Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-01-22
SPOILS OF CIVIL SERVICE
DEMANDED BY DEMOCRATS
CONTINUED from Page One.)

congressman in his state, are not the
kind of help he needs. This collec-
tor, as are all collectors, has given
bond. He as we'll as his bondsmen
are concerned about efficiency in his
Office. And Yet one of the pleas for
taking the deputies out of the civil
service was to allow the collectors to
have the deputies they wanted the
collectors give bond, said the Demo-
cratic orators in Senate and House,
and they are entitled to have men
whom they can trust.
But few hundred deputies, more or
less, in the internal revenue service
has only whetted the appetite of the
arriving horde. These crumbs which
President Wilson considerably threw
cut to them encouraged more trips TO
Washington and brought the clamor
right to official doors. 1t was not
quite so annoying to Democrats IN
high places es long as the clamor was
far away To be sure Democratic
congressman besieged the President
and members of his cabinet, but that
had to be endured.
And after many congressional let
ters that only conveyed indefinite
news. the seekers determined to come
right down to the federal seat and
get an answer in person. They felt
that the President was through WITH
the big preliminary tasks and it was
up to-" him to give little thought to
the workers who grunted and sweated
to get him into his present position.
They knew that the big plums had
generally been disposed of and if they
were to have any chance at all it must
be through desperate work right
away.
For ostmasterships.
So the mob of seekers is in Wash
ington. AS already said. there has
been nothing like it since last March.
Literally hundreds of men are here
after the postmasterships. Every
state has some vacancies, existing or
imminent. but the nominations come
slowly. The local contests have been
brought here. The congressman are
advised that the Democrats at home
want these plums and the postoffice
department should hasten to snake
the tree. However, up to date
President Wilson has dispensed
mighty few postal plums for the new
year.
The great hilarity, however, is in the
House. The assault on the civil ser
vice there has been renewed. rms
time it takes the form of demand
that 24OO assistant postmasters be TAX
en- ont of the classified list. The
argument is much as 1t was In case Oh
the internal revenue deputies. Inc
postmasters are responsible, are bond
ed, and must rely much in the hand
ling OF funds upon their assistants
These assistants. of course, are all Re-
publicans. Think of it, 2400 Republl-
cans holding good offices a year after
Democratic President has come into
Office
And these assistant postmasterships
are tolerably good places. One can
hold them and live right at home
The salaries are fair. Here are a few
of them:
Augusta, Maine, $17O0; Boston
$4,000: Chattanooga, Tenn, the home
of Chairman Moon of the House post
office committee. $1,000; Richmond
Va, s25O0; Pierre. S. D., $1,000;
Chicago, $4,000; Sacramento, $500;
Honolulu, $1,000; Columbus, Ohio
| $4,000; Topeka, Kan. $500. But why
name more? The salaries Of assis-
tant postmasters run along in thai
fashion and remember there are 24OC
of them in all throughout the United
SfAfAA