Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1891 — DISCHARGED IS DROVES. [ARTICLE]

DISCHARGED IS DROVES.

Army of Census Clerks Turned Loose, Many in a State of Poverty. ' Washington Special to the Indianapolis Journal, Jnne 89. Just now the clerical force of the Census Bureau is realizing bow untertain the mutations of politics and federal office are. They are being dismissed in droves, and during the next few days the number of men mid vomen—mostly the latter —who will narch out of public into private life trill be distressing. It is true that when these men and women took service in the Census Bureau thty knew that the work would, at a given period, cease, and tearly all of them would have to quit the bureau within eighteen months, while many would leave within a rear. But the great majority of them having passed an examination rod gone in somewhat at least upon their merits, hoped that they might jet a transfer to another department inder the civil service, and thus secure permanent places. A few have luoceeded. The influences which these clerks have brought to bear to ret transfers and have them retained In their present or late positions as tong as possible have been worthy of i better cause and a more substantial result. The men who have been in position to wield an influence upon Superintendant Porter or the appropriating powers of the various departments have been besieged day rod night by these unfortunates. Many of them came hundreds of miles to take these places and have . received only |6O or $75 a month. • They made sacrifices to get here, and, since hoping to get a transfer, have not prepared themselves in a financial way for being turned out on the street. Many will have to be helped back home. The fate of a large portion of the Census Bureau clerks—a thousand or more—reminds one of the fact that ,n few instances is there compensation for holding a clerical position in a department here. One thing is lure: no one can afford to take it unless he or she is without profitable employment and is of a peculiarly laying disposition. Few clerks in the departments accumulate wealth. Few there are, after years of public service, who can sustain themselves six months out of office. In the case of the census clerks there are many hardships, and many hearts are aching, notwithstanding she fact that they should have borne n rpind their approaching dismissals by virtue of the work being done. Many of these men and women were it one time or another clerks in the jxecutive departments, and, having been turned out from one cause or another, and being incapable of encountering the practical things of life, were in destitute circumstances. Their condition is now deplorable in some instances. They have simply fed on that which further incapacitates them. While they may be good department clerks, capable of filling out blanks or adding up columns for six or seven hours a day, they appear to be incapable of selling goods or coming in contact with the public in private transactions. They are in private life idlers, helpless. If this condition could only be seen by the ambitious young man or woman in the country who wants to serve Uncle Sam in Washington, being willing to give up good situations which are permanent for an ignus fatuus, the example would perhaps work a reform.