The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-11-14
POSITIONS ARE VERY
COMBINING TO ALL
Government Clerks, She Points
Out, Become SpiritIess,
Lack Ambition and Live a
Life of Great Monotoy.
10y Mrs. John A. Ioqan.)

many applicants for examination for
appointment in the civil service at ev.
cry examination which is held. either
! in Washington or elsewhere. The list
grows longer, and those who pass are
more numerous, no matter for what
| class the examination is held.
In these numbers there are both
| men and women graduates of high
schools and colleges. of all ages ad-
MISSILE under the rules. 1t is claimed
that women are in the majority of
those whose scores are the highest.
Stenography and typewriting being
| universally used, there is greater
demand for operators and stenograph-
ers than for ordinary clerks. Expert
scribes are very few. the departments
penmen who can enroll and engross
commissions and other documents
that must be engrossed with a pen.
Is Very Combining.
There is no occupation more con-
filming than that of being employed
by the government and sitting all day
long in the vitiated air of the depart
ments. The routine and monotony of
the very best work in the departments
is of such a character as to destroy
all individuality and one becomes, in
one sense of the word, a perfect ma
| chine. as there is rarely any work
that requires any thought whatever,
and all is performed absolutely me-
chemically.
have watched the careers of very
many young men and women who
have come to Washington and secur-
ed employment in one or the other of
the departments. and-there is scarce
ly an exception to the rule-they be-
come spiritless, lacking in ambition,
and reach a point when there seems
nothing for them to do but to resign
themselves to life of monotony and
confinement.
Mr.. McHarg. in a recent interview,
has not over-drawn the picture and
he strongly advises against seeking
employment in the departments Of the
government, especially for men.
Once on the payroll. they seem to
lose all courage and to be willing to
accept their monthly salary. forget
ting that they are growing older and
older in the service, and finally will
be unable to tear themselves away
from certainty and obtain a private
business or employment outside. They
seem to think they never reach a
point when they can give up GER
fainfv for an uncorf airtv
There Many Years.
There are men in the departments
today who have been there from twen-
ty-five to forty-five years. who are
nothing more or less than automatons
and it is pitiful to see them going
out without any change in their lives,
accomplishing nothing more than their
daily tasks at their desks in the de-
partments.
They have no inspiration and little
interest in anything outside of the
four-walls of the department in which
they are earning their daily bread.
They never seem to realize that the
older they grow the less capable they
are for higher and more important
positions.
If among them there appears
bright, active, ambitious person, he
can depend upon it that he is in the
minority, and that the majority will
be conspiring against him to prevent
him from making the progress that
perhaps he would accomplish il he
were out in the world in competition
with rivals, and obliged to exercise
his mentality and energies to succeed
There are. of course, instances in
the departments that are very pathe-
tic. Many have been employed that
would not have been able to earn a
competency elsewhere
Mrs. Gridiey Recalled.
One recalls with tender sympathy
the life and character Of Mrs. Gridley,
the mother of Captain Gridley, who
died recently at the advanced age of
Eighty-four years. She was a charm
ing woman, and in her prime was re-
ally a very remarkable person.
She filled a position in one Of the
departments for many years, having
been appointed to a clerkship through
the influence of Zachariah Chandler
during the Civil war She was 4
widow and was. through this appoint
ment, enabled to educate her sons,
Captain Gridley having been prepared
for Annapolis through his mothers
management and devotion. Her other
son was well educated, but is now in
one OF the departments in Washing
ton.
She was never awarded a pension.
notwithstanding she had not regular
support, because her son Captain
Gr1diey, had married and the pension
was given to his widow. His poor old
mother got nothing but her regular
salary which she aarnod II urifhin n