New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-03-18
SEEKERS Of JOBS
THR0NC CAPITAL
FORMER OFFICE HOLDERS AND
"ORIGINAL HARDING MEN" IN
SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE.
LIGHT WORK ATTRACTS THEM
Each One Knows What He Wants, but
Believes Himself Fitted for Any One
of the Thousands Of Positions to Be
Filled.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

oy G6VHnS o. -
WnshingtOn.-The office seeker In
Washington has been the butt of the
humOrists since the days of the pro-
nouncement Of the cynical doctrine
that "To the victor belongs the
spOils."
Already the humOrists are at 1t. One
of them, Mr.. Lardner, has applied for
a best mind" position, In which he an
attend TO the presidential correspond
ence, answer the telephone and press
the presidential pants. This Office
seeking matter, however, is no joke for
the office seekers, or at least II Is no
joke for a majority of them. Ii they
come here well heeled and well solea.
the heeling pertaining to the shoe and
not the pocket, they can walk home.
but many of them. even in the face of
daily mods Of negation, elect TO stay on
here until some friend succeeds in get
tie persuasion and to turn their faces
homewnrd.
Today In Washington looking for
work are some cores of men,. II
women, too, who held Office under for
mer Republican administrations but
lost out when Democracy came into
power. "Once an office holder, always
an office holder or an office seeker" Is
the way that the old Washingtonians
put IT,. Government salaries are not
big. but the work In most instances Is
not very taxing, either to brain or to
body. Perhaps 1t is the latter end OF
this sentence of information which
acts at times as the bait of allurement.
1t would be interesting TO tabulate
the original Harding men who now are
In the Capital city, or who soon will
be here. The original Harding man Is
a multitude; in fact, TO put il the usual
way, he is n host in himself. lie knew
Harding when the President-elect was
a struggling boy, and he always was
convinced that there was the making
of a great man In him.
Each Fitted for Any Job.
There are, or soon viii, be, In the city
for every kind of job from
grave digger at Arlington to that Of
keeper Of the conscience OF the Presi-
dent OF the United States. Every ap-
plicant is entirely fitted, however. for
any kind of job that the kindly au-
thorities are willing TO give unto him.
He can. II the necessity arises. be as
well adapted to untangllng the inter
twined threads of our foreign relations
as he is to humping q typewriter in
the Office of the bureau Of economic in
vestigatlons In the biological survey Of
the Department Of Agriculture of the
States Of America,
Charles Reade, who always was
writing about a~mbldextrous people and
Observation-Disclosures, never had personal
acquaintance with the average WASH
office seeker. II he had known
this particular specimen he could have
gone farther than he did In all his
writings. knowing that fact would
stand forth stanchly as being stranger
than any fiction.
Does anybody think that this is an
absolutely unworthy attack on the
who are seeking to serve their
country under the incoming Republican
administration Not at all, not at all.
An army Of office seekers marches into
The capital and pitches Its tents In the
more or less balmy days Of late Fehru-
iry every four or eight years. and II
not a whit which political par
~ has succeeded In naming the com
mander-in-chief who is TO open head
quarters In the big White House.
The office seekers have had a good
many years now TO get over the stun
hing disappointment which came when
he federal civil service laws and regu-
ations went into effect. There was a
line when every job, from doorkeeper
VI the district morgue TO that Of secre-
airy Of state. was open TO the faithful
who had political strong-armed friends
% lift them into II. Not so today /; |
many. many thousands of the minor
are In the grip of men and wom-
n who will hold on until death compels
he parting. However. there are some
thousands Of jobs still open to the
'aithful.
White Remains as Chairman.
The members of the executive COM
of the Democratic national com
nitiee have met in Washington, com
,leted their work and gone home, and
chairman George White still holds his
with no immediate prospect that
e is to yacate II for another.
The full membership Of the Repub-
Ican national committee will q in
Washington shortly, on March 3 to be
Is VIII II. Hays. the chairman
Z the committee. TO announce his re-
at that timer
Ii Is within the range OF possibili-
II not probabilities, that on the
Of this meeting of the Republican
ational committee the announcement
III be made that Mr.. Hays has been
hosen by President-elect Harding for
be place of postmaster general in the
ext cabinet. VIII Mr.. Hays be Will
~ to act as political chieftain of his
arty and post Office chieftain of the
overnment at the same time?
There has been some little trouble