The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-03-13

sometimes lay sermon Is lncluu-
ed in the Congressional Record, as in
the case of this sketch by R. M. Gates
a newspaper correspondent ON the
Memphis Commercial Appeal" The
whole situation is here SO succinctly
and graphically set forth that we are
reproducing the entire paper for
readers of the Republican.
Much of the official correspondence
of senators and congressman relates
to the applications of men and wo-
men for government jobs in Wash
ington.
This is particularly the case at this
time because of the recent change of
administration. Fifty succeed where
five hundred get nothing more for
their seeking than letters politely in
forming them of the futility of their
quest. Nine congressman out of ten
will tell you that the five hundred
men and women that fail ITO land"
government positions in Washington
are more to be congratulated than
their fifty successful unidentified
competitors.
To have and to hold federal po-
sition in Washington is, in most in
stances, to mortgage ones better
prospects and potentialities in the
boundless world of Independent en-
deavor for the temporary possession
of place easy to fill and the rewards
of which allure because they are
never disappointing in their regular
ity.
The too popular impression, es-
pecially among younger men and wo-
men, that the great desideratum is to
attach ones self to the government
pay roll in Washington may be de-
scribed as a national allurement to
certain disappointment and possible
disaster. That the Twenty-Five de-
partments of the government in
Washington are as huge vaults
wherein repose the .blighted hopes
and defeated ambitions of thousands
of men and women who once saw in
imagination opportunity for high
aaI,s to h4 fY11 fo1
of the nation Is not overshading the
picture.
Working for Uncle Sam, which al
first is vocation, oftentimes becomes
a disease, and an incurable one. The
saddest plant one ever hears in
Washington-sadder than the wall OF
the rejected office seeker-is that OF
the helpless and hopeless government
clerk lamenting his unhappy lot. He
realizes that he is Gin bad" and
yearns for one more chance to right
himself. He is in the net and can
not escape. He would like to ex-
tricate himself, but that is impossible.
Perhaps his head has whitened and
his hands have palsied in the service,
and his years of steady employment
are unrepresented by dollar saved.
His fate is sealed. Gloomily he trods
his weary way. Perhaps he is man
yet capable of throwing off his
government harness and hitching
himself to something better outside
the cramping, grinding world of cleri-
cal slavery under official tyranny,
but he has a family and cannot af-
ford to take a chance. He has GER
tain fixed expenses, and his income
must be uninterrupted. He has not
saved penny, because his salary,
which looked quite sufficient when
he was single man, now is woefully
inadequate under the added strain of
the obligations of family. He could
fill satisfactorily most any position
requiring clerical ability and expert
0uCO, UuI H0 CduuOL lSI 81 lib 6oNOI II
ment job to find something even
equally as remunerative He is afriad
to take the chance. Years ago he
might have quit the service to his
advantage, but he held on, hoping
that some day he would be advanced
to the head of division or to chief
clerkship, bue he has dreamed dreams
that never came true. There never
was a chance for him to advance
higher than $1,000 a year. There
were hundreds of others struggling
along with him and against him, so
he has done well to keep his head
above the water. Besides, he is not
in sympathy with the party in power,
and If he was he has been trudging
an obscure path SO long that he is
lost to help congressional influence.
He has been away from his state, his
district, his home so long that he has
lost his identity, and his congress
man feels only a reminiscent interest
in him. So into the scar and yellow
n