Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-17
FORGOTTEN FACTORS"

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|. Some OF the main railroad systems and
other big corporations arc advancing the
wages Of their employees, ] observe" said
an old government clerk sEyen the soul
less corporations as they are dubbed in
| the heat Of campaign oratory. thus make
| tacit Acknowledgement OF that most indubit-
able of all present facts, namely. that the
cost OF living has been and stfll Is increas-
ing A few months ago some airy figures
were put forth by q member of the present
cabinet-probably by way Of badinage-pro-
Tossing to deny that 1t costs from 80 to SO
per cent more to obtain the necessaries Of
| life today than 1t did ten years ago. think
| the cabinet member himself saw the joke
lurking in his figures
| This however, is beside the mark The
point Is this: II the 'soulless corporations,
| 80 called, can and will admit, by advancing
| the wages of their men that the cost Of liv-
| ing has vastly increased In this country,
why cannot and why does not that vaster
corporation, supposed to be possessed Of a
soul, the United States government make
| the same candid sort of acknowledgment by
| voluntarily raising the salaries of its en-
/ ployes?
II ask this question. knowing full well
| that 1t is an utter and foolish waste of
! bronchial energy. =.
| Can you not picture the expressions of
| stunned establishment on the countenances
| OF the legislating persons installed at both
| ends of the Capitol II some square and con-
| siderate man of their number were to in
troduce bill providing for general ele-
walton OF the government clerks salaries
from 10 to 20 per cent say?
| What prodigious sensation that would
'nashunal halls of legislashun.' What a
bomb it would be for the clerk-hating and
| clerk batting members Of the two legisla-
tive bodiesl How they would illuminate
/ md Qfa md oyh ISL nd xyf0- unity 10y fhn
| impudent effrontery Of such q suggestion!
What a superb chance 1t would offer to
| some of them to rise in their places and de-
| claim against all government clerks whom
soever as a horde Of hungry and lazy louis
whose pay ought to be cut down rather than
| increased! And wouldn't such bill have
just about as much Of chance to get
through the Congress as bill authorizing
| the Mormons to establish a colony in the
state of New Hampshire? Just about.
why. wonderT'
question. considered from any practical
| viewpoint. But the question Is a fair one,
! all the same. Why should government
clerks be debarred from having at least the
bubbling pot of prosperity that we hear 90
much about? know why, actually. OF
course: Because our legislative friends elect
to SO debar US. We all know that But.
| why? Why are they so sore against us
government clerks that the majority Of
| them begin to rear and pitch and buck like
a herd of unbroken cayuses at the very
| suggestion that they might do something
| to give US Hft-that they might, for ex-
| ample, put through some kind Of fair re-
/ tirement bill? That's the problem.
! What have the government clerks ever
| done to those gentlemen up on the hill?
| THE question might more fairly be ask
ed, What have the government clerks not
! done for them?
LAS a matter Of fact the departmental
| clerks are working for those legislative per-
! sons all the time. not Only during the Se9-
sion OF the Congress. but during the inter-
vaas-digging into old records, prowling
ancient az
| framing up punches of tabulated statistics,
| tipping them off as to ways and means
! for doing this and that in behalf of their
from canape to coffee. And vet the
| naughty legislative persons, around whom
we dance with our offers Of assistance every
time they poke their naughty noses into
| the corridors of our departments, go right
| on from year to year looking upon us as a
CONCEALED bunch of barnacles on the keel
| of the ship Of state, submerged coral In
sects. parasites upon the body polite, mi
| crobes fattening upon the system Of your
| Uncle Samuel
why? I resolutely ask the question
| again. still knowing how perfectly idiotlc
| 1t would be to expect any sort of an an
| swer. There is no answer. l suppose there
| never will be any answer.
| Just because we have taken service in
| the employ Of the government, why should
| we be totally and effectually deprived Of
| the right to even expect the same sort of
treatment that Is melted out to the railroad
| brakeman, the steel mill man, the locomo-
tive engineer the puddler. the moider. the
buttonhole- maker, the plumber-any of the
| classes of workers who are not only al
lowed but expected to kick, and kick hard,
| for their share In the blessings of prosper
ity? Why should we be emaSculated of the
commonest rights of manhood merely be-
| cause we wear the governmental livery? -.
| You will observe that 1 am in very in
quisitive frame of mind. want to know the
meaning of whole lot of things that have
| been troubling me for long time. But I
! never shall know, of course.
| Our system Is supposed to be founded
upon equal justice for al, and the govern
| ment for which we work Is supposed to be
| the exponent Of that system. Wnen the
| fact. no longer open to question, Is even
admitted tacitly or explicitly by the highest
men in the government that the cost Of liv-
| ing has increased by jumps right along for
years past, wouldn't it be merely the most
elemental sort of justice to raise the sal
! aries of the clerks to conform with that in
creased cost of living?
| "As the matter stands today. every man
and woman in the government service Is
| being financially denoted every day. The
| dollar that Uncle Sam gives them for their
| work is smaller and smaller dollar all the
| time. If that isn't effectual denotton, what
| Is? It Is automatic demotiOn, visited alike
upon the just and the unjust. the lazy and
/
! competent. 1t is the plainest sort of arith-
| rnetic. If my 800 a month only buys me see
| worth compared with what 1t bought ten
years ago, say, haven't I been knocked
| back just one-third In my financial condi-
| ton? That's the way I figure 1t out, at
any rate, and that's the only way that
| can see to figure 1t out.
Most Of these government salaries were
| fixed at period when the dollar was q big
dollar in purchasing power. But the pow
ers that rule will not even give ear to the
presentation Of this perfectly indisputable
| fact.
| 1.-THE dollar isn't much today. know that
| from bitter experience. I live in state
bordering upon perjury on my 500 month.
! whereas ten or fifteen years ago. my 800
| month was fairly comfortable income
| It is amazing how little l can buy with
my money nowadays. compared with the
| time when I first came to Washington 1
| have wife and six children, and we're an
economical lot-we have to be to get along
at ALL Washington ranks right alongside
| Newport as the most expensive city to live
| in on the American continent In every de-
| tail, the cost of rent. food. clothing, fuel,
all the necessaries Of life, my money doesn't
| begin to go anything like as far as 1t used
| to go. am doing far better work for the
government than I used to do. work Just
| An hard and faithfully for IIocla Gam T