The Brussels Post, 1938-1-19, Page 7How Contracts Are
Let And Psitions Filled
By R, J, Deaehman
111. ,', for North Huron
(Continued From Dago 1)
—tet—
to handle the work. He must be
a Canadian oitlzen. He mint, also
be pby010W1ly capable, He must
be able bo provide bonds for the
carrying oat of hie two']:, The
ppgtma&'ter General has the -ranee.
sialldty for the carrying out of that
AQt, Those who act under him
are hietruOted io carry it tout. The
Act as stated is carried out -quake
no mistake about that ie will con-
tinuo to be carried out as long as
the Present government is In power
and long after that.
Parliament Rules
The Post'ma&ler General has no
authority to set aside the law, a:,v
has the Prime Minister of Cauada,
This Is not Russia—+this is Canada.
Parliament passed this law, if it is
to be repealed, it must be repealed
by Parliament, 11 can be changed in
no other way.
I know that a great many people
do not believe this, It is true
nevertheless. From time to time
men come to me and say "1 want
the job—You can Rx rt eerie 1 eau -
not fix it up. Within a relatively
short distance of the piaci from
which I now speak there are two
men who wanted to tender for diff-
erent mail contracts in this terri-
tory, Both came to me acd asked
me how these contracts ware let,
I told them. I said I could do
nothing for them, the contracts will
be let by tender, you are both com-
petent in every way to do the job
but I can do nothing to help hon--tt
will go to the lowest tender. These
men put in their tenders In the
regular way. One of them got the
job, ,the other one failed, 130.11 are
tutimate friends of mine, The ono
who got the job never mentioned it
to me in any way from that day to
this, although I see him every day
when I am in 'own. The oilier elm.
ply remarked it, a casual way the
first time I met him that h3 tailed
to get the contract, but "1 didn't
want It at the price" he added He
was a sensible man who te•t, and
knew that the contract was lint of
value. to him unless he got the price
at which he tendered. Ile had
trialed the coat. He doe; not
hold it agalu,t me, because 1 did
out break a law which I could not Finally may I say this: you can -
break and would not le I could.
not bribe
A mail contract lass let in this
your way into ga1•trn•
onaftuency for a car .t;n snot, meat cmrtract or a goverualent
There were empathetic 1''t''. whoposition• On contracts the job
npaaiettlatYy Anxious ilio? it goes to the lowest teucler—on Civil
menet go 1a unather luau ilii Service appointments—as I shall
presently show ---le gots to the lean
Brie,.' was $p30 more thug 'J1e kw.best quaiiti,-•d. 1 have told you, )out
te
est nderer. In this mese tle•r..
w1- re• rer it is true, that I cannot help you.
1 ons why that n,•+:t might Wouldn't yon 1>e foolish if you tried
i' -ave been chosen, IIe had naught
a ([aril battle against' phaeton; di.-
:%h:mics yet he was males, 0f
b.olte Mese ilef'lre we Might have
to Cut Qat Meal mall entirely,
M
A'Clacir Recod
1 Have been told time and time
agaSn by s,rong party nteu of any
own faith that the Conservatives
get all the jobs, even when the Lib-
erals are in power. In Ottawa I
have been told by Conservative, the
opposite story—the Liberals get the
Jobs even when the Conseri'ativea
are in power. The suggesitlon is
that there is a way of "putting it
oven'," There ie not, 1 nave
heard this story so often, especially
In regard to mall contracts, that
finally I decided to chuck over the
records and find out, The oomplalnt
camp particularly from one section
of the constituency, All these
records are accessible to a Member',
of Parliament, he may ask to see
the official files, From the Panic -
Vier town in question there are
six small routes, I .carried the
check-up back to 1919, the daye of
Union Government, During this
pelted this consiituency has been
represented by Jas, Bowman, J. W.
Icing, Geo. Spotton and myself. All
these men are gone from the scene
exeept myself, 11 I ham, found Any-
thing wrong In the records on these
tenders I would have remained
silent on this topic to -day, r wontd
have let :these men sleep in the faith
tbelr friends had in them. I do
not Stave to keep silent. There was
not one doubtful act—not one doubt-
ful suggestion in that whole period
—not one. Every contract was
regular. Contracts were 1st as
they are now—so far at leeet as
North Huron i't concerned ,n a
business basis. 1 ant glad to testi-
fy that the sheet was clean. T ap-
peal to you to believe me when I
say that mistakes of Membera of
Parliament are largely mistakes of
judgement—they are not acts of
crookedness., Members of inertia•
meet may be stupid. We may not
know what is the right thing to do.
