The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-02-21
THE UNITED STATES HIRES COL
LEGE GRADUATES AT FIFTY
DOLLARS A MONTH.
ALL SALARIES STAY THE SAME
Many Persons in the Government EN-
pIoy Receive Less Than They Did
Before the Civil War-No Chance
for a Change.

serving the United States government
( for salaries ranging from twenty dol
= lars a month upward, who, If they
[, worked for almost any other employer
: in this country, or for the government
in almost any other country, would be
on strike. What is more, If their
case were fairly presented to the pub
lie, they would win the strike.
They are employees of the classified
civil service-the clerks accountants,
stenographers, librarians, biologists,
engineers, mathematicians, chemists,
lawyers, editors and other specialists
of almost every sort including me-
chanics, who carry on the work of the
various department. Positions in this
service are given only to successful
contestants in competitive examina-
> tions. The holders are immune to re-
' moval for political or religious cause,
; and are commonly regarded as hold
ing something like life tenure. There
is a cheerful theory that they are
paid enormous salaries, do no particu-
y lar amount of work and that only
within short hours, and are the spe-
cial favortes of amiable fortune
> The latest official statistics indicate
that there are about 225, 900 in the pos
tai service, $4,000 in the army, $4,000
in the navy, 5000 in the marine corps
y and 10000 in the legislative, eXecu-
- tive and judicial establishments. or
these about 2S0,000 are in the classi-
fed executive civil service. That Is,
' they are classified with reference to
the salaries they draw, and can have
-. their salaries raised only by being
, promoted from one class to another
It is with this last great class, the
, executive civil service employees, that
;. we have mainly to do. Time was
:, when they were comparatively well
:. paid. The law of 1853 established
:, four classes of clerical workers, with
:, annual salaries of $1,000, $l,400, $1,000
and 1,SO0-comfortable. self respect
ing wages for the time and for the
conditions which that time imposed.
There never has been, since 1858, a
a., general reclassifcaton of service and
=, salaries From time to time, however,
congress has created new classifica-
tions-clerks, accountants, scientists,
- EXPERTS and so on-at lower wages
=, than the 81 200 minimum fixed in 1853.
;, Thus there is today n great class at
;, 1000, and others at 5000, $40, S72O,
and $500. Below these come various
!, gradations OF messengers, janitors,
/, charwomen and the like, with salar-
, les running as low as 500 a month.
More than three thousand of these
people receiving from 5000 to $1,000
=. year are professional and scientif-
10 ic" experts. In order to qualify they
must exhibit college degree or it's.
= equivalent. Their work may not have
been thought of in 1858, yet their sal
aries are below those on which the
clerks" or that period began.
For instance, the last census com
pilation on this subject shows 1881
employees drawing less than $720'-
more persons by a good deal than the
total number employed back in the
good old days whel the minimum was
$1,000, when living was cheap and de-
mands We're few. Next we find 32,-
1868 drawing between 1920 and 5000.
Al the 5000 and 81 900 levels, the army
is augmented by many more thou
sands-all drawing far less than the
minimum fixed in the period whose le-
gends We must examine to satisfy any
possible curiosity about the mytholog
ical origin of this old tale about the
easy lives and plutocratic compensa
tions of government employees
Perhaps it will help to an apprecia
tion of the circumstances of these
humber classes of government EN-
ployees if We imagine a great multi
tude of faithful hard working people
in any other business having their sal
ary restored to a basis below that
which prevailed before the civil war.
Suppose the railroads should serve
notice tomorrow Of a restoration of
the wage $, e they paid in 1853 Sup
pose the locomotive engineers now
drawing $3.50 or 5000 month were
set back TO the wage basis of the cor
responding position fifty years ago,
and that conductors, brakemen and
firemen were similarly denoted. II
venture to say that on all the two hun
dred and forty thousand miles OF rail
road in the United States there would
not be enough trains started out to-