different
bureaus in the capital do not think alike on
this highly important point to SO large
would not under any circumstances dismiss
an old and faithful clerk. l have heard many
superior officials say, No, l am here but
for short time. l will never put my pen
to the reduction or dismissal papers of
clerk because Of his age, when an en-
ploye has practically given his life to the
service of the government. Let Congress
do the killing; l will not Others whose
personal motives may be the best do not
see their official duty in this light.
"One thing is reasonably certain, and that
is if other departments eventually fall in
line with the one where the reductions and
dismissals have been marked, popular
feeling will be SO great that Congress will
be forced to pass some enabling legislation
for the protection Of those who remain.
While such act would not help those
who have gone before 1t will save the gov
eminent from further reproach in turning
Its old employees into the street after the
service of a lifetime"
Sordid Novel-Writing.