Sometimes it is very difficult to
know what i•o do but I venture to
suggest that there is just as much
honesty in government as there is
kr prilate business. It r, rima We
Stopped calling palitietaus crooked.
If they are crooked It is a reflection
on the people who elected thein,
They are, on both sides, in my
humble opinion, an honest group of
men striving honestly to do their
best.
No Bribery
to bribe me to use my fuau:Mee to
get you a job when f have fuse told
rrying the mails, 111e ftl„ntts you I could not help you, ;Vnuii;ll't
were my lrlantis- ahoy were very I he a scoundrel if I took your
inxsous that he should get it. 1 am money. No one needs to Pay molten
to anyone io get a goveraaterit
line
going to toil you bow much it position in Ilurun Co. or to hold one
worried my soul, it would have bee's that he already has, Let Etat re-
fit, Job of my lite if I could have
helped him, but 1f these things were train abundantly Blear Co everyone,
Permitted to become exceptions
what would follow? Every case
would be an exception, Ali the
barriers would be broken down.
The whole idea of legitimate tender
ter public work of any kind would
he forgottten. There are 13,000
nail COntl'ac,ts et olle kind anti an-
other in the Dominion, and if that
variation took place in every con-
tract, it would moan Pr'ett'y cicse to
$3,000;000—$1,960,000 to be exact --
111 added costs for hauling the mails.
110 you want this done?
If that sum is to be spent in char-
ity let it be voted in Pnriiameut is
the Usual way, Expenditures ought
to be under control—we ought to
anew What money Is voted far. 11)11
list is only the beginning, There
are c•antltitets to be let in the Donne -
Inn of Cuinada running into lulad-
1,4s of ulilltons of dollars, Com
heels for • buildings, railway con-
ttuctlnn and other things, Would
Yon want lite ume principle a1olled
to these? Do you leant the tiny
element of the, Dominion of Cnitatla
--Grit, Tory, C,C,P„ Social Credit,
or whatever it may be, to introduce
0110 ]uinalrite of patronage which
elwnys lends to graft. It would
*•reels and destroy the integrity of
the
People of the Dominion anti add examining mc.t:lods of appointment,
millions and millions to what I ! Of the total given above the molar•
e
dom ��i alvice
In be, a it come nutlet �tha Oivil S
even at the p'e.ent. Y
thea, an excessive cost of Govern. Commission so far as a1P°intmauts
man:, It would not be long it this and promotion is. concerned, 'tilero
Government Positions
New I wast t, turn to another
practicai problem. I ant going to
discuss a question, which tmu:hca
the remitter ground of everyday
experience, I want to Ileal with
the utetthod by which appointments
are Hurtle to Government Positions,'
There are 43,000 in the Civil ser-
vice of the Deminiou of Canada.
This does not include those who
work in the Canadian National Rail
hays, which is a government owned
corpeltklon but they are not in the
Civil service, The elatemef.t is as
at Oct. 1936there would not be any
great ehant;e 8ii:ec that •time, Total
salaries and wages in that mouth
amounted to $5,216,504,69, In ad.
canton to this there was paid lu
wages, to those who come 1n the
nil -enumerated class, a Intel of
$851,06,41. This was paid telnpor-
ary empinyi'es, mule of which ought
be on only a few clays, meanbne of
our military and navel services,
revenue postofflee employees, and
malty other similar classes, 1 art
not discussing wages or numbers
from the standpoint of criticism.
