Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1886-04-22
THE DEPARTMENTS
UNDER A "REFORM" ADMINS
TRATION.
RevoI<ing Each Other's Qrde-s-What
Ensrloysss Have to isIi1sssnit- &c -

WASHINGTON, April 14.-With Mr..
Cleveland altering the letters of the Sec
retary of the Treasury to the Senate, and
Mr. Lamar revOking the orders of ''Gen-
eral' Sparks, and Third Auditor Will
liams revoking the orders of Chief Clerk
Youmans, the Democratic official breth-
rem appear to be rather mixed up and
muddled among themselves.
There has been little said about the re-
vocation of Youmans' order by Williams
in regard 10 passes, but it was rather fun
ny, and shows what bunglers these new
officials are in attempting to run and rev.
olutionize the department machinery.
1t was stated that the power to issue
passes by the chiefs of division in the
by Chief Clerk Youmans because of al
legged abuse of the privilege.
Under Schoolmaster Youmans' new
rule the clerks in the Treasury Depart
ment are required to carry passes. Dur
ing the month of March over one hundred
passes were issued by the chiefs in the
Third Auditors Office. This record so
appalled, Mr. Youmans that he at once
ordered the door keepers not to recognize
passes signed by any chief in that bureau.
Third Auditor Williams returned to the
city, from which he was absent when
this order was issued, and promptly re-
voked Youmans' order.
Now for the reason of such large is
sue of passes. 1t is the fact that that bu-
reau has constant daily business commun-
ication with the War and Interior De
partments, and nine-tenths of the passes
in question represent official transactions,
done through the clerks under the direc-
ton of chiefs of divisions to facilitate and
expedite public business.
And Mr.. Youmans, the chief clerk of
the bureau, did not know thisl Ordina-
rily it takes from five to seven days for
one department to communicate with an
other through the mails.
Young men and women who are anX-
ious to get places in the Government de-
partments should know that there is not
a factory or workshop in the country
where the employees are so watched and
worried and bounded and fined and
docked as they are in the Government Of
fees.
The following, from an Eastern paper,
gives good idea of what employees have
TO submit to:
Now. when the Division Chief wants
to go across the street, the clerk presents
himself before MS Chief uncovered
There he stands until the Chief deigns to
notice him. Then something like the
following occurs:
Clerk-Please, Mr. Blank, l would like
TO 90 out for a few minutes.
n "
ervbody is going out to-day. What are
YOU going out for?
CIerk-I-I haven't been out this
month sir Indignan tly.]
Chief-And that's why you want to go
Clerk-Oh, no. 1 have little private
business which makes my presence nee
essary. 1t is pressing.
Chief suppose you couldn't attend
to your private business out OF oince
hours (grumbling). Well, here's your
pass. 1 hope you enjoy the matinee
The retiring clerk receives this scarcas-
tic ra1king. stern fire in silence and hur-
ries off. If it is woman she cries lit
tie in her anger and modification, but
rets her coat and bonnet and, feeling like
She could scratch somebody if that some
body were Youmans, she breaks Tor the
door. Here a rough fellow blocks the
passage.
Got pass?'
Yes, I've got a pass.
'sShOw it, then, and don't stand here
blocking the passage. examining the
paper. This is good for half an hour.
Dear me, | shall never be able to get
back IN that time" despairlngly.
"If You don't you'll be reported,
growls the watchman, and he halts the
next.
sImarine ladies and gentlemen sub
mitting daily to this sort of thing and you
will understand what dogs life the
Government emplOye leads under such
regulations as prescribed by the che
clerk of the Treasury. Instead or dis
charging at once the dead beats and loaf
ers, the whole force is placed on the dead
beat and loafer level.
4 gentleman told me that he was pass
inc through corridor of the treasury
and hearing the sound of sobs IN dark
corner he turned there and saw young
girl weeping bitterly. He questioned her,
but she refused to say what was the
trouble.
..Afterward - said he, II found thai
she had Just come up from 4oumans,
room after being sent for onsa charge OF
stepping into the corridor, and he had
spoken words to her in the presence OF
other men, and made insinuations thai
nobody but coward would ever make tc
a woman, much less to an unprotected
gilI subject to his orders and with he1
livelihood at his mercy. She did not dare
resent it or report it to any friend. She
could only 30 into the dark corner anc
cry"
This is not general picture of life IL
the Departments 1t shows what happens
when men capable of such conduct arr
nut in charge OF bureaus and divisions
crowded with wonderland men. And there
are many other such instances.
A recent study of comparative heights
and weights among different classes o
population in Great Britain shows tha
The criminal class average no less than 4
pounds in weight, and Al inches in heigh
less than their antagonists, the Metropol
itan police Compared with the genera
population, TOO. this class is seen to be Il
bounds in weight and 2 inches in stature
below the average, standing on about the
same plane in physical endowments a
lunatics.
More than nine thousand bills hav
already been introduced into the Forty
ninth Congress; more than seventy tive
hundred in :ife House alone. Yet ther
are 10 signs OF the end of this session
and next December more bills will be il
order Perhaps one in hundred o