Evening star., 1925-06-21
WATCHING THE GOVERNMENT
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

Watch the Government and report
the facts" is the slogan that has been
adopted by the newly organized Civil
Service League of the District of Co.
lumb The quotation is credited 10
Will Rogers, and surprise has been
expressed that so serious an orga MIA
tion as the league should turn to the
we'll known ariat-thfowing humorist
for inspiration. BY way OF explana-
tion. story is told Of how Rogers
happened to make the statement
II seems that Rogers recently had an
interview with President Coolidge. in
the course Of which the President is
said to have rema rked that he didn't
see how Rogers thought up all his
funny stories.
II don't Mr.. President" Rogers re-
piled. Il watch the Government and
report the facts"
IN an address delivered on the occa =
sion of the launching of the local
league by Robert Catherwood. the
head of the National Civil Service Re.
form League. may he found some of
the reasons a humorist can get mate
rial by watching the Government. for
IT discloses the fact that Uncle Sam in
conducting the biggest business insti-
tuition in the world, is in some respects
so unbusinesslike as TO be weird, if
not funny.
Widely Varying Salaries.
For instance, there are Government
employees who do the same work, but
are paid widely, varying salaries, rang.
ing all the way from extremely liberal
remuneration to starvation wages. In
one case, As different salaries were
paid for precisely the same work. with
difference of $4,000 a year between
the hest paid and the worst paid en-
ploye.
Again. there is no system of promo.
tton In the Federal service. strange as
mat statement may sound to any pri.
Vate employer. With Jeffersonian n
simplicity" says Mr.. Catherwood the
aspiring Federal employe merely uses
all the influence he can bring to bes
TO get better job or higher pay. This
Is the Federal promotion lack of sys-
tenn. innocent of principle and un-
adorned"
Still again, a the committee on ad
ministration OF the Civil Service
League points out. when a Govern
ment department calls upon the Civil
service Commission to supply it with
a mechanic there is no telling whether
it will get man qualified to paint a
roof. build house. operate machip
cry or stop leak in the departmental
water pipes. This is due to the fact
that under the classification plan set
up. by the Federal Personnel Board
The class mechanic" includes engine.
men, carpenters. painters and plumb
ers.
Aid Nather Than Criticize.
In watching the Government and
reporting the facts it is the purpose of
the new organization to be helpful
and constructive rather than to criti.
cfze or to attack. 1t Is desired to aid
Uncle Sam in getting his immense es-
adjustment on more thoroughgoing
business basis and in bringing about
uniformity and efficiency in his rela-
tions with his army of employees.
And 1t is an army whose services he
ommards-almost a million strong,
To be exact, the figures are 970,744.
and civil service reformers insist that
OF the number only IA have to do
with politics or judicial decisions,
while all the others should be free Of
politics In every way, shape and form.
The President. the Vice President.
10 cabinet officers. POI Judges. ss
United States Senators and 435 Rep.
| resentatives comprise the 744 political
officials.
OF the 100000 non n-politicia ms, as Mr..
! are soldiers, sailors and marines, and
| zoe, 900 are employed in Government
| business operations, including $50, ,0OO
postal employees, and in the War and
Navy Departments and the Veterans
! Bureau $4,000 workmen and clerks
| There ars 5000 employees in the Cana
Zone and some $4,000 in the Philip:
| pines. -r
Biggest OF Industries.
Take the first half dozen biggest
| industrial concerns in the country
put them together. and the United
States is a bigger Industrial concern
than the lot of them" says the ma
tional leader of the. civil service re
form forces. The Government builds
and maintains ships. aeroplanes, dams
| highways, ports, waterways, harbors
public buildings. bridges, fortif1cA
tions and penal and charitable institu
| tions, and manufactures list Of 70, 0,00C
articles from apple Jelly to zyIophilo
| CYSTIC specimens.
THE Government is the biggest
banker, the biggest bond house, the
largest carpenter. power concern
dredser. cement user. printer and
photographer in the country. The com
bined faculties Of Harvard. Yale
princeton, Michigan, Chicago, North