The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-06-01
By EDWARD G.LowRY
Copyright. western Newspaper Union
XXII.
WHY GOOD MEN QUIT

|
Go today into the Treasury depart
ment, the Department of Agriculture
the Department of Commerce, or into
any other establishment of the govern
ment doing important technical work.
and they will tell you that their chic:
difficulty Is to retain competent EN-.
ployees In the supervisory and tech
nical positions. Their turnover is ai
normally high in these positions.
Every day men leave the servic,
to accept private employment at ma
terially increased salaries, so that til,
departments are continuously go,n.
through process of selecting anc
training executives and technical EN-.
ployees, only to lose them, as they he
come really valuable on account o
the inadequacy of their compensation.
The second factor which contrib
| utes to the present ineffectiveness os
| the government as business estab
lishment is found In the improper or
| ganization of the executive branch of
the government for effective service
You are familiar at least in genei:n
way, with the defects of the present
administrative machinery.
You know for example, that the IT.
terror department now has jurisdiction
over n great number of bureaus of n
miscellaneous character that have
nothing to do with each other or with
the functions which the Interior de.
partnent was originally established 10
perform.
You know that many agencies have
been located in the Treasury depart
ment, the great fiscal department oI
the government, which are purely not.
fiscal In character, such as the coast
guard, the public health service. the
supervising architects office and til,
bureau of war risk insurance.
You know that the great bulk Of
the civil public works of the govern
ment are executed under the super
vision Of the War department, although
the bureau of public roads is located
In the Department of Agriculture. and
the reclamation service in the Depart
ment of the Interior.
You know, furthermore of the in
dependent existence outside the juris-
diction of any of the great execut, Z
commissions, offices and bureaus
These are merely examples of con
dition that would require volumes to
describe fully. but it is generally
known that the executive branch of the
government is at the present time H.
logically and uneconomically ors;in-
lied in many important particulars.
| 1t should be remembered, however.
that even with an ideal personnel AID
perfect organization 1t Is doubtful
If the high degree of economy and
efficiency that characterizes private
business can ever be attained in the
government offices. This is SO because
economies made by government Off
cials are not transformed Into divi-
dends for themselves as they are i'll
private business.
There Is an impression in congress
and throughout the country that men
of great ability are not found, in gov
ernment service; that the salaries are
| not sufficient to attract and hold them.
On the contrary, there are great
many people of distinguished ability
| In the government service. One is
more nnd more impressed by that fact.
especially since the war sent to WASH
ingtOn SO many men of large MEALS
| and famous names with whom tile
government employees could be com
pared The comparison was time ana
again to the advantage of the govern
ment employee. But the salaries are
not the attraction; it is the work il
self. This is well understood by some
eminent observers OF public life. See
retary of State Hughes declared him
self as follows before the advisor!
committees of the war risk insurance
bureau:
1t has been my experience that with
the higher officers, the officers of greater
institutions. where efficiency is REWARDED
by public representation-while the field
is a limited one because of the great op-
portunity to men of ability-it is still en-
tirely possible to draw to the public serv-
Ice men of great ability and distinction.
because of the desire to render public
service, and the number OF men who are
available for that purpose, while rela
lively small. is still sufficient II the ap-
pointing officer wants men of that class.
In order to obtain them. however, he
must give free field. He must not i-
terfere as to political action to control
administration tendencies and must per
NIT them to be given the reward which
a well-conducted Office of Importance will
give to its incumbent in the public esti-
nation.
Now the difficulty increases when you
pass those heads that get the credit and
come to the technical expert who has
got to do the regular work and upon
whose efficiency the operation of the de-
partment finally depends. These men are
little known. The public hasn't time even
to learn their names. They are interested
In work to a degree of being willing to
make sacrifices.
There is active competition for men of
brains and great ability of that sort. and
the government will never be served un-
less 1t pays the price for those men. Now
1 think that is a plain situation. You