Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-05-21
is necessary to give and yet to say
their positions.
Practical knowledge Needed.

Men interested in the safeguarding
of the civil service law say that it
has been shown many times that per-
sons who can pass the best civil sery-
ice examinations do not always make
the best employees. This means, OF
course, that a good many men have
book learning" which enables them
to get into the service by the examina-
ton route, but when they get In it is
found that their book learning" is
not anywhere near SO much service to
the government as practical knowi-
edge would be-
More and more the civil service
chiefs have attempted to make the
examinations practical, but even the
best tests of practical knowledge fail
at times when they are reduced to
question form.
An investigation of the civil service
which it is promised will be made.
will go deep into all questions, and 1t
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 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
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
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 a part of the system which
congress says must be changed.
Joys of Official Life.
A United States senator told
me a 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 necessl-
tated his paying the greater part Of
his salary for extra clerks, stenog-
raphers and the like in order that the
muItitudinous things could be done
which senator is supposed ordinar'
lily to do for himself.
This gives some idea Of what
senator or a member of the house has
to do when he first comes to Wash
ington. 1t is especially true just at
the present time, when there has been
a. change CT administration. 1t is
probably no exaggeration to say that
every Democratic senator and every
Democratic member of the house OF
representatives has in his office 1000
applications for places under the gov
eminent, and each maker of an ap-
,plication seemingly believes that he
is the only proper person to whom
job should be given.
The patronage business is driving
some of the members of congress
pretty close to the distraction point.
They do not know what to do. They
do not like to offend the place seek
ers, and yet they know that offense In
a majority of cases will be taken,
for, as one senator put it, mo man
or woman believes that any other
man or woman should be given the
places which the first man and WON
an have asked for"
Busy Asking for Jobs.
The senator who said that he was
able to keep less than $4,000 of his
pay for himself declared that from
the day he came to Washington after
the new administration was inaugu-
rated he had done little else than
tramp the streets or ride in street
cars from department to department,
asking for job here and a job there
for this man or for that man. The
senator said: II am sick unto death
of it and yet l can't help myself, nor
is there, as far as | can see, any way
out OF the whole miserable condition
OF things"
In about six or eight months it is
probable that most of the places,
which are now sought by patronage
seekers because of the change of ad-
ministration, will be filled, and the
senators and representatives will get
some relief, but it must be remember
ed that there are a great many aD-
pointiye positions under the govern
ment which have definite term of
years to run, and SO 1t is that even
after the bulk of the places have
been filled there still will be postmas-
terships, relationships and dozen
or so other positions which viii come
vacant from time to time, and over
which senators and representatives
must worry.
Now, when one remembers that
there may be change of admins