Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1883 — OFFICIAL PAP. [ARTICLE]

OFFICIAL PAP.

A. Glance Into the Blue Book in Which Are Printed the Names of Got* enunent Employes. The Ohio Man Still Holding His Own in the Various Departments. [Washington Telegram to Chicago Times.] There is' a work published biennially by the Government of the United States which contains little else than names, and there is ten times more effort made by people to get their names into this book than there is to get their names into the book of lit & It is the United States Official Register, commonly called the “blue book.” A few years ago one moderate-sized volume answered the purpose. In 1879 the work reached the dimensions of two thin volumes; the edition of 1881 consists of two volumes, each containing nearly 900 pages. The index alone fills 130 pages, the names being arranged in four columns on a page. One of these two volumes is devoted exclusively to the postal service, though the employes of the department In Washington are provided for iq the other volume. The register contains the name of every person employed by the Government, his or her birch-place, residence, when appointed and salary. There are over 100,000 names in the two volumes but this does not mean, as is commonly and inoorrbctly said that the civil service contains IDu.OIX/offices. The register contains the names of all mail contractors and of all army and navy officers, And of all mechanics and laborers employed under the army enginers, and other persons who cannot be called officers or clerks. But it is a mighty army of the servants of a great nation. The last register, though dated July 1. 1881, did not appear until a year and a half ago. It takes time to get up such a catalogue. The next register will be dated July 1, 1888, and the appointment clerks in various departments are now making up their lists of officers and employes connected with the service at that date or on July 15. In some of the departments the official census was taken as a matter of covenience on the last day before the Civil Service law went into effect. In preparation for this general United States register, a new register for the Interior Department has just been prerared. It shows 3,0.11 persons on the Department rolls, not including Indian police, as the unabridged register does, but on the other hand not limited to the employes here in Washington. Just about one-fifth of the whole number are women—o2L There are 721 men who served in the army or the navy, and there are 204 colored persons, for complexion is shown in this Departmental register, though it was not indicated in the last general one. It is true that the majority of the colored people employed in the department are watchmen, janitors, messengers, packers, laborers, and charwomen, but seventy-one are clerks and oopylsts with salaries ranging from s72u to $l,tOJ. The latter sum is received by two men, one a Principal Examiner in the Pension Office and the other a Chief of Division in the Land Office. Four are clerks at $1,400, twenty-' two are clerks at $1,201, twenty-five are clerks at sl,too, fourteen are copyists at s9t 0, and fourteen are copyists at $7lO. While a large proportion of the women are copyists at quite a number are clerks with salaries running up to $1,400, and at least one Illinois lady gets SI,COO. The following table shows the States from which 3,091 officers and employes of the Department were appointed: Maine 52 Massachussetts.... 90 Vermont 46 Connecticut 65 Rhode Island 20 New Jersey 70 New York 331 Delaware 9 Pennsylvania 248 Virginia 132 Maryland 100 North Carolina..... 35 V\ est Virginia 37 Georgia 89 South Carolina 29 Florida. 15 Alabama 21 Louisiana 29 Mississippi 22 Texas 18 Arkansas Tennessee 62;Ohlo 181 Missouri t 2, Michigan 110 Indiana 140 Wisconsin 64 Illinois 145|Iowa 107 Minnesota 43. Nebraska 26 Kansas 69 Nevada 7 Colorado. 43 Oregon 13 California 41 Washington. ...... 5 Dakota 8 Idaho 4 New Mexico 6 Wyoming 8 Montana 2 U tah 2 Arizona 2 Dist. of Columbia.. 405 Indian Territory 2 New Hampshire 35 Total 3,091 There is not a very serious disproportion in the distribution of clerkships and other S laces among the States where the Repubcan party is strong. New York and Ohio seem to nave a tittle in excess of their quotas, but the excess is not great Illinois does not get quite its share. Colorado and Indiana have a little more than belongs to them, but the personal equation must be expected, and the head of the department is from one of these States, while the head of tne largest bureau in the department is from the other. What will at once strike the reader as surprising is the number of appointments from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, especially the latter • There Is a natural explanation for this. In the first place, a large number of the employes are janitors, watchmen, scrubbers, packers, laborers, messengers, etc. The jobs are naturally given to people near by, that is, to residents of the District and the adjoining part of Maryland and Virginia. People do not come to Washington from remote parts of the country to get menial employment The other consideration is, that the solidly Democratic Southern States do not get their quotas, and the shares that would go to them on an equitable arrangement go to the neighborhood pf the capital; as the South has no political reasons to urge for office, the places are disposed of for personal reasons to people wuom Congressmen get acquainted with here. Beside all this, there is, of course, an advantage in being on or near the ground when vacancies occur. It might be said still further, that nearly everybody in the District came here from some one of the States, so that appointments from the District are scarcely more than appointments at large. The Postoffice Department has not published a register, but Mr. Hodges, Appointment Clerk, has furnished the number of em ployes of the Department in this city from each State and I erritory. The table is as follows: Arkan5a5............ 3[Connecticut. 5 Colorado 4 Florida..... 1 Delaware 3 Illinois 17 Georgia 4 lowa 12 Indiana. 25 Kentucky 2 Kansas 9<Maine 9 Louisiana 7Massrchusettß 15 Maryland 44 Minnesota 2 Michigan 11 Missouri 6 Mississippi 4, Nevada. 2 Nebraska 3 New Jersey 19 New Hampshire 5 North Carolina 5 New York. 56 Oregon 1 Ohio 24 Rhode Island 1 Pennsylvania 49 Tennessee 24 South Carolina 8 Vermont 8 Texas 5 West Virginia 10 Virginia 29 Arizona 1 Wisconsin 14 District of Columbia. 110 Montana. 1 California 5 Total 563