The National tribune., 1906-03-22

THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
chemistry and possibly algebra; they
have a smattering of grammar; they
can write, oh, yes, they can write the
sprawly, half baked characters that are
taught in the schools to-day and that
are all but unreadab1e in public docu-
ments. They can't spell very well, and
of general knowledge they have but a
modicum. Once in Government em-
ploy, dry rot seems to overtake many,
very many, of these younger ones, and
instead of growing III knowledge they
stand still except for periodical spasms,
when they coach for increase OF sal
ary, and finally they really deteriorate.
From such service as this the Govern
ment ought to be protected. The ad-
vance in salary seldom means advance
in quality of work. The clerk draws
5000 for a year or two, till pull gets
hin $500. He goes right ON with the
same work. After awhile an exam
iuation'' is taken. That examination is
! a bloomin' farce, don't you know, but
the clerk "passes"-oh, yes, he passes
all right-and gets $1,000. Does he get
more or better work? No. He gets
more favorable light on the 5000 work,
| in all probability by having his desk
| changed at the expense of lower SAL
aried clerk, and the other clerks begin
to take notice" of him as a favorite.
Soon along comes another ''examina-
tion," another raise And so it goes.
With the $1,000 salary comes the same
old work, and beside this favorite of
| fortune sits a poor little S600-a-year
clerk doing the same work, but swifter
and better, because she is new and
| wants to make a record.
The storm center OF this inquiry into
competency of Government clerks is
the veterans of the war of the rebel
lion. Why? Well, just because they
are old; the influence of their youth,
their middle manhood. their old age, Is
| dead. Three generations of National
Legislators have come and gone since
| most of these old fellows have entered
| the service of the United States Gov
ernment as clerks, after having given
three or more of the best years of their
lives to save to these young sprigs Gov
ernment Departments to work In. They
are 65, 20, 75 and some of them so
years of age. Well, what of it? How
about Senator Morgan, of Alabama? :?
His 80 years do not sit SO very heavy
upon him-at least, they have not i'm
| paired his brain powers. though they
have weighted his steps little. He
was soldier-on the wrong side-but
soldier, and good one. Senator
Daniels wears his 63 yelrs with true
Southern grace. a soldier of the Lost
Cause, whose oratorical powers seem
to be at their height, and whose brain
cOgS work without oiling. And there
is Senator Pettus, of Alabama, "a years
young, who expects to serve yet six
years more in the United States Sem
ate. He, too, fought on the losing side,
and though weak in the knees and
haIting in step, keeps up his end in
that greatest of all deliberative bodies
in the world. Joseph G. S. Blackburn
! owns TO 65 years and is as virile as ever,
though veteran of the gray army;
and SO one might go on with the age
ing veterans who rank above 65, and
yet who sit in the two Houses Of Con-
gress and Originate" ideas, construct
public policies, and enact laws for the
Government of the greatest Nation on
earth. Political misfortune is the only
thing that ever retires any of them,
exactly as Gen. Grosvenor, the good,
gray statesman of Ohio, is being re-
tired. Does anyone say his think-tank
I needs repairs?
In the Departments. however, the
work is different. The Government
clerks do what they are directed to do.
They are expected to originate nothing;
they are not expected to be "construc-
| the capacity of servants of the Gov
ernment, to do what they are directed
to do. The military spirit remains with
! most of them thus far that they obey
| orders implicitly. They perform their
duties with the same precision that they
executed drill maneuvers or responded
to the bugle calls. Knowing exactly
what TO do, they do 1t ard do it right.
| The training they received in the stern
military school OF the battlefield and
bivouac stands them In good stead in
the Department service. If any Of them
were ever incompetent it would have
developed early in their career. 1t Is
| too late to speak of their incompetence
| now. Most of them could do In their
sleep the work that they have been
doing for so many years, and it is stated
that smaller percentage of errors ap-
pears in the work of the veterans In
! the Departments than In the work of
all the rest put together. The incom-
potency will generally be found among
| the younger clerks, and it Will be found
to be Indifference" rather than incom-
! petence. The clerk knows that exactly
| so many dollars and cents are coming
III the pay envelope every 1st and 18th
| of the month, and the chief aim. so
| the testimony before the Committee
seems to have shown, was to do the
minimum of work that would insure
| the maximum of salary. The discus
sion now on shows that Congress is de-
! termined to get at bottom facts, and on
| that to base some method OF clearing
out incompetent clerks who creep in
under Civil Service-and 1t is said there
are plenty.
Comrade H. Pardee, Annapolis, Md.
has been in the city. He belonged to
! the tl7th n. Y, which had a fighting
career in the Army of the James, and
| Comrade Pardee was shot through the
! body in the attack upon Fort Drewry
/ His wound is SO disabling as to prevent
| him from doing more than a scanty
amount of manual labor.
| Comrade A. s. Prather of Kirby
Vile, Mo, who is temporarily in Wash
| ington, belongs to a family which has
a record that it is hard to equal. The
| father and six Sons were in the army
| Hiram Prather was Lieutenant-Colonel
| OF the 9Th Ind, Allen w. Prather was
/ a Captain in the same regiment and
promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the
| 120th Ind, AlonZo S. Prather was Sec
/ ond Lieutenant in the same regiment
| Henry Prather was Second Lieutenant
| in the 9Th Ill. Cav, Leander II. Prather
| was Second Lieutenant in the 140th
| Ind, Thomas b. Prather was Lieuten-
j! ant and brevet Captain In the 4th Ind.
I Cav, Uriah G. Prather was Captain in
the SD Ind, and Zenith r. Prather
| was Second Lieutenant in the 116th
III. Comrade A. S. Prather, who Is a
farmer near Kirbyville, served q couple
! of terms N the MicGnnri I