The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-03-25

tou dheS EACepllOIlS 10 All Eul-
toriai Appearing in The Republican
Recently In Which the Remarks of
Congressman Davey, of Ohio, Were
Cited Showing the Laxity of Gov
eminent Employees Generally-Our
Correspondent Was Not One of this
Class, However, But He Wants to
Pave The Way So That He May
Pay His Annual Visit to His Gar
rett County Home in Safety Next
Summer.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
United States Patent Office.
Washington, D. c., March 10, 1926
Mr.. BENZ. H. Sincell,
Publisher, The Republican,
Oakland, Nd,
My dear Sir: Enclosed find my
check in payment of subscription.
am also enclosing letter which
l wish you would publish, provided
your conscience will permit. l felt
right hot over the way you and Davey
lambasted Federal employees generally
and I know that l have not done JUS
tice to our side, but it will help some
At least it may pave the way. so that
| may show my face again in Garrett
county next summer at vacation time
The government service appears to
many people like the weather-it is
something to kick about and nobody
does anything towards improving it.
Your remarks may have been true
concerning some of the purely clerical
Offices, such as the Veterans Bureau,
at one time, but you certainly got the
technical and professional bureaus all
wrong.
Sincerely yours,
CHARLES H. SHAFFER.
Mr.. Skaters letter, above referred
to, follows:
To the Editor of The Republican.
Sir:-The statement made by Con-
gresham Davey in the recent issue
of The Republican does gross injus-
tice to the very large number of gov
eminent employees found in the tech
nical and professional service of the
country, such as the Patent Office,
Public Health Service, Geological
Survey and the Bureaus of Mines,
Standards, Chemistry, etc. AS re-
suit of twenty-five years in this SER
vice, | can honestly say that taken as
a whole the employees in these bureaus
are as conscientious, loyal and hard
working as can be found in any other
occupation in the country. AS rule
these employed must pass very rigid
technical examination before appoint
ment, and therefore practically all are
college men; many have also profess
sional degrees.
y The volume of work required of
these bureaus is enormous and rapidly
increasing. 1t is true that many are
chronically behind with their work,
but this state of affairs cannot justly
be charged against the employees, but
rather to the system under which they
operate. The number of employees al
lowed by law are never more than
enough if the whole force was func-
tioning at it's full efficiency, but in
the last decade the force in none of
these bureaus has been up to its theo-
retical efficiency due to a ruinous
turnover. In the Patent Office this
has been especially bad.
In the division of which 1 have
charge there has been an average of
eight assistant examiners during the
past six years and in that time seven
teen have left Some divisions have
Jared worse and some better.
Since the first of this year over
fifty have left the Patent Office, many
of them being from the higher grades.
While an assistant is in training he is
but little help to the Office during the
first year and needs at least three
years to reach his maximum efficien-
cy. This high turnover prevails in
practically all the technical and pro-
fessional bureaus.
Training in these bureaus always
increases ones earning capacity, and
it is this training feature that at
tracts the class of men usually found
for outside work, it is always for
greatly increased compensation, some
times double the government pay. 1t
is TRUE Tile government service mas
many attractions. The work is very
interesting, the hours are reasonable,
the allowance for vacation and sick
ness is liberal and there is a pension
for disability and old age. The admin
istrative heads of these bureaus are
generally high-grade men and they
have done all in their power to hold
their forces intact, but the pay, ex-
cept in the highest grades, is not suf-
ficient to hold the men, especially if
they have children to support and ed
ucate.
The work performed by these bu-
reaus is generally recognized as es-
sential to the industrial life and
health of the nation and hence cannot
be suspended. Upon Congess rests
the responsibility of providing means
whereby they may function in bust
ness-like manner. Even if the present
force in these bureaus were made up
of thoroughly trained employees, it is
not probable that the numbers could
be greatly reduced, but the work
would be kept up to date and the quail
ity would be of much higher order
If Congressman Davey can bring