present Chief Justice, Melville W. Fuller, of Illinois, was called to
the highest judicial position in the country in 1888.
XII
TEACHING PATRIOTISM IN THE CAPITOL
ONE can fancy a patriotic Englishman taking his son to Westminster
Abbey, and there telling him the story of liberty, in the history of the
renowned dead who sleep about him, until the youth is inspired with a
patriotism deeper than the love of kindred, and second only to the love
of God.
So an American father who desires his children to assume their proper
place among the great force of American youth who are to perpetuate
American institutions, might well bring them to the Capitol of the
nation, and there in glowing words, and amid reminders of every decade
of the nineteenth century and the latter part of the eighteenth, tell
the story of liberty as shown in republican institutions.
He could also take his children to Mount Vernon for a day; there they
might read together the history of that serene, majestic character whose
eminence has carried him beyond national lines and made him belong to
the world as well as to us—a citizen of all lands and of all ages.
History is best told by biography. Around Washington would be grouped
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. These men, without
a precedent to follow, launched a new government, establishing all the
departments of its great machinery with such wisdom, justice, and
patriotism that what they did, what they thought and planned, but were
not able to complete, is to-day the standard of patriotism and national
achievement.
Then would follow that man whose life grows radiant in the strong
search-light of history—John Quincy Adams; that Adams, who could
truthfully say at the close of a long, brilliant, and useful life, in
the words of an old Roman: "I have rendered to my country all the great
service she was willing to receive at my hand, and I have never harbored
a thought concerning her which was not divine." With him would be his
compeers, Madison, Monroe, Burr, Clay, Webster, Jackson, John Randolph,
the elder Bayard, and Calhoun.
That father would not fail to make plain the stern patriotism of Andrew
Jackson and Daniel Webster against the insidious treason of Calhoun and
his coterie.
During the early days of President Jackson's administration he gave a
state dinner in honor of Jefferson's birthday. On his right sat Calhoun,
Vice-President of the United States, and up to this time the intimate
friend and confidential adviser of the Executive. On Jackson's left sat
Webster, with the black brows of Jove.
The toasts of the evening had been ambiguous. Mr. Calhoun gave this
toast: "Our union, next to our liberties the most dear; it can only be
preserved by respecting the rights of States, and by distributing its
burdens and its benefits equally."
Webster nudged the President. Old Hickory sprang to his feet and gave
the toast: "Our federal union; it must be preserved." Every man drank it
standing, Calhoun among the rest.
How near our country came to open rebellion is shown in the last hours
of Jackson. A friend at his bedside said: "What would you have done with
Calhoun and his friends had they persisted in nullification?" "Hanged
them, sir, as high as Haman. They should have been a terror to traitors
for all time," said the dying statesman.
That father could tell part of the story of liberty in the life of the
younger Adams. At the age of eleven Adams decided that he would be a
Christian. He said: "Of this one thing I must make sure: I shall humbly
serve God. If He makes me a great man, I shall rejoice; but this He
surely will do: if I trust Him, He will make me a useful man."
God took Adams at his word. He sought the Kingdom first. God added
place. Adams was diplomat, Senator, Secretary of State, President,
Congressman. He might well say with his dying breath, as he was carried
from his place in the old House of Representatives to the Rotunda, "This
is the last of earth, but I am content."
Well he might be content. He had been a faithful, honest, upright
Christian man, who had received at the hands of his fellow citizens the
highest honors they could confer, and in his death he passed to a home
among the redeemed, there with enlarged intelligence and clearer vision
to continue his work for God in the beyond.
In this day, when writers are striving to make black appear white, the
father who would mingle Christianity with patriotism would not fail to
sketch the life of Aaron Burr in contrast with the young Adams.
Burr tells us that at the age of eighteen the Spirit of God came upon
him with such power that he fled to the woods to settle that great
question which faces every human being—"Shall I be a Christian?" He said
to himself: "I purpose as a lawyer to succeed by the tricks of the
trade. There is many a short cut in business which a Christian could not
take, therefore I shall not be a Christian."
He tells us that the Spirit of God never again troubled him. He sinned
against the Spirit, that unpardonable sin. Left to himself, his destiny
led him to a high place only to make his fall more terrible. Socially he
was the most charming man of his day, but he entered no home which he
did not defile. No woman loved him but to her sorrow.
Burr was holding the position of Vice-President as a Republican when he
was nominated by the Federalists for Governor of New York. Some of the
leading men of that party refused to support him, among them Hamilton.
This led to the duel in which Hamilton was killed, July 11, 1804.
Burr was disfranchised and banished by the laws of New York, and was
indicted for murder by the authorities of New Jersey for having killed
Hamilton on the soil of that State. He could not enter either New York
or New Jersey to settle his business. He was bankrupted, and more than
$5,000 in debt when all his property had been sold and the results paid
over.
