Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-27
Waste Of Money In
British Civil Servic

AONDON, AuSuSt0s lsk>ot
ToHN BULL is indalgins in one OF his
periodic cutbursts of wrath and right
- eous indignation over the way things
are managed. or. rather mismanaged for
him. This time the cause of II is the re-
port OF the royal commission on the South
African war stores. The commissioners es-
| innate the total preventable loss due 10
what they characterize as Inaccessible
carelessness' and Extraordinary inapti-
tude" as lying somewhere between three
quarters of q million and a million and q
quarter"-that is. between $4,000 and
SS.25OO0O. Lying Is distinctly good. The
vagueness Of the estimate is significant. No
body knows. and nobody ever will know.
now many millions were lost. strayed and
stolen from John Bulls pockets In the course
OF the sales and purchases OF war stores In
south Africa during the twenty-five months
after the conclusion Of peace.
It Ii not the fighting force so much as the
civilian branch Of the army that Is affected
oy the sweeping censufe of the commission.
Iney md little evidence Of actual graft
British royal commissions never debut It
makes little difference to the taxpayer IL his
money is wasted through inefnciency. stu
pidity and neglect or through clever and
INSCRIPTIONS raScality.
The disquieting feature of the report when
considereded in connection with previous
exposures Of other big departments of the
government. Is the feeling created that IL is
not alone the war ONCE but every branch
OF the civil service that stands in need
OF thorough overhauling and reformation.
That Is matter Of interest to American
readers because the British ciyil service Is
constantly held up to them as a model Of
incorruptibility and efnciency-as something
80 far superior to their own system that
every one who desires the publication Of
American politics and the improvement of
the public service should work day and
night for its adoption.
-
The other day two wealthy men became
engaged In a dispute concerning the idle
ness Of government clerks. Both were of
the opinion that there was a lot of idle
ness among them. but A thought that B
overstated the extent to which 1t prevailed
To settle the matter It was agreed that a Sc
cret census should be taken Of clerks busy
and clerks idle in one room Of each govern
ment department on the afternoon of one
week. This census was made the subject of
wager. If more than half the clerks in
more than half the departments were found
to be Idle A was to pay B $500, and vice
versa Each man appointed an Inspector
and they made their observations tosxcther
so that there could be no ground for dis
putting the accuracy Of their report.
They reported that in all Of the depart
ments. except the customs and the local
government board. more than half the clerks
were idle. and the information cost B $40
for which he ought to be reimbursed out of
the public funds. The truth of this story is
vouched for by no less an authority than
Arnold White
The British civil service Is founded on
the system Of giving life billets to young
men who pass a competitive test Of their
knowledge Of things for the most part use
less to them in after life. and which affords
hardly any index whatever of their capac-
ity to discharge the duties required Of them.
From the outset the hours are short, the
labor light and the leisure abundant. The
clerk commonly starts with 800 or 500 a
Year. though he has served no apprentice
ship. and he can look forward with conf
dence that his salary will rise-nay, that
must rise-to the higher hundreds, per-
haps cross over the line to the thousands
and that he will be able to retire In the
prime OF manhood with an excellent pen
sion. If he falls sick-or shams sickness
he can obtain almost unlimited sick leave.
If he Is idle he can secure to himself I'M
stinted holidays. Should he turn out a lazy
fellow-as he generally does surrounded as
he Is by such abundant temptations to shirk
work-Or should he prove a fool, as is not
infrequent. 1t Is next to impossible for him
to be dfslodged from the service. It is only
conduct that his dismissal can be brought
about
Such a system no private employer would
ever dream of adopting: 1t would speedily
cause the bankruptcy of the biggest COM
mercial industry on earth.
The late Charles Marvin wrote a book
about his experiences in various govern
ment departments. Things have not changed
bit since. the system is the same and it
inevitably produces the same type of bar
nacle-the man who sticks to his lob and
tries tn do little work a q hn no
salary he draws from the public treasury
That Arnold Whites story of how $500 was
lost and won proves.
Marvin. after being assigned to a vacant
stool in the first department to which he
was appointed, was given a book of statis-
tics full of tiny addition sums to operate
on. Il was as green as grass respecting
the barnacle system of How not to do it, {"
he says. land fell upon the rows of figures
with the same vigor that had been drilled
into me seven years previously by the ware
house hands in Waiting street. On raising
my head half an hour afterward discover
ed every barnacle, except the senior, star
ing at me with eyes expressive OF the deep
est establishment and pity"
Suddenly there fell on his book slip of
paper on which was written: "a mods as
good as wink to blind horse-don't work
too hardi"
Still he kept at it. Another flake upon
his book: why work so desperately hard :?
Nobody works here" Stimulated by the
state for the colonies. or autocrat of the
foreign Office, he continued to peg away
at the task that had been set him. In a
few minutes an angry voice sounded in his
ear: For Gods sake. man. don't work like
that; you'll have the whole Office against
you and you won't do yourself bit of
good"
81 had no DESIRE" he says. ito incur the
enmity of my colleagues so soon after en-
tering the public service, and sundry pas
sages in 'Little Dorrit' having risen to my
mind 1 began to look about me. Thus
learnt my first lesson in How not to do It,
I began to look about me. have since dis
covered that to look about one and to daily
grumble at the parsimony of stingy public
are the chief two occupations of the gov
eminent barnacles."
Ministries come and ministries go. but the
system remains and the barnacies stick
This man and that man is put at the head
of department and hidden to reform it.
But no one. however efficient and hard
working himself. can get work done well.
expeditiously and economically by hacks
who have been trained only to shirk work.
Powerless to get rid of them and replace
them with men who have been trained to
give a good days work for a good days
nav no Inevitably rnakoS failure Of the -