CIVIL--POLITICAL

Perhaps the word most frequently used in connection with the government is "efficiency" or its converse. The present administration was elected largely because it was believed that it would put the government on a basis more nearly like that of business than a Democratic one would. It has succeeded in a large measure. Consequently we are interested to hear that Attorney-General Daugherty, though not speaking for the administration, advocates political recommendation in place of the existing civil service requirements for government positions.

Mr. Daugherty is quoted as saying that under such a system the government could get on with only two-thirds as many employes as at present and accomplish more work. He finds that under the present system the employes in his department, which he claims to be as good as any other, think much of leaving work before they should than of being at their desks on time in the morning, and attributes this attitude to the civil service. To remedy this dolorous situation he would have a political committee recommend applicants for positions.

Mr. Daugherty should certainly know whether the employes in his department work as they should or not, and if he says they do not it is not for an outsider to contradict him; but even an outsider may be pardoned questioning as to whether this condition is wholly due to the requirements of the civil service. Every student of government is duly impressed by the English system of permanent civil service, and if he is an American he feels that he is not living up to the traditions of the study if he fails to wish that such a system were practiced in this country. The shortcomings of our civil service system are proverbial, but it is a novel suggestion to remedy them by abolishing the system altogether. It is at least conceivable that employes guaranteed their situations by politicians would loaf on the job fully as much as those who have earned those positions by examinations. Before shooting the cow because it gives no more milk it might be just as well to see if there is no less drastic remedy, and if the ailment is wholly the creature's fault anyway.