The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-05-18

| ScdnudlS unllI ne IOunu nlf1SciI III hdu- sas City shortly before the war, about ready to leave the government service. Meanwhile the idea. of unionizing the government employees had been getting attention. President Roosevelt had issued his gag order, by which fed eral employees were forbidden to peti- ton members of congress or any one else when things went wrong. Their complaints could only go through the regular routine, which, as Steward says
 What Regular Routine Meant
 Usually meant that the man who had done the wrong was asked to un- ] do it."
 President Taft followed with an- other edition of the ''gag" rule, the American Federation of Labor took a hand, the La Follette4Lloyd amend ment, was tackled to an appropriation bill which Steward calls the Magma 1 Chatta of the unionized employees. 1t looked as though the issue were a burn ing one. but it didn't burn, as Steward says. Employees are just as limp and apathetic as the rest of us are. That particular wrong haying been lighted, no one worried about other wrongs. l Then W. c. Borland, at that time mem Der of congress from Missouri, began began to try to add the so-called Bor- land amendment to appropriation bills. I 1t made eight hours the minimum day s work, every day, for federal employees in the District of Columbia.
 Tt wasn't fair" says Steward. There are loafers in tie district | force, of course, but so there are in every force. The Borland theory was that the district employees were all loafers, which was pure libel"
 Employes' FOe. Beaten Steward found that as an employe ] in the field--he was at that time in Kansas City-he was no longer the dis franchised object he had been in the district. He joined the Central Labor Union as delegate from his local lodge of Federal Employees, and Bor- land was beaten for renonination in a district he though he owned. Then the war came and Steward was order ed to Washington to direct "a phase 0f the governments work. The Federal Employeg scattered locals were made into national organization through 1 the efforts of the A. K. L., and Stew ard was made its first vice president. The president went to war, and Stew ard succeeded.
 T didn't want the job," said he. But it was put up to me and after trying for six weeks to find some one who would take it and failing, I took | it myself l didn't mind the bricks. "
 Enough about Steward. But there is more to say of his conception of the Federal Employes' Union. It was I through the influence of the union that the reclassificatidn bill was enacted, by which federal positions are elassi- | fled by duties. It carries also an in- crease in salaries, which is highly pleasing to the employees, of course, and will go into effect on July 1 of 1 this year, 60 far as the District of Columbia is concerned.
 l Steward Voices Union View
 The employees in the field will be view, as voiced by Steward, is that this is not a selfish measure, enacted for the benefit of the employees.
 Our view is that the people should be educated to regard the serice of the | n | Tt should be properly compensated, 1 Pay can never be given on equality with the salaries afforded in commer- cial life, nor do we ask this. There are other features in the government service which compensate for deficl- ency in pay.
 sBut the government business should be regarded as a profession. It IS utterly unlike work in private estab- l ishments. Our union has never sought to save q job for a lOafer, or to keep men on the payrOol after the need for the activities has abated. Urges Proper Training
 Our administrators should be pre- perly trained. Are the army and navy the only government services that are worth while? Promotion should be encouraged upon merit. At present it is too much like q game of lice. We should have school in which civil servants might be educated. At pres ent Alice in Wonderland would seem a far better handbook of practise than is issued by many government adminis- trators" And he says one more thing
 We are doing a thing unique in the history of the world" says ne. "This is the only time on record when body of public employees set about improving the quality of government service. Remember that: We're tRy- ing to get better work as well as better pay"
 The reason why he never cared boot for job was that he never thought of job as just a mealticket. A job was something to take pride in. Not merely . point of contact with the