Sunday Washington globe., 1902-06-15
Editor SUNDAY Globe.

| Editor SUNDAY GI00e'
! Nothing we are about TO say and nothing
that can be said on this subject should be
considered overdrawn or intemDerate, for
the reason that the language of vitupera.
tion and coutumely is 700 barren and in
adequate to fairly and justly characterize
much that is done in the way Of promotions
in the Executive Departments at Wash
ington.
If reform ever comes il will have to come
from above. When the head Of a depart
ment is vigorous and strenuous, the infu-
ences of his ideas and views, be they baleful
or beneficial, soon makes itself felt all the
way down the line to the humblest places
under his administration.
/ If his heads of divisions and chiefs find
that he insists on merit being recognized,
they quickly take their cue from him; or if
/ they are firmly welded to methods of mere
favoritism or unwarranted partiality, they
incur his displeasure and lose their posi-
| tions
The reason why many Efficient clerks work
for years at $40 and $40 per year while
inefficient ones go rapidly up to 81, 600 and
81 800, is that the cabinet officer at the head
/ himself, encourages this sort Of thing by
his own example.
Often the big-headed, big-head of the De-
partment, himself makes promotions sim
ply because some influential Senator or
| Member asks him to do so as a favor, and
the Hon. Colossal H Bighead Cabinet
Officer, by grace Of the President of the
/ United States, gains some private advantage
for himself very much to the detrimeut of
the service he has sworn to look after. His
underlings are quick to follow his example
and the meritorious clerk has no more show
than a lamb in a cage of crocodiles.
| 1t is the rule and lot the exception that
cabinet officers, before arriving at that dis
tinction, have all their lives been engaged
in political trades and dickers. and naturally
they continue the same practice in the de-
partments over which they rule.
1t could as reasonably be expected that a
hyena should eat grass as that men grown
old and gray in the practices of political
cunning and log rolling should become the
agents of just and manly methods when
they hnd themselves at the head of an
Executive Department
Hence 1t is that those clerks who are the
most efficient sycophants and crawlers stand
the best chance Of promotion and it is very
evident that there can be no material change
in this condition Of affairs as long as Senators
and members are permitted to exert their
influence in executive appointments and
promotions.
The interference of the legislative branch
of the government with the personnel of
the executive in this country has become
an all pervading national pest Il turns our
Legislators and executive officers both into
base, ow.miuded bribers and corruptionists
working together in harmony for the per-
nicious purpose of shameless Office peddling
designed for their own private gain, and re-
sulting in the demoralization of the service.
The system gives us petty office mon
gerers where we ought to have statesmen
and it fills the departments with worthless
incompetents who know that sycophancy
and subserviency are the cards they must
play, instead of striving to become efficient.
Among the women clerks in some in
stances the bawds Of Congressman and high
officials are the surest recipients Of promo
tions. Those who have a pull or use their
influence find that their seats are the
safest, nor can it be successfully denied
that this IS the plain truth and that it ought
to be known.
This condition Of affairs gives US poor
Legislation because il nurtures a set Of pea
nut politicians instead Of wise and honest
statesmen. II also gives us poor executive
force, twice as costly and not one half as
efficient as it should be
Efficient men, often with large families,
are even discharged and false charges of
delinquency placed on the permanent
records against them, just because uncon-
sCionable rogues in and out Of office desire
their places for subservient tools of their
own.
The magnitude of the task Of reforming
this condition of affairs is so great that no
one in this day or generation need expect
to see it wholly accomplished, and the
piddling efforts now being made to that end
are Of no avail because they do not strike
at the root of the trouble.
II is a humiliating thought to all the re-
spectacle female clerks as they pour out of
the big buildings at four O'Clock that the
spectator knows that some of them belong
to the influence" brigade, but he does not
know which is which
It Is suggested that Senators and mem
bers of the House should be required to
take an oath on entering on their duties not
to interfere, however remotely, in executive
appointments or promotions ARGUS.
(Argus does not cover the ground as
thoroughly as he thinks, nor is his remedy
efhcacious. For instance, many Of the Cab
met officers appoint their own sons and
daughters like Secretary Wilson, and then
again, it is not the influence OF Senators
and Congressmen which fills the depart /.
ments with undesirable material On the |
contrary it is because Senators and Repre- |.
sentatives secure so few appointments or
promotions for their appointees that the /
present trouble exists
AS rule the Congressman or Senator I
desiring an appointment for a constituent /
presents a citizen (male OF female) fresh /
from the people and in every way worthy |
and deserving Of appointment in the pub /
lie service
The appointment clerks and higher Off /
cials, who set the bad example Of filling /
the departments with their own relatives .
are the persons responsible and not Con-
gressmen or Senators. IL is a notorious
fact that whole families of Washingtonians
and nearby Mary are in office, and
that every vacancy is watched and pre-
empted by these Office holders for their
uncles, their cousins and their auuts. Re-
Gently the Civil Service Commission made
a report to Congress showing the ratio OF