Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1908-05-02
FEATURES OF
OFFICIAL LIFE
Observations of a Newspaper
Correspondent In the
National Capital.

There are many wrinkles in official
fife in Washington which afford those
who are acquainted with them GER
tain amount of amusement" said a
local newspaper correspondent. land
one of the funniest from the standpoint
OF those not interested directly, has
been the contest for the selection OF
the reading clerk to the Senate.
That the official whose duty II is to
decide the question as to the fortunate
man who would pull down the plum,
after listening to the varying voices OF
the eighty contestants, was obliged to
take a rest for a few days to recover
his normal condition can be readily un-
derstood by all who are familiar with
such things at the capitol.
But that he should have found three
members OF the nations highest law
making body who were requested to
act as a committee TO determine the
merits of the respective contestants,
who had not made "A recommenda tion
for the vacancy in question, is as as
tonishing as ii is unusual in that not "A
single senator could be found who had
not made Il recommendation. As a
rule when vacancy occurs at either
end of the capitol, the difficulty SEN
ators and representatives have Is in de-
Gliding which one of the dozens OF ap-
pltclnts shall be shown the preference
of recommendation. This selecting
committee of three will go down in cap
itol history as unique.
Official authority in the departments
Is thrust upon one at every angle of
the corridors and rooms of these big
buildings and forms barriers over which
both the initiated and the unwary
stumble, but It is seldom that II pene-
trateS into the elevators.
Il happened in one of the elevators
Of one of the larger department build
ings the other day. 1t was at an hour
when the car was crowded with clerks
going To work. After the door had been
shut and the car had asCended almost
to the first floor there came violent
ring at the bell aud the conductor, re-
Nersing the lever, dropped back like a
shot to the ground floor, took In an
other passenger and jumped the car
TO the fifth floor, where the late conner
alighted. Then the car slowly descend
e., igor BY floor, 20 permit the wrathful
CLERKS "a get out. be- gsa.:-Ss 49,
The hurry up 6assenger happened to
I be one of half-doZen or so bureau Off
GERS, whose official authority gives them
the right To make Il runaway trip with
any elevator they happened to strike,
irrespective of the corridor destinations
of the rest of the passengers, but the
! scene and sensation OF being whiSked
| past your floor. despite :-uur calls to the
elevator man, were more aggraNating
/ than amusing. Some bureau officers
/ however. show the other passengers
! In Il ear the courtesy of allowing il
/ to stop from floor to floor; others don't
when | first hit the trail leading tC
| Pennsylvania avenue some years ago
! when the civil service had not tied
up all of the good positions IN the de,
| partments, ! used TO wonder why il was
that my fellow members of the craft
did not take the positions on the gov,
ernments rolls which they had Offered
them, but preferred to stick to the
last, or. more properly speaking, to tn,
wad of copy paper and pencil.
After seeing from personal expert
enCe how the grind in the departments
except in the higher positions above III,
clerical. dwarfs mans ambitions ant
energies and lessons his earning ca
/ pacity for outside employment in cor
| responding ratio TO his service. l un
derstand why my Confreres preferred
the other kind Of grind.
Official authority in the department
in Washington, however, and the priv
ileges and perQuisites which go with j
act as d sort of compCnSating balanc
TO some men while they are in Office
AS in the instance OF many represent a
tiVes who declare, when their terms ar
ended, that the years they spent in con
gress were substantially wasted, an
they are obliged to start life all owe
again, so II Is with many bureau an
other ofiiCials-they wish they had nev
er been tempted by the fame of officia
power, but had stuck to more remun
erative private pursuits.
yet this is a wrinkle of WashingtO
life little understood outside of the car
ital. The principal component OF thi
ultimate dissa tisfaction is that most {
these men--not all, to be sure. bu
most OF them-flnd that their duties di
not contribute I'm the least toward mal
ing them useful elsewhere. Thoug
there are exceptions to the rule, the
prove 1t in its entirety, and largely fC
the reason that official experience
worthless in private life and business.
THE desire, however, for goVernmer
positions, as instanced by the so actiN
contestants for the privilege of exc
CiSing their vocal powers AS Senat
reading Clerk-and there would haN
been 500 had the contest been an ope
One-wil always continue because II
earning of a salary is the limitation
the prOweSS OF the average man. II
clerk enjoys his steady and practical
secure salary as long as he behave
himself and does his work. despite Il
fact that he knows that he cannot ge
as a rule beyond certain earning "a
pacity; the official enjoys pushing II
elevator bell button and making all
the other passengers stand aside,
rather stand still, until he takes himse
and his official authority out of Il
, al. t,t'