The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-06-22
XIV.
VIEW OF THE EMPLOYEE

VIEW OF THE EMPLOYEE
The obvious solution of the govern
ment's employment problem is the
Standardization and readjustment Of
salaries. To be scientific. such re-
adjustment must rest upon a careful
reclassiflcation of the service. Con-
dltions are very different now, both
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.
1t was clearly impossible to talk to
the more than 000O men and women
who work for the government, but I
learned that between $4,000 and co.
600 of them are banded together in an
association called the National Fedora
ton of Federal Employees. , 1t is a
regular labor union, and is aff1liated
with the American Federation of
Labor. 1t includes all classes of gov
ernment workers, technical and
scientific men, as well as clerks and
unskilled workers.
asked the president of this en-
ployees' union, Luther G. Steward, II
he and his associates were authorized
to speak for all its membership. He
assured me that they were.
So I asked him to tell me about the
conditions of government employment
and how the business was carried on.
1 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-
tion 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
antiquated patched-up machine. Be-
cause of the durability of its vital
parts and the faith and ability Of the
mass Of the operatives the machine
still functions. But the parts are
ill-f1tted, 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
Of the rank and file have satisfactorily
passed the entrance test. But the
better positions. say from 5000 up
ward. are usually occupied by political
appointees. Another considerable
group of employees get their appoint
ments by executive order, waving
civil-service tests of fitness.
The newcomer In the service there
fore, finds himself up against a mimi
mum Of opportunity for promotion.
with the disheartenlng knowledge that
the advancement which is earned by
competence Is all too likely to be given
some congressman or executive who
wishes to pay political debt. And
the employee is subject to dismissal
at the will Of the executive Of his de-
partment, unless he can bring sufficient
political influence to bear.
In other words, the civil-service law
is not backed up by enforcing power in
the Civil Service commission. 1t
merely recruits the applicants for en-
trance. Thereafter the employees
fate is largely matter of his own
luck and negative passive merit There
Is no system by which he may be
fitted to the job, and no protection
against dismissal, unless the employee
himself can show that the reason is
political or religious. "For the good
Of the service" as the law reads,
covers every other charge which the
executive official may bring. There is
no court of appeal.
Such is the oppressive. incentiveless,
vitiating atmosphere Of the govern
ment service. 1t STILES initiative,
illustrates ambitions and reduces the
mass Of employees to q more or less
passive state. which is permeated by
sense of fear.
In such an atmosphere, naturally
enough. the physical conditions of en-
ployment are far from what they
should be, and the government loses
efficiency. as does any other employer
where the wage scale is inadequate
and unstandardized, where sanitary
conditions are bad and hours Of work
too long and irregular.
The wage scale Is so low that the
Civil Service commission has difnculty
In securing properly qualified appli.
cants, and throughout the service the
turnover Ia high. Employees doing