The day before the duel Burr had a right to suppose himself a more
important man than Hamilton. Was he not Vice-President? Had he not just
received a majority of the votes of the City of New York for Governor of
that State, in spite of Hamilton's greatest exertions? Yet the day after
the duel the dying Hamilton had the sympathy of every human being, and
Burr was a fugitive from justice, not knowing friend from foe. Never was
there a greater revulsion of feeling.
Southern men tried to console him by their more courteous demeanor.
Between the time of the duel and the convening of Congress, Burr had
kept himself south of Mason and Dixon's line, for in any Northern State
he would have been arrested on a requisition on the Governor.
He went back to Washington and again presided over the Senate, but was
simply scorched by the open, daily manifestations of the scorn of
Northern Senators. The Southern men were more courteous in their
demeanor. On Saturday, March 2d, he took leave of the Senate. That body
was in executive session, therefore no spectators were present. Mr.
Burr, one of the most eloquent as well as one of the handsomest men of
his day, rose in his place after the galleries had been cleared. He
began his address by saying that he had intended to remain during his
constitutional time, but he felt an indisposition coming upon him and he
now desired to take leave of them.
The silence could be felt. There was no shorthand reporter present, and
exactly what he said is not now known—perhaps nothing very different
from what other retiring Vice-Presidents have said. No reference was
made to the duel, none to the scorn he had merited, unless it were in
his words, "For injuries received, thank God, I have no memory."
He thanked the Senators for kindness and courtesy. He prophesied that if
ever political liberty in this country died its expiring agonies would
be witnessed on the floor of the United States Senate. As he walked out
no man rose, no man shook hands with him; when the door closed on him it
shut him out forever from position, usefulness, home, country, the love
of women, and the friendship of men.
At the President's reception on the following Morning two Senators were
relating the circumstances to a group which had gathered round them. On
being asked, "How long did Mr. Burr speak?" one of them answered, "I can
form no idea; it may have been a moment and it may have been an hour;
when I came to my senses I seemed to have awakened from a kind of
trance."
Burr, hurled from power and honor, wandered a fugitive from justice, and
at last would have been laid in a pauper's grave but for the care of a
woman who had loved him in his better days.
Surely the Psalmist was right when, speaking of the righteous and the
unrighteous, he said: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also
shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are
not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away."
XIII
PEOPLE IN THE DEPARTMENTS
ABOUT one-third of all the employees in the government departments at
Washington are women. Several receive over $2,500 per annum, about fifty
receive $1,600 per annum, one hundred receive $1,400 per annum, four
hundred and fifty receive $1,200, three hundred receive $1,000, and the
remainder receive from $600 to $900 per annum.
The Civil Service Commission records for last year show that 3,083 women
were examined for the various positions opened for them under the civil
service. Of these, 2,476 passed and 444 were appointed. Of the
applicants examined, 1,351 came under the head of "skilled labor."
The most popular examination for women is that of stenographers and
typewriters. "Good stenographers" is the ceaseless demand of the
department official—not mediocre, but good par excellence.
Government work is well paid only when well done. Promotions are at
least sometimes the reward of merit. A very striking illustration of
this occurred last winter, when a young woman was made chief of one of
the divisions in the Post-Office Department because she knew more about
the work of that particular division than any other employee in it. She
receives a salary of $2,240—among the highest paid to any woman in the
service.
In the States a position at Washington is looked upon as most desirable,
but except for the highest positions, and for the name of it, no
ambitious man or woman who desires to secure a competence by middle life
should consider a place in the departments.
There are nearly six thousand classified clerkships in the departments,
and many thousands of ungraded positions. Clerks of the first class
receive $1,200 per year; of the second, $1,400; of the third, $1,600; of
the fourth class, $1,800. In ungraded positions, salaries range from
$700 to $1,000.
Chief clerks receive from $1,800 to $2,700; stenographers and
translators of languages from $1,200 to $2,000; copyists from $60 to $75
per month. Thirty days' vacation, without loss of salary, is allowed
each year, and in case of violent illness no pay is deducted.
Hundreds of fine young men, well educated, who ought to be in the
manufacturing businesses of our country where they could develop, tamely
accept from $700 to $1,000 a year for mechanical work. In the last few
years there has been wonderful improvement in the work done by
department people. In 1885 I was impressed by the flirtations in
corners, the half hours which were wasted in visiting by people
receiving government money. But few are idle now—at least, where a
visitor can see. They are all at their desks promptly at 9 A.M.; they
work till 4 P.M., with half an hour at noon for luncheon. No bank
records as to punctuality, regularity, and diligence can be more closely
kept than those of the departments. There are so many who are eager to
take an idler's place that no one dares to fritter away his or her time.