That coulri only be dole after care-
ful study of the facts-•-4o-day we are
are exceptions, Employees working
on cQmmdssiene are 'not undel' the
Mal Service, The income tax de•
Pertinent Is 011121de the scope---
neither are Secretaries, 11'liniatel's
and Deputy Ministers under 110
direction—+Chore are a few ot'her's,
Aside trona these and the non -
enumerated claw mentioned, aP-
tpolistment is by the Civ11 Service
Commission,
The appointments are made not
by political Patronage, not .by "Pull'
but by merit, tested by examination,
written and oral or both, The work
18 done by competent examiners of
the Civil Service Commission. In
it single examihatiou I have known
the resu1ta to 1:altge from 13 marks
to 98 out of a hundred, It re-
quires 60% to pass. Tilers is tt
preference for returned soldlats. If
they pass they go to the top ut the
list—no •matter how high a civilian
candidate may rank, do far as I
know that is the only fair way of
seleotiug men for the different de-
partments. There may be other
ways bet I do tot know a better
one,
W+by are appointments made 11101
way? I assume that is the questiun
which you would ask me if The
radio were a machine which emtbied
the ketenes to talk back.
My answer is: "Why shouldn't
they be made that way."
For years appointments to gov-
ernment positions were made upon
the basis of patronage. They were
appointed by the party in power
and no one of the opposing political
faith iea:d tbe smallest chance or
securing a position. Not only that
but with every change of Govern-
ment the spoils system yrevat;ecl,
thousands who held poistions seem
thrown out—new ones put in their
plat ce.
I ask you now tale question:
"What do you want in your govern-
ment? Is politics nothing but a
game in which, at election time, we
judge not measures, nor men, nor
the Interests of the nation, but
only the chance 01 getting into
office If you are a Canadian you
ought .to study Canadian problems
and work so that the party you
support reflects the views you hold.
You should strive to send to varlta-
nient men who understand issues
and are capable of expressing their
views otherwise they cannot serve
you as they shoutd, You should
seek as in private business, efficient
administration. You should strive
to have, in every branch of govern-
ment, the most efficient men who
can possibly be secured, le, you
were direr:rag private industry
would you want the 'entire staff
changed every time there wee a
change in the dheetorate? I know
your answer. Would you confine
appointments to one 'sonata' faith?
Would you make appointments
without regard to merit? .Again I
know year answer. This is what
you would say:
1, Appointments to the Civil
Service should be ou merit, merit
ongitt to be determined by tests,
there should be security for those
who get positions—they ought not
to be thrown out merely because of
a change in the government 01 the
country,
The Civtl Service ought to be
Gm Most competent, most efficient
body of workers in the Donriut0n of
Canada.
3. Cilvil Servants should take
no pant in politics. They should
be free to vote but not to beoonte
bitter partisans. They should be
willing to work with equal energy
for one government to -day and an-
other tomorrow
That is what you would sly, and
that is what both parties in Canada
are hying to do,
A Competent Service
Tire Civil Service is a great deal
more competent and efficieue than
it was a fete yenrs ago. It it' not
a place of idleness, it ie not a camp-
ing ground for the physically and
mentally 1m111, 1 think 1 could tulle
you into 111 ply:war after depart_
meet of the Civil Seiviee and :he
worker's there would compare m t v•
1 e a
curably with the worke"es of any
business Met(ett`ot in tits, country,
It Is not yet perfect --nothing is ever
perfect, but I describe truly the
Civil Service as it is today when I
'say that it is a fine, honest, sr1'ulghti fnrlwted, hard working body of
.Wren doing the best they can, givin
faithful and valuable service to the
1100Die iia
of the to Dominion
t ,
Past, l Hit
istory
y
It ,vas not always tiros, In 1880
- ipretronage was in nth ewiu�--.-e
Hoyai 00110t11581on shade e, study cl
the C1v11 Servlce. I give thle ex-
til.l1 tram urate report,
"3'be scrrvlee was oftei1 a refuge
for people, who by feasor et Betel.
indolence or loch of intelltgetwe,
could got succeed In Otbel' en>plcy
anent. In the Postai Dego:'iment
titirty.flve had been 'totally Mae
tor duty and wore retrieved in the
last . fewe years; nine were drunk.
awls, ,th11118 1 were guilty Of 1'ob•
Imre or dishonesty, and thirteen
tithe's were uttreiy ineompetent
tone being afflicted with etptlepsy,
and another, a letter Barrier, clld
not know the aiphlabeb-1A,uather
abuse lied 0118011 from 01e Act et
1868, which had forbidden a clerk
to receive additional pay 10: extra
work done, in his awn departmetnt
This has resulted in an inter-
change of clerks between depart,.
menta wizen extra work had to be
done, so that each could draw ad-
tdd(tional remuneration yet keep
within the teeter of ,the Act:"
The committee in its final repeat
leashed that patronage was the
cause of the major faults of the
Service and added: "It is teepee.
