THE MOItNlNG ASTRIAN, ASTORIA,
at the census of 1900, and reaches the
conclusion that the tendency to re
main in thte Government service after
reaching advanced age is not unusual)
except, perhaps, 'among the male em
ployees In the District of Columbia. '
GET INTO THOSE OXFORDS
Statistic of Employes In tho Ex
ecutive Clvil.Servlce,
SOLD' BY bROWN " ! ?
Wednesday, April is, itos.
PUBLIC SERVANTS
I! i,.t.'.ifi;iw.t
( t
THE ADVANCED AGE PERIODS
The Figures Show That the Govern
ment Employe In thVCivil Service
4i64 Person From (5S to 69 Yeere
of Age end 137 at Least 80 Years.
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 14.
The employees in the executive civil
service Are the subjects of a statistical
Inquiry which has jutt been com
pleted by the Bureau of the Census.
The result of this inquiry are pub
lished in Census Bulletin 94, which
was prepared by Lewis Mcriam, act
ln( chief of the division of revision
and results. , ( ; ,
On July 1, 1907, according to this
bulletin, the total number of em
ployee in the executive civil service,
exclusive of persons in .the consular
and diplomatic service, was 286,902;
, and of this number 29,103 practically
one tenthwere employed at the nat
ional capital.
In the detailed statistical tables it
, was considered impracticable to in
clude all thctte employees, In a few
cases because the returns were too
i incomplete, but more often because 1
t certain clauses arc so peculiar In re
spect to the way they are appointed,
or the basis on which they are paid,'
that their inclusion would have Im
paired the value of the statistics for
the remaining classes. The most im
portant classes omitted for this latter
reason include 62,663 postmasters, 18,-
NEED OF MORE RAILROADS.
'.' ' t
The country's need of more rail
roads, of the double-tracking of pres
ent lines, of more rolling stock, is in
no wise changed by present financial
conditions, Even if there should be a
slight let up in traffic, this would
not change the fact that our. trans
portation facilities 'are wholly inade
quate to the volume of our trade and
that the country is rapidly growing
while the railroads are not. The late
Senator Gorman of Maryland, 10 or
IS years ago, very wisely said that
"the greatest problem before the peo-
pie or America is tnat oi intrtuu
tion." Distribution, of course, im
plies transportation. Every day since
then has emphasized the correctness
of Senator Gorman's judgment, Un
der such conditions the cost of tran:,
portation is of far less importance,
than the question of securing theft
facilities needed. We already have
by far the cheapest railroad frcightf
rates in the worldrates that are the,
marvel of the people of European
countries. , What we need now is not
low rates, freight or passenger, but 4
vast increase in facilities for handling
business. Of all the absurd move
merits of the last 12 months in the
railroad and political worlds nothing
else quite equals the effort to force
down railroad rates. It Is almost
puerile in its shortsightedness. It has
cost our country billions of dollars
without redeeming thing tc the
credit side. Money for railroad ex
pansion cannot possibly be had un
der present conditions, Infinitely
better would it be for the whole
country if the people would recognize
that, instead of reducing rates, the
railroads must be given full authority
to make a general advance in rates
376 mechanics and laborer in navy tcommensural with the increased cost
yards and naval stations 12.850 clerks
in post offices not having free de
livery, and 1,031 occasional employees
of the Weather Bureau. Data for
4.584 employees of the Isthmian
Canal Commission employed on the
Isthmus were too incomplete- to be
included.' As the net "results of all
omissions, the total number of per
sons treated by the Bureau of the
Census as employees in tthc execu
tive civil service is 185,874,
of doing business. The railroad busi
ness must be given an opportunity
to make profits large enough tof
tempt capital from everywhere to
seek investment in railroad securities
Men arc not going to put their money
into such enterprises subject to the
dangers of legislation and they
would be foolish if they did so un
less the profit is great enough to
justify such risks. To attempt to limit
the earnings to 6 per cent., or even
.i . toe on . it 1CI
UI mesc tow. pcr.on., .-'10 per cent( 0r ,0 any f)xcd amount,
are employed tn the District of Co- ... . ... , .... .. . ...
