Evening star., 1933-04-30


Democrats for Republicans
in his department Just as far as the law
allowed. He called to his office. one by
one, the various officers OF the DEPART
ment to discuss the various phases OF
the work and In the course OF the con-
yersations always managed. directly or
indirectly, to discover their political
allegiance. One day he had very
interesting conference with one OF the
specialists on a certain remote part OF
the world. At the end OF the CONVEX
are a Democrat" NO" the oflcer an
swered. Il am Republican" How does
that happen?" the Secretary asked.
well, my grandfather was Republic
an: my father was a Republican; l
was born q Republican, and expect 10
"That is very interesting" Mr.. Bryan
remarked. Most of the people have
talked with appear to be mugwumps OF
at least to have wives who are ardent
Democrats"
There lies the tragedy when q change
Of administration means also cnange
officeholders as for the Government, be-
cause it means, all too often, the SUP.
stitution for trained and competent
men and women of people who have
no idea Of what it IS all about.
Party Must Fill Many Jobs.
There are always positions in the
Government which must be filled by
people Of the Presidents party. Tnose
who direct policy, for example, snoulo
be Democrats during the next Tour
years as they have been Repuplcans
during the last four. The loo OF tne
President of the United states, tne
most exacting in the world, would De
intolerable unless the Presioent NAG
Cabinet in sympathy with his 1deas.
Hc has been elected by the whole
United States, and the people who nave
put his party in power expect MIN 10
carry out the mandate by appointing
uarty associates who will wholehearteo-
ly support his policies. x
These are not the appointments wmcn
hurt the Government. The harm comes
from extending the changes into the
lower ranks, from removing the tooS
with which the higher omcials have 70
work. When q political party IS OUT
of power it is a party. When II IS IN
power it becomes the Government Di
the United States, and its aim should
be to conduct the Government as EN-.
GENTLY as possible and for the GOOD OF
the whole country. Party politics wnlcn
tend to defeat this end are in the long
run bad politics, even from the party
point Of view. ,..
Foreign Service have helped lot, but
not enough. For one thing civil serv-
ant ceases to be a civil servant II ne
is intelligent enough and active enough
in his work to be promoted to some.
where near the top. you were noe
very clever" remarked senator tne
other day to an Assistant Secretary who
had been in his department since 1913.
IT you were you would not nave al,
lowed yourscelf to be promoted M ana :,
then you could have kept your )ob'
This is nothing but penalizing the in
dividual for efficiency and, what IS
worse, depriving the Government Of
the services of its able servants.
Perhaps the best illustration OF this
state of affairs Is the Foreign Service.
A young man enters at the age OF 70.
If he is first class he may reach the
top of the classified service in 20 years.
NAV be a consul general or coun-
selor OF embassy. Clearly 1t Is In the
best interests of the United States that
this man, thoroughly trained, thorough
ly efficient, shall be made a minister.
II he does well as minister, II ne
works vigorously, tactfully, effectively
for the Interests of the United States,
he is again clearly the man to be made
an ambassador. But, unfortunately, as
soon as he is good enough to be q min
lister. and is willing to be appointed q
minister, he ceases, In the eyes OF the
law. to be q service man. He becomes
technically a political appointee and,
when q new administration comes INTO
power, may be dismissed In order to re-
ward a party hack who may nave 70
study an atlas to discover the location
of his post.
Information Not Asked.
have been IA years in the Depart
ment of State, know Of no single
case In which information was request
ed as to the party allegiance OF man
promoted for reasons of efficiency from
the classified service to be minister.
More than half the chiefs OF mission
are today service men who have worked
up from the bottom. Except IN hali
| q dozen cases I have no idea to what
party they belong, and that knowledge
about those half dozen exceptions Il
purely accidental.
# these men were all turned out, In
accord with the statement Of Senator
Long that I'VE want all the jobs we
can get" the immediate loss to the
ediciency Of the work Of the Depart
ment Of State would be incalculable.
Our interests abroad would be in jeop-
ardy. It also would wreck the Foreign
Service because. since the end Of the
war. the idea has been growing that
merit will be protected even II there Is
no law to insure its peotection. Even
worse would be the removal OF all Re-
publicans, retaining only the Demo
| crats. because this would introduce poll
! tics into 0 service which has no rela-