The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-02-23

Nv.
INCOMPETENTS ARE KEPT
The annual turnover i'll the govern
ment service is something almost in
credible. No business corporation,
however strongly established, could
long endure the heavy annual drain on
its resources. Hundreds of men leave
the government service daily; and
new, unframed people have to be taken
on and taught to do the work. This
costs money, as every employer
knows.
The designations from the govern
ment service are chiefly from the SUI
pervisory and most highly paid posi-
tons and from the very lowest grades.
The men at the top, if they have any
initiative or ability or ambition 10
make Il name for themselves, are of
frred private employment at double
or treble or more what the govern
ment can pay them. The people III
the lowest grades leave for private
employment when opportunity affords
because in too many instances they
actually cannot keep body and sou!
together on their government pay.
1t is the people i'll the middle class
who stay on the longest. The whole
constant process makes for a steady
deterioration in the quality of the
government service and tends to re
tain the mediocre in public employ
ment.
The civil service commission, through
which the great bulk of government
employees are brought into the serv
ice, is acutely aware Of this condition
It's reports give emphasis to the diff
Guilty constantly experienced in secur-
ing and retaining competent employ
ees. The rotation in office has become
increasingly frequent and vitality i'm
pairs the efficiency of the service.
During the war there was Il lower
rate Of turnover in the mechanical
forces than in outside establishments.
The proposition of separations, how
ever, is excessive in clerical, profes-
sional and technical positions, in
which the rate of turnover sometimes
amounts TO third of the force in q
year.
During the nine months preceding
the armistice more than 10000 ap-
pOintmentS We're made in the civil
service and about $4,000 separations
occurred-that is, for every two ap-
pointments made one person left the
service. For a period of similar length
following the armistice only 60 per
cent as many appointments were made,
but there were nearly 33 per cent more
separations. In this period almost as
many positions were vacated as were
filled.
The eXigencieS of the war required
a great expansion of the clerical
forces at Washington and elsewhere
and this was accomplished by labor
turnover several times above normal.
The percentage of destinations of ap-
pointments among eligibles on the CIV
il service register increased in many
instances from 80 to more than so per
cent-that is, more than half the men
and women who successfully passed
civil service examinations and were
offered Jobs under the government re-
fused to take them. 1t is estimated
that more than $4,000 of those who
met the test were appointed during
that time.
The civil service commission says
fatty:
"Those familiar with the federal
service at Washington know that the
service is now hampered by the re-
tention of incompetents whose re-
moval is rendered difficult by influences
which are incompatible with the eff
cheney Of the service. Preferences
and exemptions increasingly clog the
departments with persons who, no
matter how inefficient, are difficult to
remove, and whose retention tends to
destroy the discipline of the service"
Among these inefficients, of course,
are the superannuated and the phys
ically incapacitated. The bureau Of
efficiency estimated, before the pass
age of the approximation retirement
law, the number of employees in the
civil service of the United States sew
enty years Of age and over as follows:
Number
Railway postal clerks. 1877
Rural letter carriers. Observation-Disclosures. Asa
City letter carriers. ...................... 230
Post office clerks. ........................ SS7
Mechanics observation-disclosures. y....... 80
General employees. Dist. Columbia =, Asa
General employees elsewhere. ,613
Total OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 4'693
The commissioner of pensions sup
plies the following compact statement
of the age of the employees in the pen
sion bureau:
Number in the classified civil serv-
ice, 874; age of the oldest employee,
lightweight; number over eighty years
Of age, %; number between sixty-five
and eighty, 266; based on age of sixty
five, number eligible for retirement,
292; percentage of employees eligible
for retirement, 1874 average age of all
employees, July 1, 1919, tifty-eight.
These old men and women bear the