Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-01-06
Frederic HasLin's Letter
CIVIL SERVICE FACES COLLAPSE

States. This bufeau gives its best
men leave Of absence to- 80 TO for
eigll countries and do work for
other governments and for private
concerns 20 that they may make
enough money to return to the
United States and do the work OF
the American government.
Ono government bureau, in order
to make it, case clear to the reclas-
sifcation commission. studied the
fortunes OF eight OF its best men
for Z period Of years before and
after the war. This study showed
that their earning capacity actually
rose until about 1914. 1t then be-
gan to decline 10 that they are now
earning less than they did in 1872,
30 far as power to buy the necess,-
ties OF life Is concerned.
Another study has been made OF
/, 900 technical men who have left
tho government service. 1t show3
that nearly all Of them have at
least doubled their incomes, and
many have multiplied them by
three.
You may find this hard to believe,
but the work of the government IL
done very largely by men who are
losing money to do it. II every
technical man in government en-
ploy who has been offered . better
job outside the government should
accept tomorrow, and leave, the
government work would collapse.
There are many instances OF men
working for $500 or $4,000 q year
who have refused salaries ranging
from $1,000 to $4,000 = year, be-
cause they wanted to see through
jobs which they had undertaken, or
because they were deeply interest
ed In their work. But these mo-
tives cannot be relied upon to hold
an organization together and the
government organization is rapidly
going to pieces.
These facts and instances speak
for themselves. Little amplihca-
ton Is needed. It should be OK
planned, however, that the govern
ment organization in Washington
consists Of about 100000 individ-
uals, all of whom are underpaid.
OF these about $500 are technical
and professional men. It II with
these men, and not with the clerks,
that this article deals, These tech
nical and professional men are the
brains of the government-the
clerks are its arms and legs. Tie
quality Of the service which your
government renders to you depends
largely upon the quality Of the
brains with which it Ais its tech
meal. professional and admins
trative positions.
The activities Of the government
are constantly expanding. 1t now
advises and aids some industries
such as agriculture. 1t operates
others such as the railroads and
the national forests and the postal
system. over others it exercises a
large degree of control. It is q
growing machine which touches the
lives of every one of us. Some OF
US think it ought : to grow still
more, and Others think its activi-
ties ought to be curtailed. But no
one, presumably, thinks it ought to
collapse. Whatever the amount of
work it does, We agree that 1t
should be>a good machine. But 1t
is no longer a good machine, and it
is getting worse all the time. There
is only one reason for this. The
people Of the United States are not
paying their employees enough
money. They not only pay too lit
tie to obtain first class, or even
second class, employees. They de-
not pay enough to retain the se-v
ices of anyone permanently. The
government service has become a
place to which men come for a
little while and then 90, leaving
work at loose ends. 1t is a place
where youngsters experiment and
complete their Quotations, and
where old men, who no longer care
for change, doze in their chairs. Il
no longer offers life career to q
man of first-rate abilities.
Congress has appointed . com.
mission to look into this state 81
affairs. The commission has held
hearings and it has heard the facts
There is every reason TO believe
that the commission will recon-.
mend extensive increases in govern.
ment salaries. There is not much
reason to believe that congress vii!
act upon its recommendations. "Ad
ministrative economy" IL a planl
which will appear in the platform:
of both great political parties
Fair salaries for government EN-
ployes" is plank which will no
appear in either-at least, not un
less the people can be convince
that their government machine i.
going to rack and ruin, and con