Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-03
Unnecessary Emb7oyes"

!
| licans swept the country last fall
commits the party to rigid economy
| in the administration of the affairs of the
| nation and to the immediate dismissal Of
! the horde Of unnecessary employees" on
the government rolls at Washington. 1t
will be interesting to observe the results
! of the Administration attempts at
| fulfillment of this platform pledge.
On April 1, 1917, there were 37,90S
| government employees engaged in the sew
| eral Executive Departments and Bureaus at
| the National Capital. The advent of the
| war and the necessary activities incident
| thereto increased the demand for clerical
| help. The number Of employees multiplied
| swiftly, and the peak was reached when
| the armistice signed, when the number
! Of employees on the rolls had increased to
! 117,454.
There has been a gradual reduction
| of employees since the armistice. The Dem
ocratic Administration was dispensing with
while the Republicans, in the campaign,
| were making a great fuss about Demo
! cratic extravaganza at Washington.
| The reduction in the number of en-
| ployes at Washington since the armistice
| has averaged 1904 per month, so that at
! the close of 1920 there were S5,159 on the
rolls, a trifle more than twice as many
as on April 1, 1917.
In the natural course of events there
will be other and further reductions in the
number of government employees at Wash
ington, regardless of the attitude Of the in
coming Administration. The Census Bureau,
for instance, now employs about 5000
clerks in winding up it's work incident to
the taking of the last census. The num-
Der, we are told, will be reduced in the
ordinary course, by LOO within the next
year. The railroad administration is go
ing out of business, and it's 1,148 employees
will be removed from the government
rolls within a short time.
If, however, the new Administration ex-
poets to restore the government to a pre-
war basis as regards the employment of
clerks at Washington, it is doomed to fail
ure. 1t never will be possible, and the
Republican platform makers realized this
when they wrote the plank condemning the
Democrats for the army of clerks at Wash
ington.
The reason why there can be no re-
turn to pre-war basis in the employment
Of clerks is obvious. The government has
taken on additional work since April, 1917,
and the performance of this work requires
additional help-lots of it. The War Risk
Insurance Bureau is permanent thing,
and it employs $500 clerks. It's activ-
tiles will not lessen for many years, and
there can be dimunitiOn in the num-
Der of it's clerks without seriously impair
ing it's efficiency.
Then there is the Internal Revenue
Bureau of the Treasury Department. Ma
tionaI prohibition has thrown upon this
Bureau additional work that requires the
Moreover, the Internal Revenue Bureau has
to worry along with the collection of the
income taxes, and in this work the
services of hundreds of additional clerks
are required.
The Board of Vocational Education,
which was not in existence before the war,
now employs upward of 1000 clerks. It's
work will be expanded and this expansion
will require more clerks. The activities
of the Interstate Commerce Commission
were enlarged by the passage Of the trans
portation, act, and its force of employees
has doubled since the armistice.
It is we'll enough to preach retrench-
ment and better still to practice economy,
but the government of the United States is
a going, growing concern, not operated for
financial gain, but maintained for the pro-
lection and benefit of all the people. Its &C
tivities ever are expanding, and the de-
mands upon 1t ever are multiplying It
cannot fulfill it's proper functions with
out adequate aid, and so long as it con-
tinues to live the number of employees at
Washington will continue to increase not
withstanding politicians or political plat
forms.