The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-10
REMOVING RED TAPE.
TURNING CIRCUaILoCUTION oFFI-
CEs UPSIDE DOWN.
John Smith and His Load of Hay
Point Moral and AdOrn Tale
of Possibility of a 10 Per Cent
Reduction in the Employees.


Reduction in the Employees.
Washington, Dec. s.-There is q
story current in Washington which
runs something like this: John Smith
was postmaster some years ago of a
Town in the northwest He turned over
MS Office to a successor and turned in
his accounts to the government. The
accounts went to the auditors office
and We're put in a pigeon-hole. duly
labeled. to await their turn. They
were reached in the course Of business
IN a few years and the comptroller
who passed on them finally, disalowed
several hundred dollars of John Smiths
expenses. The matter was referred
TO the district attorney in the district
where John Smith had had the post
Oh re and he was instructed to take
steps to collect. BY the time the ac-
counc had been audited and the papers
had reached the 6istrict attorney. John
Smith had left the town and no one
seemed to know where he was living.
one day the district attorney heard
that John Smith had come to town
with a load Of hay He was a. Jealous
district attorney and he hurried to get
out an attachment on the horses and
the wagon and the hay When the
ofhcer to whom the writ was given
attempted to serve it, John Smith was
very much surprised; and when the
ma tier was explained to him he said:
But I'm not that John Smith"
Aren't you the man who kept the
postt'llce here once2 said the officer.
who was newcomer in the town.
never kept a pOStoff1ce in NV life. -
said John Smith
Well. all l can do is to serve the
writ, said the officer. you can settle
the matter with the district attorney
But when John Smith came to settle
the matter. he found that he would
nave TO go through a long legal pro-
cess to get possession of his prOperty.
and he thought that the quickest wav
was to pay the amount due the gov
eminent and get it back again when
he could prove his identity. So he paid
the money, with this understanding
and sold his hay. Who should appear
presently but the ex-postmaster He
had nothing to attach. John Smith
No. went to the district attorney and
explained the matter to him. expecting
that his money would be handed back.
My dear Mr.. Smith" said the dis
trict attorney, you are undoubtedly
right and the money should not have
been taken from you. But unfortll-
naJely 1t has now come into possession
OF the United States and has been coy
cred into the treasury. The only way
that it can possibly be got out is for
Congress TO pass a bill for your relief
I don't Vouch for the accuracy of
the story said Expert Haskins the
other day. but that is about the way
the government does business
Mr.. Haskins is one of the experts
who are now engaged in an effort to
reform the department methods at
Washington and to bring the depart
ment work UP to date. There are three
of these experts and they are working
under the. supervision of the commits
sion composed of three senators and
three members of the House, appoint
ed by Congress to investigate depart
ment methods. The first of these three
experts is Mr.. Reinhardt the president
OF the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
railroad. The railroad company pays
him $4,000 a year for his services and
the commission pays him nothing; so
he deVotes most of his time to the rail-
road. But he exercises a careful super
vision over the work of the other two
experts, Mr.. Haskins and Mr.. Sells.
Both of these gentlemen have had ex-
skilled accountants. Mr.. Haskins is
the large, round-faced man with the
bristling blonde muStache, the rather
bald head and the healthy complexion,
VINO moves about nervouSly in his chair
when he is talking and gets up occa-
siOnally to take a turn UP and down
the room. Mr.. Sells is the smaller man
with the smooth face, the twinkling
eye and the expressive mouth. They
balance each other well. They are
strong team.
Ever since 1900, the government has
been endeaVor1ng to simplify" the
methods of business of the depart
ments The work was usually under
taken by Democratic officials and they
had every reason to be satisfied with
the existing condition of affairs; so
reforms never went very far. The
experts who are doing the work now
are not department people. They have
no interest with the department people
and no sympathy with department
methods. In fact they have about
as strong a disgust for the system as
they can possibly have.
Department methods are unique. A
man who has been accustomed to
them for number of years usually
thinks that they are very excellent
methods and quite impossible of inn
provement. A man who comes here
to take department position hears
that they have prevailed for GEN.
fury and he looks on them with some
respect. Your expert. fresh from the
of real business matters
for active business concerns, looks into
the department methods and is filled
with horror. A few days ago, in the
course of the investigation which is
being made into the work of a particu-
lar office, the head of the office, a re-
H.