Bible too, for the appointment et
those who desire to lead what
they deem to be a genteel life,
And it was a "genteel lite."
in those days they went to work
at 10 o'clock jn the morning and
stopped at 4 in the afternoon.
They also had lee hours for lunch,
A man employed In those days had
a position, not a job! In one, case,
at a later date, it was found tbat
,ce1itain men drew salaries for
work and were never required to
coma near the place where they
were Supposed to be employed.
Their work consisted in drawing
their checks and I suppose 10 they
did not arrive to collect 'tbeir
weekly etdpend, an obliging Gov-
ernment mailed them the check.
Changed Conditions
There is none of that to -day
These conditions have tahangeh
Perhaps the change is due more to
economic than to moral impulses.
In the days of Alexander MacKen-
zie, ,Sir John McDonald,
and Sir Wilfred Laurier
trhe number of :Civil Servants
was relatively small. The
cost of Government was trifling in
comparison with ,today. Civil
Service standards did not appear
imypon'tant in Those days, The
change came when we realized that
inefficiency was costly and could
not be tolerated because the nation
could not afford It.
The attitude of past Goverements
is clearly reveated in the remc.rks of
political leaders of that day. nob.
ort MacGregor, Dawson Professor
of Political Science in the Univer-
sity Of Saskatchewan in his History
of the ,Blvd Service o1 t'aeada
points out that Sir John MoDcnald
considered party support as en in-
dispensable condition to appoint•
meet and had little sympathy with
what he termed "idealistic et -
tempts to alter lt," "Every Gny-
eenment," he stated in 1898, "se-
lects ter the Civil Serviee its own
friends and no one could chject to
it,
Sir Richard Cartwright describing
Civil Service conditions existine in
his day wrote in his remini ,ceuces
these words:
"We --Unto is, the Cabinet of
which he was a mentbe:—soon
found that we lived in a glace hive,
Hardly a question could ba d's-
cussed in Council, and certainly n.)
resolution arrive at, which wee 11ot
known to our opponents. The fact
was that not only almost all
the higher' latices in the Clef;
Service, put p1'aetically all the sub-
ordinate places were filled with
more or less zealous partisans tie
our olVonetrta—EVery 01113 servant
was a partisan!'
No Government could survive un-
der these conditions, it wou'd be
impossible. the civil service nntsr
be son -partisan. With every change
of Government there' was a clean-
up, One group of Civil se, vents
Went 0nrt--..ano!her cam0 111-11
changes of government leery rapid
enough you (Tula alvatye be sure
of an fnrempetent, inexpetlouced
civil service, It is no go:,1 ice
answer that a n1- h of one p11111(:tl
faith can fill a job as well as ell.
Other, !slat to net the quest1,11, The
problem is; Hol- will yom get
efficiency if emirs are arniolal;•,l for
political stl'1ees only and changed
with every election, That sett
of thing is abouinable--11 is disuse
trims to any j:o-i,r11t1„>tt--••diens
Irons to the country --it world be
impossible 111 hnaitless,
In the trays 01 Sit' Wilfred Laurier
aimllar views metalled. Sir John
Mainsail,
in n
is biography
of 5•
h
Wilfred says,
' 1IC believed them 1
e 0 vas ear more
of gain t'hnn of loss to Governments
and parties, through control over ap-
id,ewes -
LISTEN_
"CANADA-I938”
4MPERiAt, TOBACCO'S
INSPIRif7G PROGRAM
poIndmentts to slices and d'istribur
Von of public contracts."
