Evening star., 1902-04-12
LIFE OF A DEPARTMENT CLERK.
Not the Easiest in the World as Many
Seem to Imagine.

There is one incongruity about clerical
life in the departments in Washington
which is not generally understood, and 1t
is so contrary to the usual rules obtaining
in business life that its Illustration may be
disputed, but the fact remains fact
nevertheless" said an old government
clerk of varied experience.
Among workingmen one Of the most ia
miliar of sayings is. don't work so fast, or
you will work yourself out Of job The
truth of this axiom is generally admitted
and the artisan works along steadily. The
truth of the saying may also be illustrated
in the departments. A quick, active, ener-
getic clerk has the work piled upon his
desk, while the plodder, the steady going
gray horse Of clerk plows slowly along
does fifth of the work of the race horse
and in majority Of instances secures the
promotions.
Now, 1 will tell you why it is So because
in business life the active clerk would be
advanced to the position of buyer for the
house, put on the road, have his salary in
creased, and perhaps taken into the firm.
The willing, energetic government clerk is
pushed with work, and. if he slacks up, as
he cannot maintain his high pressure at
all times or forever, he is rebuked, while,
If additional work is placed upon his desk
and he protests, he is reminded that he had
heretofore done much more, and he would
be expected to maintain his standard.
cause he Is quick and if he should err, he
is slapped on the other side of the face by
| assertions of his inaccuracy, when, In his
foolish endeavors to wade through his
duties neatly and rapidly, he may have
committed an oversight. Thus. the rapid
clerks get it from both sides, while the
plodders, being jealous, industriously stab
the others in the back at every one Of the
many favorable opportunities offered and
familiar to those in official life.
1T is the plodder in office who usually
| wins out in the end. The energetic clerk
racks his nervous system, for though gov
ernment work is not necessarily laborious,
it is decidedly wearing upon the nerves,
and many clerks annually break down from
nervous exhaustion, worse very often, than
strictly speaking physical break down.
1.-The plodder, however, gets fat. His
work does not worry him. He is so slow
and does SO little that he must necessarily
be accurate. The rapid clerk, who may be
able to do three times the amount of work
as the plodder, and do it as well, and who
is therefore equal in clerical capacity to
two additional clerks, is refused a promo
ticn because he may have made a protest
when the official lash fell too heavily upon
| his shoulders.
Government work Is sui generis. Bus-
ness rules are conspicuous by their non-ob-
servance. In many divisions clerks ac-
| tual work counts for little. If his chief
receiving promotion unless it be to save
the salary from going out Of the division.
A clerk Of inferior qualifications, in the
| favor of the chief, can develop such sur
| prisingly superior aptitude for work in the
| chiefs estimation that he is advanced rap
! idly in line, and the better clerk remains
| anchored.
Government clerks in Washington are,
| as a class a conscientious body Of wage
| earners The positions are not the so
| called snaps as the public believe In fact,
in some Of the bureaus the clerks are ac-
| tually driven under the lash of official au-
thority. and bound down by obnoxious
rules. In others less severity is manifested.
Many chiefs appear to think they may
| curry favor with those over them by being
| harsh and overbearing to those under them,
| in most instances their peers. and often
| their superiors except in official life, and
| they transform their authority into practi-
| cal tyranny"