Omaha daily bee., 1888-03-09
THE ClRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE
Report of the Senate Committee on
Government Business Methods.
A VERY voLuMlNous DOCUMENT
The Committee Finds Much to Con-
demn As Ridiculous-The General
Land ONCE in a state.
of Chaos.
ned Tame Ad Nanseum.

WASHINGTON, March s.--The report sub
,nitted to-day by Senator Cockrell, from the
special committee which has been studying
the methods of transacting the government
business in executive departments. is a vol
ume Of 26S printed pages, in addition TO
yoluminous appendices. The committee finds
much in cortoin places to command, and very
much in others to condemn as unnecessary,
ridiculous and farcial crcumlocution. The
report classifies the forces employed by the
government, including the officers and men OF
the army and navy, and finds the grand total
TO be III ,746 individuals. Reports received
from various departments in reply to the
committees letter of inquiry, failed to and the
connection of bureau to bureau, or the di-
vision with division, in respect to any
single item of business transacted, and
for the purpose of getting information OF
this character, the committee caused o few
specimen items TO be traced from imitation
competition. The first Of these is an expend-
iture of $4,000 by the treasury department
for stationery for the fiscal year 1881 The
simple statement of the course OF this tran
saction from ''estimate to settlement war
rant requires twenty-one printed pages
Other cases instanced are characterized as
showing .farcial routine examinations, certl-
fications, entries and red tape ad nauseum,
when direct course of settlement would be
far preferable" The committee finds the
second auditors clerk writing thousands OF
letters to the quartermaster general s
clerk for information Is be obtained from
copies Of the payrolls in the quartermaster
generals office, the originals of which were
prepared in and are now on file in the Office
whence the inquiries emanate. 1t finds the
condition of business in the general land
office, and for many years past, "chaotic, "
which results "from want or lack OF plain
correct business methods and requirements,
promptly and uniformly forced upon the local
land offices and employees of the general land
pffioe.n 1t finds that the tract books of the
office have been neglected since the year 1S3',
and that information which should be readi y
accessible, has, by reason of this "gross care
lessnoss and negligence" to be sought
for here and there through rec
ords at great expense Of time
and labor, 1t finds registers and
receivers, instead of exercising the uasi
judicial functions conferred upon them by
congress, are treated merely as clerks of the
department. heaping upon the Washington
office vast accumulations of undigested mat
ter which takes its chances with the accu-
mutations of past decades The committee
finds offices suffering for want of q classified
abrdgement of patents granted, work
begun several years ago, but unavodably de-
layed; and it submits bill appropriatine
$50, 900 for the completion of the work The
report dscloses many tricks of patentees, and
would -be-patentees, for practically extending
the life of their patents. The committees
recommendations are scattered throughout
the report.