El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-05-14
Nearly Half Million Employed
By u. S. In Civil Service
Age and Feebeness Do Not Employees Jbany Wheeled 20
in Invaid's Chairs
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
PPROXIAIATELY

A PPROXIAIATELY 100000 per
"A sons find employment in the
4 n executive civil service Of the
United states. Add 10 these those who
do work for the government by con-
tract, such as star route mail car
riers, and those who are connected with
the legislative and judicial branches
of the government. and it will appear
that there are approximately mar
million people working for OhcIe Sam
The Classified Service.
About half of these are under Wnat
is known as the classified service Jhdt
is, they are men and women VINO nave
been appointed after competltlEe exam, Aal-
when they became subject to exam
nation. The United states annualts
expends several hundred million oo4-
lars for salaries and wages AheSS
salaries range from the a40,yUO pau
10 the president Of the United states
down to the IS year received by a
backWOOds postmaster, determined ny
the cancellation Of the postage stamps
on mail originating at his ofIlce-
President Appoints Higher OIfie1als.
Government employees get their po-
sitiOns in different ways Inc presl-
dent directly appoints nearly le,uUO
of them These ire the higher OFFICIALS
of the government. such as CABINET Of
Of the courts. pOstmasters ABOVE the
fourth class. United states marshals,
district attorneys. heads OF important
bureaus. and members of various COM
missions and other organizations
About a quarter Of million en-
ploves secure their positions through
competitive examinations taken under
the auspices Of the civil service com
mission. a body which has In charge
the enforcement Of the provisions Of
the federal civil service law Nearly
200 600 receive their appointments
without competitive examinations, ana
are said 10 be in the uncIasslIl nee, ser
vice Many of these are IN positions
where mental qualifications are not
as essential as physical strength, most
of them being manual laoorers
some Serious Problems.
The maintenance Of a competent
force for the operation of the ma
chiDerv OF the federal government
always has involved many serl-
Gus problems. During the greater
part OF the first century or natlonat
existence positions in the federal ser
vice were distributed under what was
known as the "spOils system When
a new political party came INTO poWe
81 considered that one OF It's IlrSJ ou-
ties was to turn out the entire force
which had administered affairs under
the former administration, and TO put
its own adherents into their placeS-
The evils Of the "spous system con-
tinued to grow more maIAea u l.- u.
1883. when the civil service act was
passed. and the present merit system
had its beginning.
Is vast Improvement.
That this system OF appointing sot
eminent employees and keeping them IN
office has been vast improvement
over the old patronage system IS agreed
bv all But even with this plan or
maintaining an efficient iorce certain
objections have arisen one OF these
is that employees continue In the ser
vice long after the period Of their ell
ficiency is passed, ano when they are
no longer able 10 render sailsIactoLg
return for their salaries. 1t Is agreed
that The government should not turn
them out OF the service, and yet II IS
realized that they have passed tneit
term of usefulness To keep Inen
in their positions after they have be-
come unable 10 do their work is 70
adopt. without any law therefor, a sort
of old age pension system
Decrepft Clerks.
There are clerks in the government
service who have TO be wheeled TO their
desks in roller chairs. and others have
been known to continue on the federal
payroll long after they have passed the
age of so years Although the law
strictly requires efficiency in the pub
lie service to be maintained. the aver
age departmental chief feels that Il
would be inhuman TO turn the old
clerks out. and so they continue IN the
service IL is eHLllnaLEu hl4cA one Jul "a
every il government employees In the
city Of Washington is over 65 years
old.
Pension system Out of Question
AS long as there IS no law requiring
compulsory retirement after a certain
age limit there Is no hope of eliminat-
ing these people from the service OF
course. congress will not set an age
limit for compulsory retirement with
out making some sort of provision for
the clerks after they are retired
straight out civil pension is held by
many to be out of the question. since
il would involve the payment by the
government of perhaps $4,000. 900 a
year TO people who were no longer rem
dering any return therefor Another
DroD6sal has been brought UP which
probably will eventually be enacted
MO law. This proposal is that a GER
tain amount shall be deducted each
month from the salaries Of government
EMPLOYEES and placed in retirement