Beat these views changed with the
years, Sir Wilfred in later years
recognized Ube merit system and en-
couraged its esteblish.ment,
I mention these facts not es re-
flection upon the character of the
men. Their attitude comes from
the 11mss in which they lived. Under
na eironmstauces would you find in
the leaders of our two great parties
in the House of Commons nor in
any Other patty an expreesior of a
similar point of view. The r:sson
is tbat the patronage system, as It
was applied in the old days, would
be absolutely impossible for gay
government to -icy. I do not think
Yoe could find a leader who would
undertake to administer the +affairs
of the country under the hounding
influences of patronage as it existed
in Canada before the merit system
of appointment came into force,
The argument has been advanced
that a local committee representing
members of the party in power
could make a better selection for
Positions than could the Civil Ser-
vice Commission, Any thoughtful
man or woman who gave couaidera-
tlon to tbe question would hardly be
willing to accept Shat verdict, In
the first place it eliminates pr,leti-
cally one-half of the people in 'Ire
Dominion of Canada from employ-
went in the Civil Service while tbat
particular panty is in power. 1f it
is a sound view then for similar
reasons these men will Abe fired
when the government changes.
Then there comes into consideration
questions which are in no way re-
lated to opacity for tbe position.
Partisan appolatment substitutes
prejudice for merit Th
Ce working wits
he works, True ii is germinal/1Y
poasib1 OW In soma cases loan
mill' be selected by tale C!•til Service
Commission wile ere ineomperattt.
Eat the ehazice of error, ihy this
method, Is very', small compared
with the other cen41110(e ia3 1111011
tyle men who 1Mtaite the selection, 110
11101101- how careful they are, can. I
not be in a :air poeltlou 10 exerelee
a reasonable judgement,
Then there is one other .matter
which I think ought to receive cora-
eidel+atiou, We ought to be Ca11-
adians—is tilat not so? At pree-
em apPeinteients are made Omni
the im lnediate territory where the
position is to be filled, That is 1-o
say if a postmaster is to be appoint-
ed the appointment would conte
frail among those who receive i sole
mail from that peat' office. If it
was et customs house appointalent
It would be made ft'osn the territory
served by that 'reticular 'Customs
house, There are certain varia-
tions form that rule but in practice
not many. I ask you to conelder
the effectt of this, It means prat 11
a man is appointed eo a posittoe In
Huron be is, in a large measure
barred tom going beyond :this ;u,s.
Dion. Do you wart that limita-
tion on your sons and daughters?
Wou14 It not be better to have a
district wide system of appointment
and promotion? In that case, a
man might enter the government
service .in Win;Sl>am or God.erich or
Clinton, or Lueknow, and by a sys-
tem of promotion, through 1L3rit,
he might finally be in Charge of
almflar work in London or Toronto.
Why do we insist on limitation of
development? To a certain ex-
tent there is promotion but 't is
hampered by the grim insieten,:e
upon local appointments, wheat it
should be encouraged by moving
men from place to place as they
develop greater capacity for work.
I ask you to think over that very
carefully, The men and women of
Huron county are capab,e of filling
the best positions but if we insist
upon local appointments and inhere
do tee ,satme, We limit promotion
and prevent the accomplishment of
the shrugs we desire. The bunks
do not do this. A. man may start
in a bank in Wingham and if he
has the capacity he may beeo>ne
general manager—why s+ho•uld we
The Civil limit the Civil Service,
Selly Commission all these merter we are grow -
knowledge or the situation and of Ing with the years, We canunt ex- l
the work to be perforated is able to peat great refotm to be brought
select men for she Civil Service i about in a.day. The high standard
Positions on the basis of merit and of •the British civil service is the re-
ea.pacity to perform the required suet of freedom of development. The
service, I have positive kno,v.edge building of anything whether it be
on some cases where anew were character in the individual, or great
recommended for positions and ex- cities or great nations or great mend'
amination revealed t batt3°t�Z a a z
were who! they requires time, ;t requires effort and ��� �'x. i"z�a � -_ _ � '><fi ;,- � •,. T_
ly ince ab;
P c of doing tha honesty, and C'earness of thought. '
work—tQtey lacked sufficient min. And above all le requires work. We *estb comps ss, 0-i31t generbl Pas
cation. Do of realize the drift- can encourage the growth of sound seiigar agent, Canadian' Pacifier
culties involved in such an appoint• conceptions by voice and pea -by Railway. watt. headquarters, at
men,? If the applicant In this cretinism at times, by patience at .' Montreal. M1; Jamen 10 atpresent
case received the district passenger agent for the,
Position Ire would other times—above all by the effort Company,at Saint John,_N.B., and: -
have to be carried in idleness or we make to determine the right . brings n wealth af, sperlen0e,.
later discharged. It throws an un- course and then following it persis- earned dliring:bit 83, years Cana
due strain en the men with whom tently, There Are a few litres pian Paefftc sorvice, to .Itis mor
post.
