Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-25
CLERKS FROM SOUTH
Why Commissioner McI|henny
Is Recruiting Them.
DECLARES BENEFIT MUTUAL
Says Desirable Southerners Hold Aloot
From Examinations.
THINKING FAvORITIsM REIGNS
Official Anxious to Correct False I'M
preston and Show Conditions
Are Changed Forever"
DECLARES BENEFIT MUTUAL
THINKING FAvoRITIsM REIGNS

G1S SHauSSo Z OISNeI
With regard to the attitude of the south
toward employment under the government,
Civil Service Commissioner McIlhenny. him
self ,southerner. today gave further ex-
and Dixon's line.
1t was announced at the time Mr.. Nell
benny left Washington and Immediately
after his return that his journey was for
the purpose of inducing southerners to en-
ter the civil service, so that the southern
states quotas, long mere Skeletons might
be filed. This, to say the least, Sounded
extraordinary, when the flood of applicants
for government positions was considered.
the berding of candidates into the federal
corral appearing a work of supererogation.
Southerners Desirable Clerks.
1t Is usually held that government posi-
tons are ready for those who will try for
them and win, and that it is never neces-
sary to urge aspirants to apply for such
employment, but rather to discourage many.
when the flood of candidates becomes over
whelming But, according to Mr.. Nell
benny, it is for the advantage both Of the
government and of the south that south
erners should be enrolled in the service.
There are throughout the SOUTH says
Mr.. McIlhenny, many men of high liter
airy attachments, of learning and ability,
the type of the college professor, to whom
the fierce struggles of commercial life are
repugnant Men of this class would be most
valuable to the government in many capaci-
ties and government employment would be
congenial to them. The benefit would be
mutual. There are young men, also, of this
same type, who could come to Washington
and serve the government while studying in
professional schools. They would be of ad
vantage to the government while here, and
if they returned home to practice their pro-
LESSONS after three or four years in this city
they would assist in confirming the better
understanding that is growing between the
sections of the country. On the other hand,
if they chose to stay In Washington,
whether to practice or to remain in their
government positions, their added attain
ments would make them SO much the more
valuable in their work.
Reason of South's Reluctance.
"You would perhaps ask why, since this
condition is obvious, the southerners do not
flock here to obtain the posts to which they
are entitled under the civil service That
is Just where the rub comes, and that was
Among the greater part o. the southern
ers the impression prevails that the civil
service is not for them, that they can .lave
no part in the clerical administrative work
of the nation: 1t is not in the least difficult
to understand why this impression persists.
This belief was once fact, and not so long
ago. 1t is a conviction based upon years
OIL experience during which 1t was evident
to everybody that a soutnerner was the
last man who could hope to get a federal
position. Politics not only entered this
question, but permeated it.. There were
southerners, of a Sort who held Office I'M
der the government, but these were not of
the class which l have been trying to inter-
est in the service And it was largely be-
cause persons of a character of which little
need be said-though much could be said
succeeded in obtaining and holding Office
that desirable citizens came to the con-
cluson that all avenues were closed gainst
merit and responsibility.
Thought Merit System a Farce"
Firmly CONVINCED, therefore, THAI the
government was apart from them, and with
assurances of that condition hammered into
their minds by their own newspapers and
politicians, the southerners of the high
class which l wish to influence held aloof
from such things as civil service examina-
tons, and, to put it without adornment,
felt that civil service reform was a farce.
Possibly the experience of forty years con-
WINGED them that such an impression was
justified. Perhaps they remembered occa-
sions when large classes of the public
service were exempted from the civil service
rules, cleared out of their actual incum-
bents, filled up with retainers, and then
included again under the rules.
Object lessons are powerful and lasting.
It was, to present, the reverse of the
medal that l addressed many gatherings
in the south Even then it was hard, at
times, to make the people understand ex
actly why had come among them. l was
regarded occasionally as sort of employ
ment agent, trying to inveigle the prom
ising~ youths of a community from COM
forlable homes to take work which others
did not walt.
Condition Changed Forever"
ut was my endeavor to impress upon the
people that the condition which they had
come to regard as Interchangeable had
changed forever: that no longer were they
without the pale of the government, but
that they were part of 1t; that the attitude
of President Roosevelt had put the civil
service upon plane where performance
equaled promise, and that this state of af-
fairs had become so firmly fixed during his
administrations that the country would
never allow another President to go back
to the abuses of the spoils system.
Under the civil service rules each of the
southern states Is entitled to it's quota of
government servants, and the people of the
south must be convinced that those posi-
lions belong to them. Such posts must, of
course be filled. and when southerners do
not come forward to take them others must
be chosen. Up to the present time south
erners have been reluctant to spend the
time and the money necessary to fit them
selves for examination. thinking that, no
matter how high their passing mark, they.
were foredoomed to disappointment in Sc
curing a position. 1 hope to change that
attitude and trust that my recent journey
has begun the transformation.
During my trip was amazed-and
proud. too-when saw the strides in schol-
arship which the south Is making. Every
where 1 found the same spirit eagerness for
zeal in study and remarkable
progress rewarding intelligent effort.
Yet If the impression in the south be al
lowed to remain that the people are apart
from the government, all this excellent ma
ter!al. from which SO many men and women
might be drawn for the direct work of the
government. would be loss in that direc
ton.
Both the south and the government will