Evening star., 1893-12-09

| X
ing force by 1,760 men, and saving to the
government annually of 81, 760 600. That il
Is claimed, will be rather tidy saving for
democratic Congress to make-if il can
only make IL. 1t remains to be seen whether
congress will have the nerve" to make the
reduction. Heretofore attempts have been
made to cut down the force here or there
but that has always meant a curtailment of
patronage, and Congressman have fought IT
for themselves and for their friends in the
service. People who talk about the work Of
the present commission nod and smile and
sions before
After reporting on the condition of the
customs division, the experts dived into the
ofhces of the auditors and controllers OF the
treasury Department. There they are
working now, and they are digging up inter-
estlng evidences of the congestion of busi-
ness IN these Offices every day
here is report of the president of a
soluiers nome, said Expert Hasllins when
SAT IN ms once talking with him about
his work a few days ago He had Iusf toId
me the story of John Smith, the postmaster
and John Smith, the owner of the load of
nay. nay Inis report. continued Mr. Haskins,
was MADE In lS.U. They have a million or
SO charged against this man. but that does
not mean anything. 1t has been accoun1ed
for in his reports, but they have moi got 10
his reports yet l found that they were ad
vancing as much as SlOO,OO0 to an Indian
agent who had perhaps a million and a half
charged against him and who gave only
SlU,ooO bond; but when L said that I was
surprised, they said that il was an right
they had not got down to his accounts vet
Well. they had got to the account of this
president of a soldiers home the other day
and they threw out an item of 500 for lro-
visions to stock a private car used by the
major generals of the army in making their
inspection of the home. The auditors would
not accept the item because II did not give
particulars. 1t is to be sent back to the
president OF the home and If ne cannot fur
he Of
VIII have to make good the amount him.
self. Now, 1 don't call that fair. II they
called on the man within 4 reasonable time
to make an explanation of his accounts, ii
would be all right; but a man cannot re-
member the details of an account for years
i found the account OF an Indian agent the
other day which had been in the hands
of the auditor since 1Ss1. 1 asked why 1t
had been allowed TO go unaudited so long,
and they said that it was because the man
was no longer in the service. They had
been working on the accounts of people
who were still doing business with the gov
ernment. IL they ind something wrong in
that account. they may get hold of the man
and demand an explanation of him-siX or
seven years after. 1t Is enough to keep men
from doing business with the government
at all.
The Double Check System.
1--WE have been looking into this double
check system at the treasury which they
There IS nothing in it. The clerks in the
auditors office go over the accounts care
fully and perhaps throw out an item here
or there. The accounts then go to the con-
troller's Office and a 81, 100 clerk there takes
hold OF them and goes over them again. He is
more than likely to disagree with the audi
tors findings and to throw out some entirely
different items. Does the account go back
for revision to the auditor then? Oh, no.
The decision of the Sl,200 clerk in the con-
trollers office is final In the second, third
and fourth auditors offices the work does
come back. but it comes to the bookkeep-
ing division merely to be entered. Ii does
not come back for review"
Effort to Simplify.
1 asked Mr.. Haskins IL the commission
was working TO cut down the expenses of
the departments.
THAT is cnly an incident" he said. THE
commission is trying to simplify work so
that it can be done more rapidly and more
effectively. With simpler methods IT can
be done by fewer clerks in some offices
But what We want is to place the depart
ments in position to do current work If
you take a claim for back pay or bounty TO
the department now they put it in a pigeon
hole--in what they call their open files-and
there ii lies for two years before il is even
taken up for consideration. The business is
SOhStSleu W TN system
there is no reason why the work should not
be brought up to date. Col. Ainsworth's
card system of keeping the war records is
an excellent one. He thinks IL can be used
in keeping accounts l do not know whether
IL can or not They adopted Ii in the second
auditors office two years and a half ago;
and now comes a new second auditor who
does not like ii, and he has ordered that the
work of two years and a half shall be
Transcribed from the cards into books And
so it goes. 1t will probably be necessary to
reduce the force I'm some departments, and
ii Will not be necessary to reduce IL ia 9TH
ers. In the sixth auditors office we found
that the work could be done much better II
the force was reduced"
The Hours Of Work.
There is a proposition that the hours of
work of the department clerks be increased.
There is law whicn fixes the work at
seven hours day. The law used TO pro-
vide for eight hours a day in the winter and
ten in summer. Ii will take an act of Con-
gress TO Increase the department hours
They are now from to 4. and the clerks
have half hour for luncheon. Possibly
the hours could be extended to 80 without
congressional action. But to make the en-
ployes Of the government work the number
mess houses here or elsewhere will take
affirmative action by the House and Senate
An attempt was made i'm the last Congress
to extend the hours: but the Influence Of
the clerks with the Congressman defeated
the proposition.
GEORGE GRANTHAM Balm.