The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsKIN. DIRECTOR
Washington. ID. c.
RALLY ROUND THE PLUM TREE

L
Washington, D. c.. March 25.-'I
have decided to knock off little
plum said the young man who had
tried the newspaper business, the real
estate business and two or three other
| businesses, and found them all some
how unsuited to his peculiar talents.
His most obvious talent was for Gull
| tivating stand-ins with the great and
the acknowledgement. He knew the
| time had come to cash in on all the
small favors he had done for rising
| politicians, all the smiles he had
| smiled and the hands he had shaken.
And he is by no means lonely in
| that intention. A crowd is gathered
about the plum tree of political prefer
ment, waiting eagerly for the ripe
fruit which is about to fall. The old
timers say that never has the crowd
| of officeseekers, both those who come
| to Washington or are already there,
and those who stay in their home
towns and work by mail and by proxy,
i been SO great as it is this year.
You have to go back to 1912 in
order to find a comparable condition,
for in 1916 the war in Europe made
conditions somewhat abnormal. In
1912 it is said that as soon as Wilson
was elected the Democratic national
pcommittee had no less than 10000
letters from applicants for jobs. At
that time there were in the gift of the
president only 10.064 positions, the
other 262,6OS government jobs being
in the classified service.
There are no similar figures avail
able for this year, but it may safely
be said that the general condition is
about the same. There are LIS or 20
times as many applicants for jobs as
there are jobs. Each of these is val
iantly determined to sacrifice his pri-
vate life and career for the good of
the country No wonder there is a
scramble. No wonder no administra-
ton ever gets down to business until
the pie is all distributed and the bowls
of the disappointed have subsidized.
Varieties of Job Seekers.
The varieties of these job hunters
would be hard to catalog. They vary
all the way from rich men to crown
their careers with diplomatic appoint
ments, to staunch Republicans of long
standing who want to be rewarded for
their loyalty by places as watchmen or
| elevator operators in the capitol build
] ings. Every sort of claim and obliga-
| ton is brought forward. 1nnumerable
letters of endorsement and introduce
ton are passed around. Years of time
are wasted. And after it is all over,
| only a few per cent of the applicants
can be accommodated, and then an
enormous crop of bad feeling, with a
baleful influence upon many a politi-
cal career, is the most obvious result
of this process of selecting the de-
serving.
The proper method of getting q
| political job has become almost stand
ardized. You should make it clear
early in the game that you rank high
| among the faithful and the deserving.
You must be highly and copspicu-
ously active in a political way. Then
you must BE prominently mentioned.
Get any good friend. or several OF
them to do this work. Here you can
| afford to aim high. For example, II
! will do no harm to let a little report
| be circulated that you have been men
toned for cabinet place or a high
mentioned in a speech at the local
citizens association meeting. 1t may
even get into the local paper. In this
and other like ways you will gradually
get yourself recognized as one of those
who is to be taken care of. You will,
at the right time, apply formally for
a clerkship worth about four thou
sand year, and in due course will be
| appointed to a responsible position in
the folding room at two thousand.
Personal and political loyalty are
| the great considerations. Efficiency
4
absolute essential for any man who
would rise in American politics is that
| he show great loyalty to his friends
and fine sense of personal obligation
This may not make for efficiency In
| the government service, but 1t gives
/ atmosphere, and it produces some
startling changes in personal destiny
Making a Diplomat.
| certain
| secretary of state who had an ole
| friend in little town in the west. He
was under some deep personal obl1ga-
ton to his old friend, who was a typi'
cal small town lawyer. When the
secretary of state took his position, il
was fully understood by both of them
that the old friend should have al
most anything he wanted. As it hap.
| pened he wanted nothing for himself
But he had son. This son had beer
thru high school and had sold soap II
| Mexico and Central America. The ole
friend wanted his son appointed to 9
diplomatic post in Latin America. II
was Immediately promised. The Ole
friend got lot of literature on Latlr
America and after devoting a whole
Sunday afternoon to the matter, NJ
chose a Central American post wh1cf
| maid $4,000 a year and seemed to have
| a pretty good climate. His son, In dut
course, went there as minister. Ane
the funny part of it is that he mad'
a pretty good diplomat as America
diplomats go, and has risen in tn
service. OF course a good many sucf
stories could be told that do not hav'
SUCH happy endings.
In general, the patronage pusheS
is certainly an unhappy one. ASK an,
newly-elected congressman. There arr
posts for which he has hundred ap
plicants. To appoint the wrong mai
may mean his defeat. To appoint AM
man means to make ninety-nine mer
Ianerv. Indeed, many promising
career in congress is wrecked simply
by the accumulated animosities OF dis
appointed seekers after favors-
For the congressman to push as1d'
personal and party claims and choos'
whom he considers the best man, Il
impossible-thati is. If he hopes for re
election. There are personal friend
who must be cared for There ar
staunch. lifelong party men who mus
| he Worst of all. there ar