The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-03-07
Copyright. Western Newspaper Tn
XXIN~
VIEW OF THE EMPLOYEE

XXIEr~
! VIEW OF THE EMPLOYEE
The obvious solution OF the govern
ment's employment problem is tht
| standardization and readjuStment Ot
salaries. TO be scientific, such re
adjustment must rest upon careful
reclaSsificatiOn Of the service. Con
GitianS are very different now. bOtf
in regard to the functions of offices
and the cost of living, from what they
were when positions in the govern
ment service were first classified and
salaries assigned to those positions
1t struck me that an interested party
in this inquiry into how the govern
ment conducts its business was the
employee himself. He ought to know
from actual daily experience some
thing about the mechanism of the
national business and the relations be
tween the working force and employer.
It was clearly impossible to talk to
The more than 500, 600 men and women
%ho work for the government but
learned that between $4,000 and co.
tsU of them are banded together in an
association called the National Fedora
lion of Federal Employees. 1t is a
regular labor union, and is affiliated
with the American Federation of
Labor. 1t includes all classes of gov
emment workers, technical and
scientific men, as we'll as clerks and
GnSkiled workers.
| asked the president of this EN-
pIoyees' union, Luther c. Steward, if
he and his associates were authorized
to speak for all its membership. He
assured me that they We're.
SO asked him to tell me about the
conditions of government employment
and how the business was carried on.
am glad l did, for what he told
me discloses not only facts, but a
state Of mind existing among the en-
ployeeS which necessarily must be
taken into account in any conSidera-
ton of the efficiency and management
of our common business. Here then
is what the employees, who speak
through Mr.. Steward, have to say, and
the constructive program they present
for the Improvement of the service:
The civil service on its human side
consists of about 100000 men and
women engaged in the operation of an
patched-up machine. Be
cause of the durability of it's vital
parts and the faith and ability of the
mass of the operatives the machine
still functions. But the parts are
lll-ttted, and many of them are de-
fective. The managers and superin-
tendents of the establishment, being
too often chosen for political reasons,
are frequently inexpert, and the operat-
ing system is clumsy and disjointed
The employees are recruited under |
a law which provides a test of |
qualifications, and probably nine-tenths
IF the rank and file have satisfactorily |
passed the entrance test. But the |
better positions, say from $1,000 up |
ward, are usually occupied by political |
lppOntees. Another considerable |
group of employees get their appoint
nents by executive order, waving
ivil-serYice tests of fitness.
The newcomer in the service, there
ore, finds himself up against a mini
mum of opportunity for promotion,
With the diSheartening knowledge that
he advancement which is earned by
competence is all too likely to be given
o the friend or political supporter of
|
wishes to pay a political debt. And
he employee is subject to dismissal
t the will Of the executive Of his de-
unless he can bring sufficient
'olitical influence to bear
In other words, the civilservice law
s not backed up by enforcing power in
he Civil Service commission. It
merely recruits the applicants for en-
rance. Thereafter the employees
ate is largely a matter of his own
uck and negative passive merit. There
5 no system by which he may be
tied to the job, and no protection
gainst dismissal, unless the employee
:mSelf can show that the reason is
Official or religious. "For the good
+ the service" as the law reads, |
overs every other charge which the
Executive official may bring. There is
o court of appeal.
Such is the oppressive incentiveless,
itiating atmosphere of the govern
lent service. 1t STILES initiative,
ruStrateS ambitions and reduces the
lass of employees to a more or less
assive state, which is permeated by
sense of fear.
lii such an atmosphere, naturally
nough, the physical conditions of en-
l0yment are far from what they
lould be, and the government loses !
ficiency, as does any other employer
here the wage scale is inadequate
nd unstandardZed, where sanitary
1nditions are bad and hours of work
- long and irregular.
The wage scale is so low that the
jVil Service commission has difficulty !
securing properly qualified appli-
,ntS, and throughout the service the
lrnCver is high. Employees doing
10 same kind Of work often receive