The recent announcement that, Sir Austen Chamberlain and Sit Francis Humphreys, formerly ish Minister in Afghanistan, been invited to join Boards, of Directors in London has eaus-ed a reopening of that ye question as to what should be the relation between polities and finance. It has of course always been understood that when a politician was given a place la the Cabinet he should-at_ one resign any directorships of companies he might have. The reason for this has been that a Minister who remains a director of a company may use, at any rate may be suspected of using, his political position and knowledge of what is going' on behind the seenes in regard to domestic and.-international. affairs, for the advantage of his particular firm, " The: whole thing is som what: illogical, since the politician' in question is not called upon to give up any shares he may possess in any company, snd a shareholder with the knowledge and pisetige of' a Cabinet Minister would Ue'in' a' position aid his company almost, if not quite, as much as he would were, hea director. Fortunately, Cab= inet Ministers are generally men of stich high integrity that such charge is practically never heard.
But while the eases of ex-Ca-bluet Ministers or ex-diplomats entering business are comparatively few, the number of offers made to men on the higher, rounds of the Civil Service to leave Government employ for positions in private firms ig, large enough to cause some trepidation, Although the amount. of work done by the members of the Civil Service is the subject of innumerable jokes, generally, by people who know little of the conditions of work in Governs ment offices, the fact reinaing that the Service contains a great number of men of—outstandin; ability, It is to these men thal captains of industry often turn their eyes when they are inf search of real talent. Can we wonder that so many men leave the ranks of the Civil Service when they are offered immediate salaries which are four or five times the amount they could ever hope to earn even should they attain the highest-positions in their particular branch of the Service? There is, of course, certain amount of honour and. dignity associated with the high= er and more responsible posts in Government offices, but the comparatively meagre salaries offered to men of high qualifications will not always tempt ment to remain in the service, even though there be honour and dignity attached to it The Civil Service, of cours a"safe job;" it involves no of unemployment, and there is a pension on retirement, It offers a harbour of refuge for certain types of people, who though efticient in their own narrow sphere, would never survive the rough and tumble and the keext competition of modern business life. 'They are content to 1 step by step in order or senior ity. In other words, they desire above all things a' quiet life, where the risks are reduced t> a minimum. But there are others, men of energy, enthu siasm,'and with organizing abil~ ity above the ordinary, men who ave born to command. To such the Civil Service offers little scope for their outstanding talents. They are impatient of the mechanical methods of pro: motion, They realize that, in the Service, age too often counts for more than ability, They see, to2, men, who in the world of com merce or finance would hava made their mark, pensioned off at an age when they are still a condition to do good and use= ful work, and often receiving pension which in these days door not carry them much above the mark of genteel poverty, Commercial and financial mage nates are practical, level-head= ed, people who would scarcely be likely to offer a Civil servant a handsome remuneration in order to tempt him to leave the calm atmosphere of the govern ment department for the hur burly of business life, unless they were certain that' he was Just the sort of person to fulfil their requirements. Neither Would they be so foolish as to pay, their large salaries year after year to ex-Civil servants on the of chance of "occasionally get ting from them official "secrets, which might be useful in their business. Yet" there are suse picious people who believe that this is the sole reason why these big business men tempt civiliang to leave Governiment employ.
The fact is, the British' tion, and the other nations too for that matter, have got it int?" their heads that, while directors of firms should'be well pail heads of government depart ment should work for, at most, modest remuneration. Some days, perhaps, we shall realize that the, cheapest way to run 4 fration'y
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.