The Chamber of Commerce Defends the Coast Survey
Seattle business leaders oppose federal efforts to dismantle the Coast and Geodetic Survey, fearing political patronage will replace scientific expertise.
At the meeting of the board of trustees of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, an exhaustive report submitted by the committee on legislation on the proposed abolition of the coast and geodetic survey and the transfer of its duties to the navy or interior departments was adopted. The report was accompanied by a letter from Capt. J. J. Gilbert, of the survey, at Olympia, giving reasons why friends of the survey object to a change in its organization. Capt. Gilbert says he is satisfied that the hostility to the survey is due to spoils politicians who came from the interior with a knowledge of it obtained only from blue books and were enraged at finding it offered no opportunity to reward their henchmen.
“Capt. Gilbert says he is satisfied that the hostility to the survey is due to spoils politicians who came from the interior... and were enraged at finding it offered no opportunity to reward their henchmen.”
This debate over the 'spoils system' versus professional civil service in federal agencies echoes modern concerns about the politicization of scientific institutions and the integrity of public data.
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