The sun., 1908-06-07

when the Recorder was paid in fees, fs
scooped In annual emolunnents to the tune
OF $4,000. At the same time he had % bis
roll nineteen oolored clerks getting Ia feeS
from 80 TO 500 month. The placsA have
since been put on the salaried iist e.
Among Government employees outside
the District Of Columbia the proportion OK
negroes 10 not 50 pronounced. yee there
are 5,587 OF them on Uncle Sans payroils,
Eighteen OF them receive annual saiar1es
Of % 500 or over. Twelve hundred Of them
get moro than 81 900 q year.
Outside the District the increase In COL
ored employees Is chiefly In tho Post Once
Department. Throughout the South niore
negroes DIRE taking tho examinations for
clerks and carriers. And OF course the
Administration has been generous when
1t came to appointments In the unclasslnsd
service. m
Officials do not have much to asy In re-
gard to tho Increasing number Of colofod
employees In the departments. In ono
way there Is nothing to be sid. Ths
negroes take the examinations III open
competition and win. That's all thefS ID
TO 1t. Nobody 10 supposed To- know. when
to hand. whether said John smith 4 black
or white. The papers are marked. the
averages listed and tho notifications ssrt
out to those who head the list. ~
typical case came under the writsr's
earning $40 Q month In an apartment house
He was an intelligent negro about u. No
white man OF that age, no matter what
his education or ability, would have besn.
contented a week in suoh lob.
But the negro took II becsuss he hadn't,
wouldn't take ths alternative Of SstsinG;
out and taokling real hard labor. For al
his cleverness and his education. In fact.
largely because OF thon, he preferred his,
neat and-easy Job at go rather than 70:
unpleasant work outside.
In the meantime he did as tho rest Of tha;
young negpoes were doing, took OWL ser~
vice examination. Months went by, and
suddenly one day, q notification calns thst
man In ono Of the public bnildings at d
salary Of $75 a month. He gets one month1
vacation with pay each year and can take,
sick leave up to limit OF one month. also
with pay.
Well, he was as delighted az a white mad
would have been with an appointment aR
bank president He will probably hold that
Identical job for years and will bring up hi0i
children in the nurture and love-not fesr-
of the Government service. Z
only the so-called manual places there d
no complaint, Of course. There is no open
objection to them anyway How can there
be? But almost every chief OF q bureaG
knows that the presence OF negroes In tlS
clerical branches Of the service causes mon
or less friction. y
The whites are inclined to resent til
presence OF the colored man. and the col
ored man Ii apt to try to demonstrate hto
conviction Of his right TO be there by q
touch Of agRressiyeness which only rnakae
things worse. Old employees.,~hite 8
course-shake their heads over the mattOk,
and even an occasional bureau chief VIII
admit that there u danger Of q raoe proD-
lem In the Government service. In tie
meantime the negroes are peacefully pre-
pairing for the examinations. =
When 1t oornes 70 Presidential appointees
the negroes certainly have no caliSA to no
proach the present Administrations Rooa4-
welt has adhered 70 q persistept policy ~
appointing ooaored men 70 offioss 20 sshtcA
in his opinion their ability and ssrvioSS
entitled them. He has put thcm into the
customs. into the immigration eervi@t
into the postal service.