It is said that if a woman banks on her femininity with chiefs of
divisions, or has unusual Senatorial backing, she may dare to take some
liberties—she may be idle or incompetent, and not be reported; but these
cases grow fewer in number.
Now, as to civil service examination. No one can get into the classified
service without it; but in most places, when one has passed the highest
examination, it takes Congressional influence to get a position.
Whatever may be the conditions in the future, there never has been a
time when influence was more used than in the session of Congress ending
July 1, 1902. In making up the Bureau of Permanent Census, it was not
merit but influence which secured a place. Merit, of course, helps
everywhere, but in the session referred to three-fourths influence to
one-fourth merit were necessary to secure any position.
There were twenty places to fill in the Congressional Library, where it
is claimed influence counts least. Eighteen hundred people applied for
the twenty places, and of course those with Senatorial influence were
appointed. No doubt their qualifications also entered into the account.
Seven hours, frequently spent in close, confined rooms, doing work which
brings no mental improvement, often with a fretful, over-critical chief,
anxious to get an incumbent out in order to put in his own friend, does
not look to me like a desirable position.
It is evidently intended to give places more and more to men who can go
home and help manage elections. It will not be until woman suffrage
prevails in the States that women will have an equal opportunity with
men, even in the work world. Then department people are ever anxious
about their places. At each change of Congress new people _must_ be
taken care of, and much more is this true when the Executive is changed.
The Washington _Post_ of July 15, 1902, has this editorial:
The latest civil-service order of President Roosevelt is addressed
to this evil. One can not avoid wishing that it had been issued
early in December, 1901, instead of in July, 1902—before, instead of
after, a long session of Congress, during which the "pull" was
industriously plied with the usual results. But "better late than
never." It is a good order, and its influence should be seen and
felt in the improvement of the service. Altho it was printed in the
_Post_ as soon as it was made public, it will bear reproduction.
Here it is:
No recommendation for the promotion of any employee in the
classified service shall be considered by any officer concerned
in making promotions except it be made by the officer or
officers under whose supervision or control such employee is
serving; and such recommendation by any other person with the
knowledge and consent of the employee shall be sufficient cause
for debarring him from the promotion proposed, and a repetition
of the offense shall be sufficient cause for removing him from
the service.
When we speak of that order or rule as good, we mean to say that it
will prove so if faithfully and impartially enforced; otherwise, it
may only aggravate existing wrongs. For example, suppose three
clerks, A, B, and C, in the same division are aspirants for
promotion to fill a vacancy in a higher grade. Suppose each of them
to have very influential friends, whose recommendation, were it
proper to use it, might be the controlling factor in the disposal of
the prize. But A and B obey that rule, relying on their respective
records, while C quietly hints to his friend or friends that a
little boosting would do him a great service. A personal call on the
official "under whose supervision or control such employee is
serving"—a personal call by Senator X or some other statesman of
weight—ensues, and C is promoted as a result of that call. That is
what has happened in almost numberless cases. Will it stop now? If
"yes," the President's order will prove a great promoter of reform
in the civil service; if "no," it will work in the opposite
direction.
I took this editorial to a number of leading people in the departments.
"Yes," they said, "something like that usually comes out about this time
of the year when Congress has adjourned. Even if President Roosevelt
means what he says, it can scarcely be executed. The system is so
complex, with so many wheels within wheels, that patronage can hardly be
stopped. If a chief fails to promote a Senator's niece, Mr. Chief will
be apt to lose his own place, and this consideration brings wisdom."
Conditions have not changed in 1909.
When a man or a woman has been four or five years in a clerical
government office, he or she is scarcely fit for any other kind of
place. In that time has been lost ingenuity, resourcefulness,
adaptation, how to placate or please the public, and, above all,
confidence to fight in the great battle of industries; consequently,
when dismissed, the former place-holder hangs about Washington, hoping
for another situation. One can see more forlorn, vanquished soldiers of
fortune in the national capital than in any other city of its size in
the world.
If one desires to make a living only, and not lay up for a rainy day, or
if one has clerical talent only, then a Washington position might be
desirable; but when one sees great, able-bodied men opening and shutting
doors for a salary, or a man capable of running a foundry operating an
elevator in a government building, it disgusts him with the strife for
place. Government clerkships may be desirable for women, but few of them
should claim the ability of first-class men. It is commercial death to
become once established in a department at Washington.
The government has many first-class scientists in its employ, people
with technical knowledge. These are the rare souls who, while they know
more than their fellow men, care less for money, and have neither time
nor ability to make it. For such men a good position in the
Agricultural, Geological, Smithsonian, Educational, Indian, or other
scientific departments is desirable, but for no other class.
In no other place than Washington can one better see the fact
illustrated that once in each generation the wheel of fortune makes a
complete revolution, turning down those at the top and turning up those
who are down. In the departments are now many widows and daughters of
men who were prominent in Civil War times. One woman eighty-two years of
age was during the war the wife of a great general. She now sits at a
department desk from nine to four daily, and no one does better work.
