Evening star., 1923-03-04

Before the civil service rules. based
on the apportionment of offices law,
were strictly
Washingtonians in enforced'"ash-
=, ingtonians OBJ
the Departments. tanned a fair
percentage of positions in the gov
ernment departments in this city.
Some of the spoilsmen objected, no
tably Gen. B. +. Butler. To some of
his observations The Star in its is
sue of February 25. 1878, rejoins:
Gen. Butler pays an unintentional
compliment TO the intelligence o.
citizens OF the District of Columbia
when he asserts that most of the Va
cancies occurring in the departments
are filled by them. These positions
are filled by competitive examinations
participated in by persons from all
parts of the United states. and If our ,
citizens distance all other competitors
II is certainly creditable not only to
themselves, but to the District. These
examinations are conducted without
reference to states or territories and
their object is to secure the best men
and women. morally and mentally.
But we suspect the District is credit
ed with more than it's share OF clerks
dredS of persons here from the states
who are only temporary residents.
but who, since they live here, write
themselves as belonging to the Dis
trict of Columbia Many of these re-
tain homes In the states from which
they have come and expect sooner or
later to return to them. Such as these
can hardly be set down as bona fide
residents of the District and ought to
be credited to the states where they
q ~
casiona1ly attack the civil service re-
form to crafty the clamorouS por- .
ton of their constituents, but proba-
bly, the majority are secretly rejoiced
at the interposition OF a bar TO the
opportunities of their office seeking
friends
The question of the completion %
the Washington Monument, which
stood for many years
COMPLETION of in an unfinished con-
,r. dition because of tho
Ao"u'' failure of funds from
private sources. was agitated at this
time fifty years ago and finally Con
gress took up the matter and pro
, vided for the assumption of the work
by the United States. In The Star OF
February o6, 1873, is the following:
1.-The select House committee OF
thirteen on the Washington Monu-
ment Gen. n. y. Chipman chairman.
finding 1t impossible to get the foor'
this session, have addressed letter
to the, committee on appropriations
of the Senate. stating that the honor
of the nation demands of Congress
some aid toward the completion of
the Monument by the approaching
centennial and asking that COMMITTEES
to report an amendment to the Sen
ate to the miscellaneous appropria-
ton bill. appropriating 100000 to be
expended under the direction of the
President of the United States, after
having first caused an examination tS
be made of the foundation of the
Monument. The select committee are
satisfied that with this aid the society
could readily raise sufficient funds to
complete the Monument. There is no
doubt that aslarge majority in both
the Senate and House favor such an
appropriation, and We hope 1t may ba
made
1t was not until later that the mat
ter was finally taken up and nut
through, but it was not then ON the
basis or an aiding appropriation, but
with the government assuming the
fuil burden of the cost. The eXamina
ton OF the foundation. proved thar
extensive changes would have to be
maze 10 insure a perfect stability.aud
the old foundation was taken ont. hi
by bit. under the direction OF the la,e
Col. Thomas L. Casey (afterward gen
eral and chief of engineers of tbs
Army, who replaced it with a much
larger and stouter footing. Ths
Monument was. completed in -seasont
t@be edsdieated AebruaEX 22. 1856.