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Show REFORM AT WASHINGTON. Announcement was recently made of the intended in-tended investigation of Secretary MacVeagh into the workings of the treasury department with the object m view of getting the department on a sound and economical basis-such a basis as would a private enterprise be run. mile people generally will breathe a sigh of relief and remark that it is about time that something of the kind were done there is really no evidence that the treasury depart rnent is lacking in system, or that the employes of that department have a sinecure. But it is the well-grounded belief that government employ somehow or other have a snap; that their work is I not arduous; that their hours of labor are short; that it doesn't make much difference if they show up on their job or not so long as their next superior officer doesn't find it out, and that the call of the baseball club is of more importance than the call of ' duty. We say this is a well-grounded belief, gained, probably, from the stories told by former government govern-ment employes with a sigh of regret at their lost opportunities and their lost jobs. It may be that the average of character and capacity among those who retain their jobs is quite as high as it is among any class of employes in private enterprises, but again we have no evidence to sustain such a belief. be-lief. That there is some reason for the announcement of the investigation, however, no one can doubt. The fact that such an investigation is contemplated shows a lack of something which it is hoped to remedy. rem-edy. Perhaps the responsibility felt the employes is not exact enough. Perhaps there is a remnant of the old system of appointment by political influence, influ-ence, and the fellows with the "pull" leave the work to be done by those who got and hold their jobs solely upon merit. If so, the investigation proposed, which is said to have caused consternation among the employes of the department, may produce some very good results until the "influence" back of the lnemcient ones ges to wors. The fact of the investigation only goes xo show that governmental business cannot be conducted on the exact lines as private business affairs, and furnishes fur-nishes just one more argument in favor of keeping the activity of the government confined to very narrow nar-row and necessary boundaries. The departmental activities we now enjoy should at least be put upon an economical and business basis before we rush into others wherein there would be as much cause for investigation as in those with which we are now already burdened. |
