The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-05-20
is necessary to give and yet to say,
their positions.
Rr,e+ie,t Knn,.,Iado~ Mae6ad

of the civil service law say that
has been shown many times that pei
sons who can pass the best civil ser,
ice examinations do not always max
the best employees. This means, Q
| course, that good many men hay
book learning" which enables then
to get into the service by the examina
ton route, but when they get in 1t i
found that their book learning" i
not anywhere near SO much service Il
the government as practical knowl
edge would be.
More and more the civil servic'
] chiefs have attempted to make thu
examinations practical, but even the
| best tests Of practical knowledge fai
at times when they are reduced tt
question form
An investigation of the civil service
which 1t is promised will be made
will go deep into all questions, and il
is believed that the committee of con
gress which will conduct the inquiry
will be able to recommend new legis-
lation when the next session of con
gress opens in December. President
Wilson, it is said, favors an investiga.
ton. AS has been said, it is charged
that a great many employees under the
civil service lose their ambition to
work as soon as they are covered
by the law" When it comes to a
question of promotion political favor
itism still rules. in places in the de-
partments, and so frequently a man
who is lazy, if he happens to be a
favorite with someone in authority.
can get promotion, while an ambi-
tious man doing twice as good work
as the other can get no promotion.
This is part Of the system which
congress says must be changed.
Joys of Official Life.
A United States senator told
me few days ago that out
OF his salary of $500 he was able
during the first year of his incum-
bancy to keep for himself only
$4,000. He said that he did not give
the money away, but that he was
obliged because of the opportunities
OF patronage hunters to spend virtu-
ally all of his time which was not
spent In the senate chamber, in the
work Of seeing men in authority in
an endeavor to get government places
for constituents who thought they de-
served them, and that this necessi-
tated his paying the greater part of
his salary for extra clerks, stenog-
raphers and the like in order that the
which senator is supposed ordinar-
lily to do for himself.
This gives some idea of what a |
senator or member of the house has |
20 do when he first comes to Wash
ngton. 1t is especially true just at |
he present time, when there has been
change Of administration 1t is
no exaggeration to say that
very Democratic senator and every.
democratic member of the house of
representatives has in his office 1000
IMPLICATIONS for places under the gov
and each maker of an ap-
l1cation seemingly believes that he
the only proper person to whom
job should be given.
AO pau image IpuSlu0SS Is driving
ONE of the members of congress
retty close to the distraction point.
'hey do MT know what to do. They
o not like to offend the place seek
RS, and yet they know that offense in
majority of cases will be taken
IT, as one senator put it, mo man
r woman believes that any other
ian or woman should be given the
Iaces which the first man and wom- :
have asked for,
Busy Asking for Jobs.
Inc senator who said that he was
Die to keep less than $4,000 of his
~ for himself declared that from :
10 day he came to Washington after
e new administration was inaueu-
ted he had done little else than
amp the streets or ride in street I
rs from department to department. e
king for job here and a job there b
this man or for that man. The
nator said: Il am sick unto death t
1t and yet l can't help myself nor b
there, as far as l can see, any way n
t OF the whole miserable condition T
things" Il
In about six or eight months it is 4
obable that most of the places a
Itch are now sought by patronage e
ekers because of the change of ad. "
nistration, will be filed, and the b
majors and representatives will get d
me relief, but it must be remember m
that there are a great MANY an. Ia
lntlVe positions under the govern. ii
mt which have definite term of ir
ars to run, and so it is that even h,
er the bulk of the places have a,
IN filled there still will be postmas. =,
ships, collectorships and dozen w
SO other positions which will come
can't from time to time, and over -,
lch senators and representatives -,
st worry Ii
Now. when one remembers that -
re may be change of admins, =:
ton on March 4, 1917, the whole -
ry OF the past two months and :.
he coming six or eight months will a.
repeated if another party should ~
ne into power, it will be repeated ~
part If the Democrats ranain Al