The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-16

ant. How this state of affairs, this
"turn-the-rascals-o policy, Grip
pied the various departments may
readily be guessed, and a>relief was
hoped for when the civil service law,
requiring examinations, was put in
fo"ce Th<5 law acted as a check
upon everybody. Senator @ and Con-
gresham x thus had the. opportunity
Of placating many constituents instead
of one. But it was soon found that
the examination law did not go far
enough. All the clerks from Con-
gresham KS district wanted to be
promoted and would not be refused.
TO reduce this unpleasantness a law
was passed requiring rigid examina-
ton for promotion. Here was check
indeed, and Senator @ and Congress
man x might go on their way in
peace.
Injustices in Salaries.
But altho this law seemed just and
right, see what complications it led to,
and what injustice now obtains. 1t
will be necessary to make a few more
laws lay, before this is corrected. A clerk
who enters the departments to-day
must be content to enter at the bot
tom Of the ladder and if the clerk be
a woman start at $500 a year. If she
has sufficient influence" she may
rise by easy stages first to $500, then
to 5000, $1,000, $1,000, $1,40O, $1,000,
and finally $1,000. Her bureau chief
soon finds out her willingness and
capabilities, and work IS assigned her
accordingly. Probably she has work
that requires the greatest accuracy,
such as adding long columns of fig
ures. SO she sits at her desk doing
the same work for $500 year that the
because he has greater Influence"
Merit counts for mighty little, altho
it must be acknowledged that it now
counts for more than it once did. OF
course, this state of things Is hard
to bear; but it is not nearly so hard
as for the $500 clerk to see his Wis
avis drawing $1,000 or $1,4O0 for
performing work that any child of 10
might do with ease.
The Farce of Promotions.
But the greatest farce of all is in
promotion. The 5000 man hears that
an $1,000 clerkship is to be vacant
He knows that means a chance for
promotion for all who have pull
Each man who can pass the examina-
ton is boosted peg. The boosting is
purely a question Of merit, but the
knowing ones say that if clerk has
pull his examination papers are al
ways found satisfactory. The exam
nations themselves are the greatest
farce. The questions asked have moth
ing whatever to do with the work one
is doing. One answers a few ques-
tons in history, astronomy and the
like, and then is set at the selfsame
work he has been doing for years,
perhaps. But now he is considered
competent to do the work at an in
creased salary! The one thing that
seems utterly unnecessary is a knowl-
edge of the work in ones own office.
The clerk who knows absolutely moth
ing about the work is just as eligible
for promotion as the expert If he hap
pens to have pull
The Clerk Who Won't Work.
The greatest. curse Of office life is
the clerk who will do no work at all
There are those in the departments
to-day who not only do not pretend
to work, but boast that their influence
is strong enough to keep them in Of
flee without work. These sit and read
or do fancy work, or sleep, as fancy
dictates. They even think it a hard
ship that they may not draw their sal
aries and stay at home where the sur
roundings are more congenial.
Formerly the chief of q bureau was
a man Of influence but the powers
! that be have seen fit to dispossess the
chief of all authority, and he now finds
| himself completely at the mercy. of
| his clerks. So much work falls to his
division, and this work must be kept
| up to date. How is he going to do this
and keep whole skin, if he happens
to have lot of drones? Have the
drones he must. He may not discharge
| them, nor have them transferred. He
may not complain of them, he may
rot even demonstrate with them.
The drone habit seems to grow upon
/ the department clerk. When he first
] enters office he is shocked at this