Milford chronicle., 1939-03-31
ECONOMIC HIGHLlCHTS
HAPPENINGS THAT AFFECT THE DINNER
PALS DIVIDEND CHECKS AND Tax
Bills OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL
National and International Problems
Ir5eParabis from Local Weifaye

: PS' 't"ht news OiIch ldllS 10 make TN
front page. This was demonstrates
a short time ago when the Presi
dent appointed a commission to stu
dy the subject of a federal career
service. In the words of a team O
Washington columnists, Alison anC
kintneE this should "shine like th,
traditional good deed in a naughty
world. Yet, instead of shining, Il
has passed strangely unnoticed."
Bureaucracy, in the view of most
; political economists, is the impos.
Ing barrier that stands square and
unmoving in the way of any move
ment to reform and improve the ad.
ministrative side of government
And bureaucracy is the direct result
OF our long-entrenched patronage
system. whereby politicians in power
pay off their obligations and indi-
rectly or directly feather their own
nests by appointing their friends
and hackers, and their sisters and
their cousins and their aunts. to fed
eral jobs. II has been believed in
Washington for some time that the
President has been thinking about
ways and means OF doing something
atcut tearing down this barrier, and
establishing all American career
service patterned more or less after
the justly-famed British civil SER
vice. The appointment of the COM
mission seems to be a tangible start
toward this end.
The job this commission has been
given requires first calibre minds.
And it has them. II consists of two
members of the Supreme Court.
Justices Reed and Frankfurter; the
Attorney-General. Frank Murphy;
well-known industriallst, General
Wood of Sears-Roebuck; a distin-
guished engineer, GanO Dunn; for
mer civil service commissioner,
Leonard White, and a Treasury ad-
ministrative expert, W. Fl. Mercy
nOlds. All of these men, it is said,
have long been interested in im-
proving the government service.
Under the English plan, the real
work of the government is done by
men who hold their jobs all their
working lives. and are then retired
on adequate pensions. They cannot
be discharged. save for reasons Of
or incompetence. Al
change in the party-in-power does
not affect them at all. and so they
can afford to be politically non-par-
tisan. Usually they enter the service
as soon as they leave school or uni
versity, and they are subjected to
the most rigorous training in their
fields. Promotions are
based so far as il Is humanity pos
sible on ability and efficiency They
don't get the publicity-they do e"t
the results. And some of them, such |
as Sir Robert Vansittart of the For |
eign Office, become even more pow |
erful and more sought after than |
rabinet members.
In the United States, we have u.s.
ed the career system in hut one
branch of goVernment-State De- |
partment. A young man wishing to
enter the foreign service must have .
better-than-average education and
background. and must go through a
stiff training in the genera,ities of
diplomacy. After that he is given a
till stiffer training in th. particu-
az diplomatic field he wishes to en-
er-Far East, South America, Gem
raj Europe, etc. These are the men
Who have kept this government
unctioning abrOad-and by and
arge. say those who know, they
lave done a splendid job. IT'S an
pen secret that many an Am6assa-
Or has been kept from making ruin
MS mistakes by the advice of some
ecre'ary or counsellor r.of-embassy
'hO knew the ropes and the pit
alls.
In the other departments of gov
as everyone knows, poll
les reigns supreme. A change i'm
administration results In an i'm
lediate hegira of the supplanteI,
nd an advance on Washington by
ne Victors desiring tho spOils. The
levitable result is waste, inelIici"n-
y. and duplication of effort. The '
lOst brilliant department head, If
is department is filled with incOm-
rtent or lazy political favorites, is q
bviously stymied. \
No matter what the committee de-
des, any move to place the govern S
ent service on a career basis Is v
.rtain to meet with much congress-
nal opposition. The patronage sys- ?
m is too old and too strongly i'll n
enched to make its abandonment
lsy. On the other hand. the great +
ealth of dispassiOnate opinion IL in r
vor Of the career system. even
ough there would undoubtedly be !
fferences over particulars in any I
finite plan-and it may be that
)nsress will be eventually forced O
public pressure to make a move r
that direction. even though IL ""
es il reluctantly.
q -
to the IT, s. News, sales m
American goods to foreign ma -
ms in 1888 approached in physi- -,
volume the boom year of 1929, nj
Ough, due to lower prices. dollar il
lume was substantially less. The
aracter of what we are selling le
W. however. is ominously differ ca ca
from what we sold ten years -
o.
In 30. foreign demand was prin- &c
'ally for farm products--meat, ~
d, cotton. etc. That demand has -
an falling Off-and today the cOun- ~
es beyond the seas want more an
'ap-iron. machinery. airplanes-- Nj
brief. the materials necessary to ",
and ~ Co. III