The Washington times., 1935-11-16
EDUCATOR HITS
SP0ILS JOBS
IN SERVICE
By J. EARLE MoSER

when men are i'll, they sum.
mon to their aid trained diagnoS-
tician; when q bridge Is to be
built, they employ q competent
engineer but when q Govern
ment office becomes vacant, they
maintain that almost anyone Is
competent to fill it."
Revealed in the November issue
Of "The Federal Employee" and
including the above logic, is .
singing attack on the SpoilS SyS-
TENS inroads into Government
service from the pen Of DR.. L. D.
Coffman, president Of the Univer-
sity of Minnesota, and chairman
of the committee Of inquiry on
Civil Service personnel.
DR.. Coffmen's article, delivered
verbally some time ago to the At
lantic City meeting Of the National
Education Association, rapS pat
ronage, in part, as follows:
"Just as long as we permit clever
politicians, or selfish pressure
groups, to prostitute public vel
fare for private gain, the eco
nomic losses this country will Suf.
fer will be enormous. The so-called
honest CRATER who keeps him.
self in power by dispensing patron
age, is a lecherouS parasite on the
body polite not only does the
spoils system waste public money,
It drives ambitious and capable
young men away from public
office. Worst Of all, it disenfran-
chises and endangers democracy
ITSELF"
In his article the educator cites
the Representative who wrote
iva officials 1900 letters Of in
dorsement for constituents, saying
in each that he knew the con.
stitutent personally and knew him
to be well qualified for the job
sought. What q commentary this
is on American politicS!" he writes.
"The Federal Employee" is the
official organ of the National Fed.
Grafton Of Federal Employees, dis
tributed throughout the country
and to many Federal stations in
foreign lands.
Although AAA has sufficient
space" something unusual for any
agency or office to admit these
days, the problem of stacking files
so that workers can get them
grows daily. T. Weed Harvey. as
Sistant administrator. pointed
out today that a million contracts
take up at least q half acre, not
including moving space to get at
them. AAA now takes up four 10
cations, most workers being at the
Old Post Office site. others toiling
at the South Agriculture Building,
e08 independence Ave. s. W.. and
S07 E st. N. W.
The Agriculture employees hous.
ing venture has now signed up A
people who will build homes at
Braddock Heights, Va, near Alex
andria, and it is not expected that
any more will be arranged for
until next spring, according to Of
ficialS Of the housing committee.
A $4,000 minimum salary Is re-
quired. It is understood that the
entire setup will be formed into .
legal corporation within q few
days.
This evening provides two at
ractive dances, sponsored by EN-.
ployeS Of Uncle Sam. Under the
auspices Of their athletic aSsocia.
tion, j. Edgar Hoover's Bureau Of
Investigation personnel will trip
the fantastic il the new Chamber
Of Commerce ballroom, while at
the Washington Hotel the Internal
Revenue unit of the A. F. G. e. is
to hold its initial ball Of the win
ter season. Arrangements for the
latter fete were handled by Walter
Wilson, IneZ JuStuS, Henry c. Her,
Grady Nail, Addison Hester and
Marguerite Hughey.
The scrap between Harry B.
Mitchell, president Of the Civil
Service Commission and e. Claude
Babcock, A. F. G. E. leader, over
college emphasis in general and
the recent student highway en-.
gineer test in particular, con-
dnues. Mr.. Babcock has sent a
second letter to CongreSSmen,
who seem to have been nom.
mated, willy-nilly, as referees, in
which it is said:
"Mr. Mitchell, president Of the
Civil Service Commission, de-