The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-10

II A<L1Ale O-1 IL
simplifed so that instead of being
many months behind. it can be brought
up to date. Incidentally, fOrty-one men
will lose their places. They will re-
main in the Office until June 80. be-
cause there is an annual appropriation
which provides for them up to that
time But when the recommendations
for the following year go in, these
forty-one salaries will be omitted.
This question of cutting down the
| force in the offices is a pretty serious
one for the clerks. But taken in the
aggregate it is a pretty important one
| for the government too. The number
| of employees in the Office of the sixth
auditor is 400. In round numbers, the
reduction of the Office force is to be
ten per cent. The number of clerks in
all of the departments is 1889. It is
not 1860 or 1883. Congress appro-
PIRATES specific amount for each clerk
and only the Senate has a contingent
fund" for the employment Of additional
clerks. The department clerks are pro-
vided for specifically throughout the
government service. Calling the aver
age salary 81, 600, it is more than that,
but possibly the average of those who
will be removed under this reorganiza-
ton will be about that-and figuring on
ten per cent reduction in the depart
menta generally, you have a reduction
of the working force by 1,760 men, and
saving to the government annually
OF Sl,760,000. That is a rather tidy saw
ing for Democratic Congress to make
if it can only make it. It remains
to be seen whether Con ~ress 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 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 commits
sion nod and smile and say: ooh, yes;
but we have had commissions before"
There have been other commissions but
there has never been a better commits
sion than this. If Congress will hold
up the commissions hands, there will
be great changes at Washington before
long.
After reporting on the condition of
the customs division, the experts dived
into the offices of the auditors and
comptrollers of the treasury depart
ment. There they are working now
and they are digging up interesting
evidences of the congestion of business
in these offices every day.
Here Is a report of the president
of a soldiers home.'' said expert Has
kinS when l sat in his Office talking
with him about his work a few days
ago. He had just told me the story
of John Smith, the postmaster, and John
Smith, the owner of the load of hay
This report" continued Mr.. Haskins
was made in 1890 They have a mil
lion or so charged against this man.
but that does not mean anything 1t
has been accounted for in his reports
but they have not got to his reports
yet. l found that they were advancing
as much as $4,000 to an Indian agent.
who had perhaps million and a half
charged against him and who gave
only 100000 bonds; but when I said
that l was surprised, they said that it
was all right-they had not got down
to his accounts yet. 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 provisions to stock a private
car used by the major-generaIs of the
army in making their inspection of the
home The auditors would not accept
the item because it did not give par
ticulars. 1t is to be sent back to the
president of the home and if he can
not furnish the individual items of
provisions, he will have to make good
the amount himself. Now 1 don't call
that fair. If they called on the man
within a reasonable time to make ex-
PLANTATION of his accounts, it should be
all right, but man cannot remember
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 1887.
asked why it 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 work
ing on the accounts of people who were
still doing business with the govern
ment. If they find something wrong
in that account, they may get hold of
the man and demand an explanat ton
OF hln1-Slx or seven years after 1t is
enough to keep men from doing bust
ness with the government, at all.
I'VE have been looking into this
double-check system at the treasury
which they are so proud Of" continued
The clerks in the auditors office go
over the accounts carefully and per
haps throw out an item here or there.
The accounts then go to the COMP
troller'S Office and a $1,000 clerk there
takes hold of them and goes over
them again. He is more than likely
to disagree with the auditors findings
and to throw out some entirely diff
ferent items. Does the account go
Oh, no The decision of the 81 200
clerk in the comptrolIers office is
final. In the End. Ord. and 4th. audi
tors offices, the work does come back
but it comes to the bookkeeping di-
vision merely to be entered. 1t does
not come back for review"
1 asked Mr.. Haskins if the com
mission was working to cut down the
expenses of the departments.
That is only an incident" he said. |
''The commission is trying to simplify |
work so that it can be done more rap |
idly and more effectively. With sim |
pier methods it can be done by fewer |
clerks in some offices. But what we |
want is to place the departments 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 it lies for two |