The old charge of immorality among the women of departments is now
seldom heard in Washington. Among the thousands there must be a few
black sheep, but women have ways of making life so uncomfortable for a
derelict that she prefers to resign and occupy a less public position.
No Congressional influence can shelter her head from the scorn of other
women.
Corruption is more likely to originate with chiefs of subdivisions, as
in the recent case of young Ayres of the Census Bureau, who was killed,
and Mrs. Bonine, who was acquitted of his murder. The trial was a mere
farce, for society felt that whoever killed the vile libertine who had
used his place to seduce or browbeat young girls had served society.
Justifiable homicide would doubtless be the verdict should death strike
a few others. Such cases are, however, rarer than in commercial
communities. The people of the departments largely constitute the
membership of the churches of Washington. Senators and Congressmen, with
their wives, do not bring letters from their home churches, but the
department people do. The latter practically support the churches and
the religious institutions and religious work of the district.
XIV
INCIDENTS IN AND OUT OF THE DEPARTMENTS
"I MUST go down to the Census Office to hold a scrub-woman in her
place," said a Western Congressman to me. He added: "Let me tell you
about her. She does not belong to my State, but you will not be
surprised that I propose to hold her in her poor place, which brings $20
per month, when I explain her case. She is the widow of a regular army
officer. Her husband in the Civil War was twice promoted for personal
bravery. His native town presented him with a sword as a tribute of his
courage. His widow scrubs floors along with colored people, and his only
daughter does menial service twelve hours a day in the printing-office.
Of course the widow is too old for a Civil Service place, and that is
the best I can do for her. She has no G. A. R. influence, her husband
was so long a regular that she has no State back of her. I am glad to do
what I can."
Not long ago the beauty of a country town, let us say of Texas, was
brought to Washington for a place. Her Congressman's quota of positions
was full; he knew, however, of one place which was ably filled by a
Southern woman who came here with President Johnson's family as
instructor for his grandchildren. President Johnson had, before leaving,
secured her a place in a department, and now the Texan asked her
official head in the interest of the beauty. The girl was bright,
flippant, and loud. She used her first month's wages to obtain a red
velvet dress cut square in the neck to show her white, firm skin. She
did her work fairly well, but one day people in her department heard a
scream, and they also heard some one getting a severe slapping of the
face amid cries of "I have a big brother in Texas, and it will take him
only two days to get here, and he'll beat the life out of you!" etc.
[Illustration: THE SUPREME COURT]
Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller
1. Justice William H. Moody
2. Justice Joseph McKenna
3. Justice John M. Harlan
4. Justice David J. Brewer
5. Justice Oliver W. Holmes, Jr.
6. Justice Rufus W. Peckham
7. Justice William R. Day
8. Justice Edward D. White
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDING
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
]
[Illustration:
Copyright, 1906, by the John A. Lowell Bank Note Co., Boston, Mass.
THE NEW UNION RAILWAY STATION
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE NEW NATIONAL MUSEUM
]
A shamefaced clerk was seen to emerge from the room. When the others
rushed in they found the girl in a dead faint which was followed by
hysterics. Then the women said, "Aha! you got what you deserved with
your red dress, your loud manners, and flippant talk."
The girl replied, "Well, I think you should have had the decency to tell
me that before, if my dress and manners exposed me to insult. You will
see, I shall learn." Sure enough, the girl did learn to dress quietly,
and is now an efficient, decorous helper.
The wife of one of the new-rich, who have come to Washington to spend
their money in social life, was being taken through the Census
Department when they had on the full force of several thousand. Looking
over that crowd, every one of the intellectual rank of a first-class
teacher, she said: "Ah! I see now what makes servants so very scarce in
Washington!" Each one of these classed as of the rank of servants had
passed an entrance examination which her ladyship could not have stood,
even if her life had depended upon it.
One of the peculiar features of department life is that it seems to dry
up the milk of human kindness. A man will move heaven and earth to get a
high situation under the government, then when others ask from him less
than he has asked of his friends, the applicant is made to feel like a
beggar. He is advised to go home and tend to his own affairs—which may
be very good advice, but comes with bad grace from a government
official.
I knew a man from the South, the editor of a religious paper, the most
important man in the county, who came to Washington to ask for the
post-office of his own town. His credentials had the endorsement of
every bank, every business house, every preacher, doctor, and teacher in
his town. He was permitted to get as near headquarters as the Fourth
Assistant Postmaster, where he was told Senator Blank would have that
appointment. The Senator appointed a Catholic in that town where there
are not over forty Catholics, and where a Lutheran College alone gets
more mail than the entire Catholic population. The new man was a person
_non grata_ to the entire town, but the Senator had paid a campaign
debt.