The National tribune., 1910-06-09
AGED CLERKS,

One of those events entirely too COM
mon in Washington official life occurred
last week in the dismissal of some 20
aged clerks, men and women, who had
rendered the Government good service
for years, but who are no longer needed
on account of the installation of ma
chimes. Among these We're II veterans
of the civil war and others who were
widows of such.
This brings sharply to the front the
whole attitude of the Government to
It is particularly pertinent as to the
cases of those who fought for the saliva
ton of the Nation in its days of acute
| peril and their dependent ones.
Merely as public policy this is highly
injurious The Government demands
and should have the very best service
in its civil branches, as in its military,
that men and women can render. Its
existence depends absolutely upon this,
and the comfort, well-being and pros
perity of every man and woman in the
Nation are more or less involved. To
have a strong, efficient, honest Govern
ment is Il matter of the utmost impor-
tance. to every American, and this
strength, honesty and efficiency must
extend to every man and woman in its
service. Everyone who enters its en-
ployment must be encouraged to devote
himself or herself entirely to its inter-
ests and give the best that is in him
or her to the faithful honest and capa-
BILE execution of the duties of the place.
No one will say for moment that this
spirit can permeate the employees of the
Government unless the retention in SER
vice is made to depend wholly upon
and effectiveness. To have men
and women chilled by a fear that they
are liable to be thrust out into the
world to begin life anew, without re-
gard to what they may have done in
the past. what sacrifices they may have
made in the discharge of their duties
and what effort they have made to rem
der themselves efficient servants, is to
demoralize that service and deprive the
Government of what it should rightful-
ly have. Every great corporation in
the country recognizes this, and to-day
more than half of the railroad employees
of the country are under a retirement
system which assures them of retention
in their places as long as they discharge
their duties acceptably and of provi-
sion for their old age proportionate to
their length of service and degree of
proficiency which they have attained in
their duties. This is not sentiment. 1t
is simply good business" and has been
adopted by the coId-b -blooded, intensely
from strictly business considerations.
Certainly the Government. which is the
embodiment of all of us and which
should set a model for the rest, cannot
afford to do otherwise. 1t has seen the
necessity of this in its retirement laws
it should extend something like the
same system to its civil employees.
All this is accentuated when it comes
to discharging veterans of the war of
the rebellion and their dependent ones.
If ever men earned the enduring graft
tude of any Nation it was those who
left everything in the years 1S61-65 to
offer themselves sacrifice upon the
altar of the Nations salvation. No men
in any war ever fought as long, endured
so much and dared such terrible dam
gers as the soldiers and sailors of the
war of 1S61-65, and the Nation owes
them far more than any Nation ever
owed the men who fought for it. That
one of these men or his widow should
now be turned out on the cold world at
a time when they are absolutely untitled
to struggle against the hard conditions
is painful to every American citizen and
to the great Government
which they saved. The cruelty of this
is SO apparent that every effort is being
made to provide for these unfortunates
elsewhere, but there should be securi-
ty against any possibility of a recur-
renee of this painful episode by a defin-
ite law which will adequately provide
for men and women who have grown
old in faithful service.