Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-02
The Ten Post Office Clerks.

| Postmaster Praeger'S letter to the Post
master General, transmitted to the Sem
ate yesterday in response to resolution
! of inquiry about the recent separation
| OF old soldiers from the service, throws
a helpful light upon a situation winch
affects practically all the government de-
partments. 1t is a strong argument LOT
the establishment of some form OF eiFlt
service retirement, for the sake primarily
of administrative efficiency ana Tor the
rescue of the elder government workers
from condition of helpless dependence
upon the varia BILE humane consideration
of their superiors.
Ten cases are cited. comprising eight
designations" two disrlssals and two
reductions. The clerks ranged in age
from sixty-eight to eighty-one years
averaging fraction over seventy-four
and a half years. They had been in the
service from seven months to fifty-one
years averaging fraction over thirty
three wears of continuous employment by
the government. They We're at the time
of their resignation. removal or de-
motion rated at percentages of efficiency
ranging from COL to 946 averaging $500.
Just such clerks are to he found i'll
I ii
ments. advanced in years. long in serv-
ice and struggling to retain their posi-
tons in the face of their steadily de-
creasing efficiency ratings. Ihere are
hundreds of these faithful. experienced.
in MANY cases technically expert workers
but handicapped by diminishing physical
and in some cases mental powers. Many
of them have in the past been high sal
NO
Of the classified service compensation
but they have suffered successive re-
auctions in pay until as in the post office
instances they have practically reached
the end of the line. These ten postal
workers averaging over thiftE-'hree
wears of continuous service. w2re at the
time of their resignation. reductlon or
dismissal getting an average of slu3o
year.
This is bad business 1t is an inn
proyident waste on the part of the gov
eminent a beartless Indifference to the
merits and needs of the men who have
devoted their lives to its service and are
holding on through sheer necessity to
their pitifully small salaries with the
knowledge that they may al any ti'h"
be sacrificed to the pressure Tor patron
age to which under the present system
nf administration every superior depart
mental official is subjected. 1t Is pad
business" because it makes for ineffective
administration Whatever their ratings
these elder clerks, save in few IN
stances of exceptional endurance and
suecjal facility and skill. are not as ef-
fcient as Younger men. Yet they are
held in service. in virtual competition
with men many years their Junior. Tor
one or two decades after they have
earned the right to retire. The govern
ment suffers through its kindness, and
then becomes suddenly unkind and with
draws the sustenance so long given,
without previous warning and without
any provision in substitution
In effect. from the elder clerks point OF
view the government is guilty or
breach of faith when it eXacts a resl2na-
ton or iuficts d dismissal or even a demo-
ton on the score of failing efficiency,
after a retention in service for q third OF
century without FAULT failure on the
part of the employe. The United States
has been virtually saying to these men
'.Yol. are growing Old. and YOU are not
quite as smart in your work as you We're
in the past and YOU really ought to De
retired: but because there Is a popular
prejudice against civil pensions we can
not grant you superannuation pay and
let you step aside to make room Tor
Younger and more efficient clerks. SO
We will keep You on and let you grow
old in harness.
And now when they have passed the
az. of any possible provision of new
means of earning livelihood, having
grown so accustomed to their govern
ment work that they could not make
good in other occupations If offered to
them these veterans, past three score
years. some Of them destitute OF means
because they have for years been suffer
ing successive reductions Of pay while
the cost of living has been steadily
mounting are turned out the score
of a falling off in their efficiency 1T is
a spectacle Of heartlessness that should
move Congress forthwith, in very shame,
to pass at once some measure putting the
government of the United States ON a
plane with the great business corpora
tons that have recognized the wisdom.
the economy and the justice of a system
of retirement for faithful veteran en-
ployes.