The sun., 1893-07-26
TREASURY CLERKS REMOVED
sECREThRY CARLISLE WANTS MORE
EFFICIENCY IN THE SERVICE

Nineteen Clerks Get Their Congo ne Start
| er-Most OF Them Were IucnpncIta,ed for
Duty - Others Must Go Before Long.
| WARRINGTON, July 21. Secretary Carlisle to-
| day Issued nm order dispensing with the ser
| vices OF nineteen clerks In the Treasury De-
| Iartment. Seven Of the unfortunates were on
duty In the Office OF the First Com ptrollcr and
twelve OF them were in tho Sixth Auditors
Office. They occupied places ranging from
| the 5000 to Sl.S0U grade. Most Of them drew
$1,000. Many OF them are too old and
| incapacitatsd for the work to which
they were assigned The Secretary
had this subject under consideration be-
fore he wont to Chicago. During his
absence careful investigation was made. and
1t was discovered that these clerks were not
| performing the dutios for which they were
being paid. some Of them have been In the
| public service for more than twonty avo years.
and. although nothing could be said against
| their personal integrity, their removal was
demanded In the interest OF efficiency. Some
OF them wcre on the rolls. receiving salaries as
expert accountants. but as n matter OF fact
| they were unable to audit an account, and
their old-tmo methods and slowness In per-
forming the light duties imposed upon thom
retarded the work of the entire bureau.
1t was a sad duty for Secretary Carlisle to
perform. but he returned from the Worlds
Fair full OF Western vim. and he proposes to
go right through the Treasury Department
and make such reform in the clerical force
and the methods OF transacting the public
business as may be necessary. number OF
changes in tho other bureaus are expected
shortly for similar reasons The Secretary. evil
dently. does not propose to wait for tho report
OF the mmitteo OF exports. croated under the
direction OF Congress at the suggestion Of
Senator Cockrell and Representative Dockery.
to guide him In reorganiznc the clerical force
OF the department. He has had sufficient ex-
perience with Congressional invesugating
plish what they start out to do
The committee OF 6 xperts on tho methods Of
at work in tho Treasury Department for sew
eral weeks. and Its !abors are conducted in a
Curtis. What progress the experts have made
nobody in tho Department seems TO know or
Sser pas by
and 1t is 20 their interest TO. string out their !
work az long as p3sssibtsS Is put Jus. to TIC
has has mmended the removai or red%ce %ee
grown old n lie pubs ervce amoss
every instance where reduction OF the force |
persons mark ed for removal have managed to |
muster sufficient political influence to secure |
IIcpubcan as well as Democratic administrs-
tiona
In tne present instance. secretary Carlisle |
knew that number of clerks were drawing |
liberal salaries without being able to perform |
the duties attaching to their res pective Offices
Some he knew had not been at their desks for !
weeks at time. being mentally and physically |
unable to discharge their public duties 1t
did not require q committee OF experts to
locnte those people for the Secretary. He
realized that heroic treatment was necessary,
and he a. SO discovered that action would have
70 be taken without giving the victims and
their friends warning.
During the process Of wedding out the in
com net entR her Of aim I'm hanD
discovered and corrected. Systems OF keeping
cumbersome methods have been adopted for
q number OF instances $l.1OO and el.e0O
books and when called upon to explain the
necessity OF the same. frankly admitted thnt
the books were not a part OF the official
records OF the bureau. but simply for tho
convenience of the division. Books hand
somely bound and ruled. costing about twelve
or ffteen dollars apiece. were used In many
instances where one or two dollar blank
book would havo done Just as we'll. In few
cases the books were entirely unnecessary.
As n matter OF course. tho unfortunates at
tribute their removal to partisan zeal on
the part Of secretary Carlisle and his son Lo-
gan. and they also charge that the vacancies
were made to oren tho way for promotion to |
friends Of tho Administration.
Secretary Carlisle says that promotions will
be regulated by merit alone. and the new ap-
pointees will enter tho service through the
civil service channels.