The morning call., 1894-08-11
HIGHER ONE FOR A MINUTE CLERK

The OVerworked perspiring clerks Of the
Registrar of Voters had hard dag yes
terday. There was an air of fatigue about
them as they stood at the desks and
perched on the stools about the horseshoe
Enclosure where the names of voters are
taken down, and they sighed for more
clerks 10 help them wait for the tardy
-suffragists.
The lines which might have formed in
front of the desks were nowhere 10 be
seen. Citizens dropped In now and then
and stood about waiting for some clerk to
nod himself awake and take their names,
ages, heights and residences and the
color of their hair and eyes It was an
awful bore to be disturbed from sweet re-
. pose to bother about such uninteresting
details, and there were just enough of the
troublesome casters Of ballots to keep
them waking up every quarter of an hour
or so to d. about two minutes writing.
Loud complaint is made in the Regis
trars office against this state of affairs.
Hundreds of good Republicans, and DEM
ocrats, tOo-fOr occasionally a Democrat
secures a berth here-are out in the cold
suffering for something TO DO, and II 1t were
not for the niggaTdlineSS of the Board of
Election Commissioners these unemployed
but worthy politicians might be taken in
and attend to the affairs of registration
and thus prevent the intermittent break
ing in on the slumbers of the twenty
.scribes who so sadly need repose.
1t isn't s. bad In the other department
of the Registrars Office, where the aft
davis are copied into the white and black
books. There they have colored gentle
man ION the door" TO keep out unwelcOme
and bOtheTsome intruGeTs. He wasn't on
duty yesterday, il is true, but he was the
day before, and he may be to-day If some
inqpisitiye member of the election board
doesn't in some way interfere. His
absence yesterday was due TO the Off
cl0us iBQulsitlyeneSs of the Mayor. On
Thursday the Mayor was considerably
disturbed lest the Registrars Office should
fall behind in its Work Registrar Evans
had made such a howl about the ava
lanche OF work which had descended upon
his Office, buTylng the twenty clerks so
deep that they would never be able to ex-
;tricate themselves in time to vote next
November, that the Mayor wanted to see
for himself the extent of the damage and
make an estimate of how many men
would nave TO be employed to dig out the
unfortunate clerical force The head Of
the municipal government was somewhat
RSfOnlshed when. upon kno king on the
door of the cOpying-rOom, 1t few open and
Chesterfieldian colOred gentleman bowed
him into the apartment.
After his Honor the Mayor had recov-
cred from his surprise he made some
casual Inquiries as to how the work of
copying amdaVlts was progressing. he
then called one of the superin tendents
aside and with the air OF a man who does
not want to attract the attention of the
object Of his intended remarks, said:
'WhO is that gentleman at the door?
You've failed TO Introduce me TO him."
The superintendent replied that it was
NJ A. StTOther.
An" said Mayor Ebert. MAY 1 ask
what his official capacity is?"
Hes a clerk
"a clerk How much does he get?"
Only S125 a month. The board, you
remem Der, refused to allow more, other
wise he might have had $50. which would
have been more in keeping with the dig
nitv of the Office"
Mayor Ebert had lost his awe of the
keeper Of the outer portal, and exclaimed:
''Wbat, S125 a month for a doorkeeper!
And you need more clerks, and they
should be paid more money!"
he was again Informed that the gentle
man 10 question was a clerk, bat that
there was nothing for him to do Just then
and they had put him on the door"
The Mayor made few other inquiries
and found that the Registrar pays 500 a
month 20 an individual who runs errands
for the Office, and $50 month to the man
who performs the arduOus task of writing
out the minutes of the meetings of the
board, which he has 10 do as often as
three times a week, some weeks. Mayor
Ebert asked for list of the employees of
the Office, aud it may be that he wants it
for use in demonstrating the stand taken
by some of the members OF the board to
the effect that Registrar Evans doesn't
need any more clerks, and that his cutlery
against the penuTiOusness of the Commits
eloners Is made for the purpose of securing
more places for politicians. At least this
is what he is suspected of being up to. and
the list has lot been furnished.
The twenty clerks registered 600 citizens
yesterday. That was just thirty apiece.
In order to do this in eight hours each man
had to wake up nearly four times an hour.
Ordinarily 1t takes several minutes to
register voter, so the cat maps are limited
to little less than quarter of an hour
each.
One of the officials of the front Office
upon being asked now many voters it
would he possible 10 register in an hour
said: LET me see, one man ought to regis
ter thirty or forty men an hOur-I think
they could get away with 1000 in a couple
of hours very handilY."
: But Registrar Evans doesn't agree with
this estimate. He said the work was fall
ing behind and that the board was acting
as it was in order 10 worry him. But"
he said. sit doesn't worry me a bit"
There was no meeting of the board yes
terday. and the $3.50 minute clerk mad a
day off Whenever another meeting is
held Mr.. Evans will ask for more clerks
and it is net improbable that be may
want them better paid.
EVANS IS BOSS.