THE CIVIL SERVICE 79

the difficulties, only cause confusion, and the sooner they are
discouraged the better. But there are two reasons for supposing
that Civil Servants are likely to exaggerate the difficulties of
anything new. First, their work requires them to cultivate habits
and routine: if documents are not filed on a definite plan, no
one will know where to find them. The Civil Servant is not alone
in this: an efficient student keeps his books and papers tidy;
an efficient business staff keeps regular hours. But in the "Civil
Service, an exceptionally large proportion of the work can be
reduced to rule, and people who work thus are in danger of
becoming the slaves of habit; they begin to think that the only
good work is the work one is accustomed to doing. Under one
Government, the Civil Service may be encouraged to seek for
every "possible way of cutting down expenditure: a new Govern-
ment arrives, convinced that some of the public services have
been starved and determined to expand them. No doubt it is
good ..to avoid waste; but it is also good to know how to spend
wisely, and a Civil Servant who has for years been devoted to
the former cannot easily turn his energies to the latter. When the
late Mr. Arthur Henderson became Foreign Secretary he is said
to have supplied every important Civil Servant in his Depart-
ment with a copy of his party's policy. Not every Minister is
as resolved upon—or even as well acquainted with—his policy;
nor is it always easy for a Minister to secure loyal,support for a
change, unless he is patient and tactful.

Secondly, the Civil Service, like all professions, breeds among
its members a spirit of professional pride. This is natural and
right; without such a spirit there would not be so good a Service.
But it may encourage the belief that the Civil Servant always
knows best, and incline him to be contemptuous of the Minister
who comes for the first time to the job to which the Civil Servant
has given his life. Further, each Department may develop
traditions of its own, and this will hamper co-operation between
the Departments, and check the development of new pieces of
Government organisation.