WEDNUSd AC, JAN, 391b, I.988
FR
OLD, DISABLED QR DEAD
HORSES OR CATTLE:
removed promptly and efficiently.
Simply phone "COWCT"" to
WILLIAM STONE SONS
PHONE 28 LIMMTED INGERSOLL
BRUSSELS PHONE 72
written AY Longfellow which, to nice
carry a great message. Maybe X
have given them t'o'you before bol;=
anyhow they touch ilite rbgiltt spot:
and will bear repeating:
"In the eider days of.: Art; •
Builders wrought with greatest tiara"
Bath minute and' unseen, part;
For the pods see everywihere,'
T leave'tbat thought with you to-
day. We shall go 'forwardas we'
keep that ideal before me—Working
always to improve existing condi-
tions, No great task was 00er ac-
co1nptished without honest work,
We must work "with greatest'
caro"! "Loeb, minute and uttacee.
part" of the nation we build is in
itself important. We must Work as --
Sohn Milton said, "As ever' in the
great Taskmaster's eye." A nation-
better,
ationbetter, stronger, mightier than we
found it shall be our eternal uioutt-•
menti Each generation takes
things as it finds :'hem and works
to make them better. 'There are al-
ways 'difficulties in the way. But'
we ,shall measure our progress by -
the fairness an 3 generosity et our
approach to these questions and by-
the Consistency with which we keep
before us the interests of the nation:
we are endeavouring to build,
Earns Promotion
Eagle's View of Rio for Cruise M
z1e
Ga
Not flyingnor rolling down to
Rio but leisurely sailing there
aboard a luxury liner Will go a
happy crowd of winter cruise tour-
ists next January when the Can -
adieu Pacific liner Empress of
Australia heads south from New
York January 15 an a West In-
dies and South America cruise.
The glamorous Latin city that
was named Rio de Janeiro be-
cause its harbor was discovered
In the month of January and mis-
taken for flit) mouth of a river
r
claim.
a
that ill
a1 )
arbor" 10 the
world's mos"' s` heetitlful, Certainly
outer pone; 001)1(1 have to show
nt11011
to rlv.lt1111 s
e
C! im, and
there is 1iardly a doubt that the
Empress of Australia's erutse pas-.
seugers will return confirmed
"Rio fans."
Prom the heights of the Tofte
Coreovado, a mountain peak on
which stands a huge figure of
Christ, and from the summit of
Pao d'Assucar, the famed "Sugar
Loaf," members of shore excur-
sions will have an eagle's 070
view of the city and harbor,
Thrilling in itself is the ascent of
the Sugar Loaf by aerial, cable -
ear in two rides, first to the 11a11 -
way station on Penedo de lrrca,
then to the summit of the conical
Silent Loaf itsblf.
Besides these two excursions
flier° are other tips arranged for
lovely
the five -clay visit. The 1 0
mountainous region of Tijuca and
the mountain residential section
of Petropolis will' be the ,objeois
of excursions and 11111111 avenin;;
there will be a partjt<'taxeurtion, 03
enjoy the exotiO4l'gli't lire,°
Rio is notrtho'_nly lror't. t>1 can
an this cruise; lena, b dos (4011110a
and Tamaica,ared 1ittlrcis iia tt M*111
be visited during; 1110 3'�' Cu`- 'Crit),
while on the MalttI tld Qt Stnni1 ,,
America, La Guair n' Venozuola,
will share with Rio thie,atten1j(nh N
of the /empress of Australia's `
passengers who will be badit ,tn.
New York on February 17.
Pictured above are the Theatre
{.
-.
DTuuieinal at. Rio, a view of tone.
fogo bay from rho Corcovado
showing the Sugar Loa!, the est-
ble-car ascendingto latter, t1 r arc :
t
the 10mpress of Auiitralia, the
erutse ship that will visit II•to,