St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-23
REDUCING EXPENSES.
Heads of Departments in Washington Gut
Down Their Clerical Forces to the
Minimum.
About Sixty Thousand Dollars a Yea,
Wisely Curtailed in Two Offices of
Importance.
Record of the Fiscal Year, as Shown
by the Commissioner of In
ternal Revenue.
Commissioner Sparks Gives His
Opinion Concerning Land
and Settlers.
Working With small Forces.

Opinion concerning Lana
and Settlers,
workin. With Small Forces.
Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22.-The reports of
bureau officers, now being published, do
not indicate that the clerical force of the
government is to be much, ii at all, re-
| duced, and the extreme economists on the
appropriations committee are not going to
be gratitied by a general invitation to cut
and slash. Some of the treasury officers
found their clerical forces much larger than
| they needed, and have made some reduc-
| tiOns, but many of them are anxious to get
more clerks. The register, Gen. Rosecrans,
has already reduced his force by twenty
! three persons, whose salaries amounted to
$26 200 a year. The third auditor, Col
| Williams of Indiana, has reduced his pay
rolls $4,000 a year, and expects to make
the reductions $40, 900. The first comp
troller wants three more clerks, at an ag-
gregate increased expenditure of SIS, 900.
| The comptroller says the buSl-
ness of this Office is constantly
increasing. and its duties are responsible
and onerous, it being, as to the settlement
of claims against the government in the
nature of court of last resort For the
proper performance of these duties, clerks
| of more than usual capacity and ability,
and most of them with legal training, are
required, as it is impossible for the comp
troller to personally overlook every item in
| the large number of accounts revised by the
| officers. Many of them require
A GOOD GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
| for their proper consideration. For eX-
ample the accounts for the unauthorized
| expenses of the courts of commissioners of
| Alabama claims were passed by this office.
| unchallenged, for number OF years, until
| called to the attention of the comptroller by
| an attorney practicng before that court.
i The second comptroller does not ask
| for clerks in his annual report,
| but he makes the following remark
! to show that work of his office is increasing
faster than his force. By a comparison of
these tables with the report of the second
comptroller for the fiscal year ended June
| 80, 1854, it will be found that the grand to-
| tai of accounts and claims settled in the
| fiscal year, which ended June 80, 1885, was
81, $50, and in the previous year 81, 7S0,
| being an increase of 33 per cent, While the
| increase of clerical force was only 135 per
cent. This does not look like reduction,
and suggests that in his estimates. which
| have not been made public, he may have
asked for more clerks. The same thing is
| true of the first auditor whose report does
not contain his estimates, but does contain
a statement that in the last twenty-four
years the clerical force has not quite doubled,
while letters written have increased more
than siX-fold. and the number of accounts
more than double, and the amount involved
in the accounts more than eight-fold. The
fourth auditor says in E.s~ anuRSl report.
which is not accompanied by estimates:
Upon taking control l found the work
was
CONSIDERABLY BEHIND
due primarily to an inadequate force, as
the business had been steadily increasing,
while there had been no increase of clerks,
and besides this the demand made upon the
office for information and evidence to be
used in the preparation of cases and be-
fore courts of inquiry, courts-martial and
the criminal courts of the district engaged
in the investigation of trials of navy depart
ment officials, has interfered greatly with
the conduct of business and delayed the
prompt adjustment of claims and accounts.
| have estimated for an increase of force
for the ensuing fiscal year, which believe
will enable the office to bring up the work
and keep it up to date. Second Auditor
Day of Illinois will not ask, at present at
least for any more clerks. Dismissals.
| designations and deaths have reduced his
force twenty-five below what his appropria-
ton allows him, ard these vacancies he will
have filled soon. The work of his Office
has been largely increased by recent legis
lation. and before long more clerks will
have to
BE PROVIDED FOR.
They are already needed. The act OF
congress of June 80, 1884, authorizing the
adjutant general to remove the charge OF
desertion from volunteers who were only
| technically deserters, added a hundred
thousand to claimants before the record
auditor. The third auditor, the commits
sioner of pensions and the adjutant and
quartermaster general make about sixteen
hundred requests annually to have the sec
ond auditor verify signatures of military
claimants, and each of these involves a
search, and sometimes a long one, in the
| auditors archives, which consist of 10000
| file boxes and 25, 900 bundles of papers not
| filed for want of shelf-roOm. Nearly every
senator and member of congress has scores.
and some have hundreds of constituents
| writing to them to find out how their
chances are getting on. They send these
letters to the second auditor and they can
not be ignored. though two cases might be
adjudicated while the status of one case is
being hunted up and stated. Eighteen
clerks in the second auditors office are em-
ployed exclusively in searching the files and
making replies. The second auditor really
needs fifteen more clerks, besides the
twenty-five that he will get permanently to
fill vacancies. He is gaining slowly on
accumulated arrearages. but there is still an
enormous amount of work ahead.