Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-26
PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT
Capturing Government Experts
From the Service.
TWO NOTABLE EXAMPLES
From Interstate Commerce Commits
sion and Bureau of Standards.
BOTH AT INCREASED SALARIES
The Former Goes to Railroad Com
pany and the Latter to the
University of Illinois.
TWO NOTABLE EXAMPLES
BOTH AT INCREASED SALARIES

Private employment is taking government
experts from the service at a rather faster
rate than usual. John T. Marchand, long
one of the special attorneys of the inter-
state commerce commission. will leave to-
morrow to take a place in the legal depart
ment of the Rock Island railway. DR.. w.
A. Moves. chief of the bureau of chemistry
at the bureau of standards. has also &c
copied position as professor or chemistry
in the University of Illinois.
Mr.. Marchand has been in the service of
the interstate commerce commission for
seventeen years. starting as one of the
minor clerks and working his way up. He
is regarded as one of the best-posted rail-
way lawyers of the country. and has been
engaged on many OF the important special
investigations of the commission in the
past year or two. He has done a great
deal Of special field work for the commits
sion, and was all through the recent I'M
portant hearings connected with the west
ern coal roads. His progress In the depart
ment has been slow. but since he has come
to be recognized as one of the best special
lists in his line the railroads naturally
wanted him. and were wiliing to about
treble his salary to get him. HIS oinclai
connection with the commission will not
cease till the first of the year, but he will
leave tomorrow to straighten up his per
sonal affairs preparatory to moving TO chi
caRO, Where ne Will nave HIS lutule uSou-
quarters.
Mr. Marchands old associates in the office
presented him with handsome watch sea!
and fob before leaving. They all expressed
satisfaction at his good fortune In securing
a SO much better position. but there is gen.
eral regret at his quitting the service
Case Of DR.. Noyes.
Dr. Moves will not sever his connection
with the bureau of standards till next
| cob n
the university will open. He has been in
the service OF the bureau for about three
years. and gives up the work simply be-
cause he prefers teaching to the research
work of the bureau. The salary OF his
new post is nominally not much larger
than that the government pays, but his
new position will include house, three
months vacation each summer and life
in a town where living is much less ex-
pensive than it is in Washington.
Nearly all departments OF the govern
ment employ a number Of highly trained
specialists, and their pay as rule is small
compared to what 1t would be with a pri-
waite concern. The rate at which they
leave the service for better-paying private
employment is coming to be a serious prob
lem with many heads of departments and
bureau chiefs. One of these gentlemen in
speaking to a Star reporter on the SUBJ
| ject today said:
There is market for the services of
highly trained specialists just as there is
for any other commodity, and the govern
ment has to face the situation. To be sure
there are many things about government
position that tend to compensate for the
| small salary. There is the prestige that
| recognized government work gives, and
| there Is generally considerable freedom
! accorded a man as to apparatus and ia
| cl;ties for carrying on any special line of
work or investiga ton.
But living expenses, especially In Wash
| ington, increasing rapidly and steadily
rx-ith ia mi ma IN
out for the sordid end Of things. Recogni-
| ton of services and pleasant surroundings
will not pay house rent and coal bills.
II do not say that the government can
ever go into the market and compete with
the private concern for the services of high
| ly trained men on a salary basis alone Inc
| private employer can always outbld the
government If it comes to that; but 1t Is
remarkable that in view of all the clrcum-
| stances the government can keep as many
| high class men as 1t does. 1t Is serious
problem and l think it will have to be
met shortly by a readjustment of salaries
| for many skilled positions
| Others Who Have Left.
The Navy Department in the past few
years has lost a number of expert officers
| and constructors who have resigned to
! go into the employ of firms like the
| Cramps, the Bethlehem iron works and
| the steel corporation. The same is true
| of the army where special skill has been
| required from the ordinance and the en-
| cheering end of the service. The officers
! as a rule have not wanted to resign. but
also they could not afford to refuse.
| The Department of Agriculture has the
| same sort of trouble with many of its
| highly trained men. Some of them come
| into the service in minor positions and
| work up as mere boys just out of college.
| But when they have recognized ability
| they are frequently snapped up and forced
| into private employment and always at de-
| cidedly advanced salaries.
| The Treasury Department also has been
| q shining example of the virtues OF high
| private salaries In the last few years.
| training in the department have gone
| from that to big-paying positions both in
| side and outside of Washington. The same
| Is true to a less extent of the geological
| survey, the reclamation service and the
| bureau Of ethnology.