FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



with me and then go to appeal from me to the Secretary of 

 Agriculture. In the case of some large stations he might even go 

 to the President of the United States and appeal from the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture. I believe that such men have alw^ays been 

 referred back to the Secretary, and by him back to me, and of 

 course I relied entirely on the judgment of my field assistants. 

 I actually had one Congressman tell me once at my desk, with 

 his voice trembling, that his reelection depended upon his success 

 in retaining a certain station for a certain district. Surely the 

 Congressman has a hard time! 



I think I have already mentioned the fact that when I first 

 came to Washington political influence was paramount and that 

 almost every clerk had his backer in Congress and held his place 

 so long as he held the good opinion of his or her special Con- 

 gressman. This was before the days of the Civil Service Com- 

 mission. Conditions were about as bad as they possibly could be. 

 I am sure that Congressmen themselves felt a decided sense of 

 relief when the first Civil Service Commission took office since 

 they could tell all office-seekers that their Congressmen could be 

 of no help and they must pass the examinations. I have heard 

 that the idea "to the victor belong the spoils" still holds with 

 certain of the states, and that office-holders are not only political 

 partisans but are contributors to campaign funds. I have already 

 stated that the first year I was in Washington I was asked to 

 contribute one month's salary to the campaign fund. Imagine 

 a man with a family on a salary of one hundred dollars a month 

 obliged to meet a demand like that! 



Probably one reason why I have seen so little of Congressmen 

 is because I have spent so much of my spare time at the Cosmos 

 Club, and there you very seldom see a Congressman. In the early 

 days of the Club there was only one member from the Hill, and 

 he was Congressman Everett from Massachusetts, an old school- 



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