The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1910-10-27

SF4WUHHEMl the same OLD n
-ENEEHEWEy Washington that Il
'HtBBEEH II was In the days 4
before the Civil \
- fR war The office Z
e seeker as type is 1
q rs extinct in Wash {
,ngton as the dodo is said to be every I
where. Not only is Washington not I
"cluttered" with office-seekers at any |
time any more, but the rising genera ,
ton Of young people simply do not
know what the old-time type OF once
seeker in Washington was like. Ihey
used to swarm here, of course, by the
thousands, and go broke while wait
| ing for ,he Office that never came, ana
camp out on the park benches and all
that sort of thing, but that is all an
cient history The Joke about the chap
who comes to Washington at change
of administration to get billeted TO the
court of st. James, and who, after
long period of hope deferred and un-
productive waiting, finally accepts
lob Juggling waste-paper baskets IN
one of the departments, Is just about
as live a Joke, in 80 far as 1t refers
to this town, as the sewing a-button'
on-the-shirt joke is in these days when
all men wear collar buttons and don't
know what a shirt button looks ike
There are people coming here all
; the time from all sections OF the coun
try to take jobs in the government
employ, but they're not ofice-seekers
of the old-time type that existed before
the civil service law. They're ONCE
landers. They've got their billets.
They've passed their examinations,
: got their rating papers and. most OF
|, them, their appointments, before ever
setting foot in Washington. Once IN
. while, when a man or woman mas
passed a particularly high examina'
: ton, he or she comes on to Washing
ton before actually receiving an ap-
:, pointment, having reason to feel pref
= ty secure that the appointment Will
be forthcoming In due time. And
= most of these people, too, look around
for something to do outside while
waiting for their government appoint
ments to materialize. They don't
haunt the corridors of the depart
o ments. nor clamor at the doors OF
Is officials, or sit around hotel Hobbies
lie telling their wrongs, because they
.e know lust where they stand, have no
Il wrongs and are altogether just as far
Of apart from the old-time typical office
IN seeker as / am from Papuan.
a, Change of Administration.
O. Gwen when the administrations
change there are no clamorou'
&c crowds here looking for the higher
e, appointive and unclassified positions
TO professional place hunters, that is
ds Men engaged in business or In thu
lie, professions come here, 1t is true, a
ID, the request of their senators or repre-
Oh sentatives as often as not when ao
ne ministrations change, to be Introduce
ny to the new presidents and to hay
as their claims considered for certai
iu- positions: but after visit or so
en- the White House these men, unlik
al the old-time brood of office-seeker'
OK quickly go back to their homes, II
III stead of hanging around the town gil
Sc ing utterance to their walls over III
delay in giving them the high-pal
oc- work. A Washingtonian doesn't hay
Use TO be very old to recall the seedy hui
IRE dreds and even thousands of profe
INC sional politicians who used to haul
the cheaper Washington hotels al
boarding houses, looking for COVER
ment billets, at all times, whether Il
ap- administration was in process
gan changing or not They'd get away
snt. arrears in their board bills and aft
the long months and often years of wa
So ing their few remaining friends won
ma take them in hand and chip in to sci
!; 1t them back to their homes. TIL
'nly hung on around Washington as To-
ex- as they could, because they hated
UNI. go back to their home towns to {
n Is knowledge that their big claims had
the been recognized. but that was WI
gno- most of them we're forced to In t
u III long run.
OF people With Claims.
re- And in other striking respects
uns Washington OF today is far differt
'e,e even from the Washington of do7
'ne or twenty years ago. For examI
reat- " I,aor ony brood of Mo
49, ible and eloquent people with clai
~ before Congress in Washington,
'H there were for good 30 years
: q, more after the war. some OF TN
- were noted characters. usually o
pathetic sort, but many of them.
Guiding the women of the lot, W
grafters and cheerful workers of
most pronounced description, Sc
, of them had actual claims, with, h
hmm ever, little or no prospect of gett
7 do them through and as little reason '
ition they shouiu oe pul ~. oen W. n
that we're as purely imaginary
they possibly could be-
"Some of these female claims
ms in used to hypnotic contiding old DO
ing house mistresses by nara
nd tales OF the enormous wealth that
bound to come to them eventu
from their claims before Congr