Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-10-27

OF PflVHeSSS UnOeF us CnIOTCenent-9OWe
Instances Of the Follies That Have Thrivsd
Under the Mistaken Idea That Employers
Can Be Absolutely Independent Of All Au-
thorized Control.
tFrom our regular correspondent.)
WASHINGTON, d. c., Oct. 10.
An amendment TO the Civil Service
rules that has spread dismay in WASH
ington was authorized by tho Presi-
dent just before he left the capital for
his trip through the South. This was
in effect an amendment giving to the
Cabinet officers the right to dismiss
any officer or employee in the classified
service whose inc Efficiency or miscOn.
duct in Office is brought to the atten-
ton OF or witnesses by the head of the
department. The discharge may be
made summarily and without notice
and the person SO dismissed is without
recourse. A bomb dropped in each
department could have scarcely cre-
ated more CONSERVATION than this
order which came as a bolt from the
blue. Heretofore when an employe
in the classified service was to be re-
moved charges had to be filed and the
employe was given time to show why
he should not be dismissed. BY the
present order the head OF depart.
ment who wishes to remove . person
will merely need to have personal
knowledge OF the inefficiency OF mis-
conduct of the employee and his power
of removal is absolute. Only those in
the departments are familiar with
their workings can understand the
full meaning of this order. or compre-
bend the effect that it will have. The
establishment of the Civil Service
rules for the employment of depart
ment workers was scarcely more OF a
blast to those who had held their
places for years by influence and pre-
ferment than this is now those who
have passed their examinations and
felt themselves secure for life in their
places. The Government work in the
departments has long been obstructed
by the presence OF persons in each
bureau inefficient, Indifferent and
frequently dishonest The new order
will result in a clearing out OF this
dead timber and though the process is
going to be unpleasant the effect will
be vast improvement of the service
h0ih in, Of oiopCy nd ocannrr,u Tharo
is not department that will not be
benefited by wholesale application
of the amendment. There are de-
partments far behind in their work.
notably the United States Patent Of
flee. Other departments such as the
Navy are impeded in their work by
many superannuated clerks and all
are suffering from the presence Of
persons unequal to the work for
which they are appointed, from dis.
sipated clerks who stretch their sick
leave and annual vacation time to
cover frequent sprees, still others who
use government time, TO the services
of emanuenses paid by the govern
ment. data and illustrations collected
by the government, and government
stationery to carry on literary work
for which they receive outside pay.
The number who engage in email
speculations from the government
such as the use for private purposes
Of stationery, ink, books and pocket.
knives, and the employment as mes.
sengers and house servants OF the de-
partment messengers is so large as to
include probably nine-tenths OF the
employees. One acquaintance OF your
correspondent, woman employed for
more than thirty years in . govern
ment office, has the messenger OF her
department attend to her furnace in
her house, twenty blocks distant from
the Office. He also takes care OF the
sidewalks for the chief OF the depart
ment and acts as butler when the
chiefs wife is receiving. This same
woman presents her grandchildren
and the children OF her friends with
rubber balls the size of an average
apple made of rubber bands taken
from the Office supplies. All her
private letters are written during
Office hours on Department stationary
and on Department typewriters. Her
thirty days annual vacation are ar
ranged after this fashion: She de.
cides for instance to take one at .
time and selects Monday. Saturday
she is excused at ten or eleven o'clock
in the morning and receives pay for
the full day. She then has half of
Saturday, all of Sunday and Monday
and she returns to the Office late Tues.
day in time to sign for having worked
that day. In the course OF the year
she gets something more than sixty
days exclusive of the sick leave which
she arranges at her convenience with
the assistance Of a physician who
supplies her q certificate when ever
she wishes one in order to be retained
as her family physician. When she is
actually sick but not confined to her
bed she goes to the Department signs
as present and spends the day in the
Department toilet room, where she il
attended by the Department nurse
She draws a salary of twelve hundred
dollars q year and the fact that she
has held her place for thirty years war.
rants the assumption that she is at
least of average ability and efficiency
The case is by no means exceptional
Indeed this record in some or all of itt
incidents is rather the rule. Nor is il
by any means confined to the women
There are government chiefs known
to be habitual drunkards who have
under them clerks who fill papers
signed long in advance by the chiefs
and who in the fear of losing theiI
own positions keep him informed o
any demands for his presence or criti
cisms of his absence. In nearly every
department bureau there is "ring'
T that discourages the energy OF til.
! new broom in Office that there ma!