Evening star., 1921-07-26

Of 0FF|CES..LAW
Unsound in Principle, Vicious
in Practice; Hurtful to Ma
tion and Capital in War and
Peace; Helpful to Nobody.
Editorial Correspondence of The Star.
THEODORE w. MOVES.

editorial Correspondence OF Ire SlaI'
THEODORE W. MOVES.
II. =
Employment in local industries of
local people is based on the soundest
principles of efficiency. For example
consider the New England industrial
towns. where whole families are en-
ployed in the same mill. children
profiting in efficiency by the expert
ence and instruction Of their parents.
Suppose the United States should
nationalize the mills of Lynn. and
put its employees engaged in these
mills in the classified service. Under
the apportionment of Offices law, 1t
would discharge the men, women and
children Of Lynn until only Lynn's
fraction of the Massachusetts, quota
remained, and wpuld distribute the
remainder of the positions among
the states of the Union. according to
their population. so many to Oregon,
so many to Florida, so ma1y 10
Texas. Such a course would be idiotic
on the part of a private employer.
Would 1t be any less idiotic because
the employer is Uncle Sam?
Or take the railroads. the nation
alization Of which has been urged as
a practical matter. If they were ma
tionalized would Uncle Sam escape
qualifying for the insane asylum II he
should say: Il cannot under the ap-
portionment Of offices law choose as
my railroad employees the most eff
,;a
of their state allegiance. I must d.
vide my engineers and my conductors
and my porters and my railroad oper-
ativeS in general among the various
states according to their populations.
even If the result Is to bar efficient
Americans who wish the work and to
draft for this employment COM
they happen to live in California or
Wyoming or New Mexico or Florida"
Uncle Sam as a Crazy Employer.
Would 1t not be as logical to divide
offices among Americans according to
the color Of their hair. as red headed.
black-haired or tow-headed. or t.
cording to the shape of their noses as
aquiline or pug. or according to their
church affiliations as Baptist, Meth
odist or Presbyterian?
LIS there nny difference in principle
between rnilrOadinE or cotton mill
workshops Mt Warrington that makes
n principle and method OF employ
nent crisafnally absurd in the one
cave and wise and statesmanlike In
the 0thers -
Summary Of Lava Eviis.
The apportionment Of Offices law (f)
hampers and Injuries the SDSernment
ms employer, assuring Impairment OF
efficiency, violating every business
principle; (2) 1t violates the basic
principles of the merit system (as dis
tinguished from the spoils system) of
employing workers in the nations
in a particular state a condition of
employment by Uncle Sam and bars
him from employing to do his work
the most meritorious and most eff
cient of Americans, irrespective of
whether they hail from north, south.
throw the spoils system and to substi-
tute merit as the sole test Of national
employment, by a miserable compro-
mise this law carries over into the
merit system a relic of the spoils
system. apportioning appointments not
solely on the basis of merit and eff
cheney. but. like spoils of war, among
the states in accordance with their
population strength; 60 1t cOnfers NO
benefit on the congressional repre-
sentatfves of the states, who super
wise the division Of patronage spoil.
Patronage is not an element of
strength but of weakness. 1t has
been aptly said that the appointing
power in selecting or indorsing one
official out of dozen candidates
makes eleven enemies and one in
crate: 90 1t is not ON the whole a
blessing to appOintees from remote
States, whom it demands, when bet
states are available. These states.
remote fom the capital. whose quotas
are untitled, are in the sections of
great opportunities, high wages. in
spring prospects. 1t Is no benefit or
kindness to the young man of such a
state to remove him from the activi-
ties and opportunities of home to
Thus the apportiOnment law benefits
neither Uncle Sam nor the congress
siOnal patronage dispenser nor the
recipient OF Oface spOils from the re-
mote state with its untitled quota.
This method Of appOrtiOninE Offices
In dOubly cursed. 1t blesseth neither
him who gives nor him who takes,
(5)sit is cruelty unjust to the capital
community, to whose youth it denies
local means of self-support in en-
ployments which in other cities
go naturally to the extent needed to
the youth Of the local community.
Repeal in Districts Interest.
Repeal, in the interest Of the Dis
trict. the apportionment Of Offices law.
so that the youth Of Washington, II
the most meritOri0us Of all applicants,
may have ready access to the govern
ment departments and workshops
which for Washington take the place
of Iron mills in Pittsburgh and the
cotton. woolen and shoe factories Of
many New England cities. Congress
by its policy Of discouraging COM
merce and manufactures at the cap
ital excludes all other great factories
and workshops than its own, and then
by the apportionment. of Offices law
"a relic of the old spoils system) shuts
out the growing youth of the city
from the classified service and from
access to the only local means of self
support Of this kind which it permits
to exist. In the nations city national
workshops are local. Warrington IL
the only community in the world
where employment OF the local youth
in the local workshops, instead Of be-
hing encouraged, II prohibited, where
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