Historical examination of the evolution of the United States Civil Service and attempts to reform it, from its beginnings through the early 20th century
[The] hilariously satirical ... account of "Parkinson's Law" of bureaucracy ... Professor Parkinson asserted that, in a government bureaucracy, "there need be little or no relationship between the work to be done and the size of the staff to which it may be assigned." The continuing rise in the total of government employees "would be much the same whether the volume of the work were to increase, diminish, or even disappear." Parkinson identifies two "axiomatic" underlying forces responsible for this growth: (1) "An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals"; and (2) "Officials make work for each other."