tumbia, while 160,523 are employed
elsewhere. Although the total num
ber of employees in the District is
thus less than one-sixth of the total
number elsewhere, the number of
women in the District exceeds the
number elsewhere by 895. Of the
employees in the District 7,358 arc
women, or almost 3 to 10, while of
the employees elsewhere but 6,463
women, or I in 25. This difference
is mainly to be attributed to the fact
that in the District a far larger pro-
I .i .i . . . . men with bulging bank accounts
I'M T I'llll l ill II 10 S tl. V V lV II S I V I i
Of the total number of Govern
ment employees, 156,021, or 83.9 per
cent, arc native whites; 18,525, or 10 j
per cent, foreign born whites; and j
11,328," or 6.1 per cent, colored. Of
the colored, 8,352 arc .negroes, 1,725
Indians, 1,047 Filipinos, 142 Chinese,
and 62 Japanese. In the District
of Colutnhin. 2.785 nf thp pmnlovpp
arc negroes. t That is to say, at the
nnional capital 1 Government em
ployee in 9 is a negro.
One of the most interesting ques
tions considered in the bulletin is that
of the age of the employees. One
half of thriii are under 36,5 years of
age. In the District the median age
'is -slightly higher, being 38,8 years,
while elsewhere it is but 36.2.
The advanced nge periods are, how-
ever, more interesting than the med
ians. The figures show that the Gov
ernment employs in the civil service
4,364 persons from 65' to 69 years of
age; 1,557 from 70. to 74 years; 465
from 75 to 79 years; and 137 at least
"80 years of age. These figures give
a total of 6,523 employees in the ex
ecutive civil service who are 65 years
or over. Of this number, 1852 are
-employed in the District of Columbia
and 4,071 elsewhere. Although less
numerous , in the District than else
where, employees of advanced age
iWIIW IJIIIVrll ICllfSlI JMUJ'UJ uui ui (llv
force in the District than thev do of
the force elsewhere. In the District
practically 1 Government employee
in 14 is at least 65 years of 'age, while
elsewhere tthe corresponding: figures
are but about 1 in 34.
In an effort to determine whether
these figures represent . any special
tendency for Government employees the disastrous railroad wrecks,' but
is not. only absurd, but economically
false, for any attempt to limit tlu
earnings of legitimate business under
takings will inevitably react and cost
the country far more than the differ
ence between a fixed income and the
profit which might otherwise be made
There own preservation would neces
sarily require of the railroads as fav
orable rates as could be given
with safety for themselves and their,
future. - :j
Of recent years the public seems
i to have come to the conclusion that
arc
waiting eagerly for an opportunity to
put money into railroad securities,
though the control of the railroad is
taken from them, and though other
people who hav no interest in them
arc given authority to fix the rates
at which they can do business. The
idea is very fallacious. Thd tapital
needed for railroad expansion l hot
going to seek railroad investment,
but railroad men must seek the capi
tal with diligence, It must be pre
sented in such a way as to indicate
profits large enough to justify the
risk, or otherwise those who have
the bulging bank accounts will keep
their money themselves or else put it
in securities over which they do have
sonic control. As a field for invest
ment the railroad is no longer an at
tractive proposition, land this, too,
conies at a time when never in our
history do we so much need money
tor railroad expansion. It is quite
within bounds to say that during the
next five or six years this country
ought to spend. $1,500,000,000 a year in
the enlargment of railroad facilities,
We ought within the next five or ten
years to put one-half as much money
into1 the enlargment of railroad facili
ties as the total amount now repre
sented in all the stocks and bonds of
the railroad of country." Where is so
vast a sum to come from? If It should
not come, then business will be halt
ed, railroad facilities will grow stead:
ily worse instead of better, and the
country will suffer as it has suffered
for the 3as4 few years because the
railroads are unequal to the volumne
of traffic. - The country holds- ' its
hands up in horror, and justly so, at
! r.&rX' k T7 n n nil n n n
Vf" n ,V 1 i'1"!.. imiiiii i iirii iiiiiniii iiu mi in
1
f
y u; ia
And Ladies's and Gentlemen's Footwear is in damahd.. The styles afe more
handsome and more varied this spring than ever. Every correct shoe is here from
the lightest and daintiest house and dress shoe to the heavier shoes for outdoor wear
LADIES' PATENT LEATHERS
What looks sweller, richer or more dainty peeping out from under a woman's skirts
than a handsome Patent Leather Shoe or Slipper? There are leathers and leathers,
but Patent Leather is the leather for dress wear.
