Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-01
ATTACKS LIFE Jobs
Senator Bailey Denounces Re-
tirement for Clerks.
TAX "EATERS," NOT PAYERS
Declares Opposition to Life Tenure
Even for Judiciary.
ADVOCATES FOUR-YEAR TERMS
Believes Government Employees
Should Be Sent Back to People for
Endorsement Of Record.
TAX "EATERS," NOT PAYERS
ADVOCATES FOUR-YEAR TERMS

Senator Bailey of Texas attacked the
life tenure of Office for government clerks
during speech in the Senate yesterday
afternoon and declared that an extension
of a retirement system to all departmental
employees would be going from bad to
worse"
The paragraph of the post office appro-
priation bill providing that civil service
in the postal service. before re-
moval or demotion, shall know the causes
of their dismissal or demotion and shall
Hitchcock wanted extended SO as to
specify that past demotions shall not
stand until the provisions of the para
graph have been carried. out. He cited
the demotion of some mail clerks in Ne
braska as showing the need for such a
provision.
Bailey remarked, II would propose as
substitute for all of this that all these
men be turned out every four years.
think that the right to hold an office is
tlemen who occupy these offices in this
easy way might now and then be sent
back to the body of the people to learn
how it is to earn a living in other ways
lHdH NY serving the government, ana tney
ought to become taxpayers every once in
a while instead of taxeaters all the time
No Place for Life Tenure.
Il do not believe there is any place
in government like ours for life tenure.
am one of the men who do not believe
in a life tenure for judges, although /
believe in a tenure sufficiently long to
remove them from the influences which
are supposed to sway the minds of men.
But surely these gentlemen are not
OF such consequence in the administration
of this government that we must make
class of them. Segregate them 1f0m the
balance of the people. and leave them
to work in the shade at a handsome
salary for the balance of their lives,
while their brothers who are out on the
farm are working in the sun for half the
compensation, in order to earn taxes to
pay these larger salaries. I have no
sy rnpathy with any proposition to secure
men for a lifetime in any kind of an
office
IF the senator from Nebra ska will just
cast his eyes forward beyond the 4th
of next March he will find much need
for some of these places for the worthy
democrats who have been kept out for
SO many years"
Senator Hitchcock was prompt to con-
test the position taken by the Texas sem
ator.
II am not referring to men who will
be placed in position as a result Of favor.
am referring to men in the railway
mail service who have secured their po-
stions on merit, who hold their positions
on merit, under the laws Of Congress.
Should Feel Positions Secure.
Il want to say to the senator from
Texas it is Of more Importance to the
people Of the United States whom they
serve than it is to the men themselves
that their positions should be held per-
manently and not at the will Of political
officials put In temporary charge over
them. 1t is of more Importance to the
people OF the United States that those
men should feel that their positions are
secure as long as they serve the people
faithfully and they should not be sub
jected to being elected without being
given an opportunity to know what the
charges are which are made against
them"
Senator Bailey disputed Mr. Hitch
cocks statement regarding the railway
mail clerks, and then he continued to dis
cuss the government service in partlcu-
lar:
If there are any people in this repub
lie who could best serve it by holding
their offices for life I say it would be
senator's and representatives. l would
not want that to go into effect until after
March next (when Mr.. Bailey retires),
but l do not hesitate to say that expert
the Congress of the United States than
in any other-indeed. than in all other
departments of the government, except
the judiciary.
Compares Importance of Service.
Yet 1 think there is no senator here
who would be willing to give senators
their seats in this chamber during their
good behavior. 1 think that we all think
1t better for us to resubmit the fidelity
and the wisdom of our service to the
people of the several states every six
years: and members Of the other house
are compelled to do that every two years.
Yet they perform service vastly more
important to the welfare of the country
than all the mail service put together
"Oh. no. Mr.. President, there is no de-
partment of the government where the
efficient administ ra ton OF it requires a
life tenure. II there be any such depart
ment it is certainly the judiciary: and
most Of the senators-certainly most of
the senators on this side-would like to
see that modified. l think most OF us
would like to see term of office long
enough to render the judge independent
of popular passions. popular prejudices,
and still not SO long that he must re-
main on the bench after he has become
lnCdpdDle Oh properly performing the uu-
ties OF his great office.
But it will make precious little differ
ence In the destiny of this republic
whether a mail carrier holds for four
years or forty years. SO far as the eff
cheney Of that service is concerned. There
is. however, another and larger view Of
this question. and it is of vast conse-
quence whether we are to build Zip an
officeholding class in this country
Civil Pension Follows, Naturally.
Mr.. President, l want to go one step
further. I want to say here what I have
said on more than one other occasion,
that when you perfect your civil service
and through it establish a life tenure for
all employees of the government a civil
pension follows as naturally as the night
follows the day. When these people have
served at e:scellen, salaries for forty or
fifty years they will come in and they
Will say as they have been saying with
tremendous effect n some quarters, that
they have given their lives to the service
of the government and the government
ought TO take care of them in their oil
pnn,nrahQpd 10 III or