J We Have the Prettiest Patent Leather Shoes That
I Ever Clasped a Pretty Ankle.
We have Ladies' Patent Leather Footwear in Dress Shoes, Oxfords, Colonials and
Slippers; Military 'and .Steeple Heels; Perforated Tips, Etc. No extravagant
piices. Shoes bought at Brown's are always right.
LOOK AT BROWN'S WINDOWS AND BE CONVINCED
V.
ROW
'X
The Family Shoe Man
ASTORIA :: OREGO
Fisher Brothers Company
SOLE AGENTS .
'' Barbour and Finlayson Salmon Twins and Netting
McCormick Harvesting Machines
Oliver Chilled Ploughs ' j
Malthoid Roofing
Sharpies Cream Separators
Raecolith Flooring ' , Storretfi Tooli .. I
Hardware, Groceries, Ship !
, Chandlery j
Tan fiatk, Blue tone, MuHtttie Acid', Welch Coai, Tarj
Ash Oars, Oak Lumbci1, Pipt and FitUngs, Brass j
Goods, Paints, Oils arid Glass . . i
Fishermen's Pure Manilla Rope, Cotton Twirls ghd Seine Web
We Wont Your Trade !
FISH BR BROS.
' BOND STREET
The I'Jeber
Uapn
For either one horse,
or two horses. A good,
strong, light wagon.
I
The Foard & Stokes Hardware Go !
Incornoratad
Successors to Fo-.rd & Stokes Ca
the last few years to sect to get as
much as possible and gave as little of
faithful work in return as possible.
While railroad employes generally are
faithful to their trust, some ineffic
ient men, without a sense of their re
sponsibility, have eagerly grasped at
tlfis ' teaching and feel that the rail
roads and the world at large owe
them a living whether they earn it or
not, and the anti-railroad agitation is
nition of this condition of affairs, for
Until they do there can be no thor
ough marked revival in railroad con
struction ori a scale commensurate
witfj tne needs of the country. Peo
pie may theorize as much as they
please? they may say that railroads
must be' forced to- expand, that they
must be capitalized at exact cost; that
the promoter's and1 the banker's pro
fits must be1 eliminated';: but they will
wait till docmistiaybfcfoi'e' they sc-
oAvt A UUL1UK BILL
to remain m service after persons in
other walks of life would have retired
the Census bulletin compares the ages
r . i . r & i . . ,
oi me uovcrnmcm employees, witn
the ages of all breadwinners
railroad wrecks happen to a consid
erable extent because the volume of
traffic is large beyond the facilities
of the railroads, and partly,' too; be
cause men have been taught during
largely responsible for Uiis. Until , cure railroads on 'these1 conditions,
these two things have been changed lne only Possible' chance' for' railroad
the railroads must labor under tre-1 construction on' a large' scale' is to
mendons disadvantatres. Railroads , make investment iii railroad- enter-
must be enabled by laree earnings to Pr'ses and railroad securities1 more at-
practically rebuild the whole railroad tratcive than can be' found' by ikr'ge
system of the country. They must be capitalists anywhere els iri the world,
made' so profitable that money will Manufacturers' Record December
find fit railroad construction a most i -
attractive field for investment, for i
until this condition prevails it will be
impossible fo secure the capital need
ed for the' expansion of railroad fa
cilities', so essential, so supremely
BABYLON'S GARDENS
The hanging -gardens of Babylon
essential', fo the best' interests of the were terraces on columns. The gar-
coanry. . dens were 400 feet square and over
The" politicians and' the agitators, 400 feet high. The ascent from ter-
as well as1 the" people of the country race to terrace was by flights of mar-
at large; may as well' fee the situation ble steps, and on the highest "was a
and; meet if squarely with full recog- large reservoir. -
BY DRINKING BASS' ALE AND
; GUINESS STOUT WITH YOUR
DINNER PUT UP IN NIPS. IT
IS A SYSTEM BUILDER. RECOM
MENDED BY ALL FHYSICIANS.
PRICE, $1.50 PER DOZEN.
AMERICAN IMPORTING Cii
J J U U t, r
; ooy Uomraercial Street
Glkssificd Ads. in the Astorian Give
Best Results