Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-25
SECRETS OF GOVERNMENT
Very Few of Them Escape From the Com
missioners' Room.
Failure to Give Prompt Public Notice
of Important ActiOns-Order
Mny Be Modified.

N,
| engaged upon matters of interest to the
| citizens of the District. If such was the
case the time is evidently not ripe for the
| public to hear just what was done
| This begins another week of public busi-
| hess transacted behind closed doors and
shrouded in the veil of mystery. Safety
pins were no needed to hold the veil, for
| the faithful messengers armed with the
| consciousness of official support guarded
the sacred entrances to the holy of holies,
| and their presence spoke as loud as words
| to the outlaws Of the press, Thus far shalt
| thou go and no farther" A few outsiders
| were given the mystic pass word and were
| allowed admission to the august presence,
| but what went on behind those doors the
| Commissioners do net care to have the
public know.
| 1t is presumed that the Mystic Order Of
Three approve of the system they have
| adopted fer. doing business. but there are
| those who feel that the business, being OF
| a public nature and affecting the comnun-
| ity, might just as WELL in the interests OF
| all concerned. be open to the public gaze.
II the present system should continue
much longer, though OF this there is every
| reason fo, doubt, things may get into bet
| ter working order, and those who are af-
| fected by it may find out with more defin-
| ttepess just what the recent order OF the
Commiss.6 ners means.
Not Given Out Promptly.
A case in point may well be cited as
| clause of the now famous order says: "An
| official acts Of the Commissioners VIII be
| promptly given to the press by the secre-
| tary of the board" 1t is hoped that the
| be called upon for q legal definition Of the
| word "prt mptIy." AS rule the ComElis-
| sioners nowadays rarely allow any of their
| Official acts to percolate through their Off
| cial filter until such a late hour in the day
| that they cannot be noted in the newspa-
| pers until the Eext day..
| For some reason they broke through this
well-nigh inviolable rule last Saturday and
| signed the new schedule of surveyors fees
| shortly after noon. According to their own
rule the schedule. being of public interest
from every point of view, should have
| been given out without further delay.
| Such was not the case, however, and had
| it not been for the fact that The Star man
| knew that such schedule had been adopt
| ed there Is no telling vixen the public would
| lave been told of the new system of fees
in public office. Considerable scurrying
| around with the consequent exhaustion OF
certain amount of gray matter developed
| the fact that the precious document had
| escaped across the hall into the hands of
| the engineer department. In due course of
| time under the present system, the sur
| veyor would have been notified Of the new
schedule, and the first the poor public
| would have known of 1t woald be when in
| dividuals had business with the surveyor S
| office. The kindly services OF the secretary
| OF the board were invoked by the news
paper men, who called attention to the
first section Of the Commissioners own
order, and in the course of a couple of
| By close squeeze the schedule was ex-
clusi<ely printed in Saturdays Star.
The business training of the Commission
| ers is evidently not such as to develop in
| them knowledge of the value of news.
| and it is to be questioned whether either of
| them or their secretary would find 1t an
easy task to get job on a big paper as
news editor. The best Of public officials
a re- mot cori1 Md
This morning the Commissioners opened
| bids for the construction of curbing in the
District. A score or more of contractors
| were present when the bids were opened.
| their absence. If any of the taxpayers OF
the District care to know what the bids
We're they might find it to their advantage
| to question the contractors.
May Rescind the Order.
There are reasons for thinking that the
Commissioners are not altogether satisfied
with the way the present system is pam
ming out As a result no one would be at
| all surprised If their recent order should he
rescfnded or at least SO amended as to
bring it more within the bounds of reason.
They are not so thick skinned as not to
| feel to some extent the effects of the storm
| Of disapproval that was brought about
their heads by the Exclusion act" A ru-
NOR was out that Maj. Powell, bored be-
yond endurance by the continued criticisms
| published in the local papers, was thinking
Of requesting the Secretary of War to as
| sign him to another billet. This has been
put to rest by Maj. Powells unqualified
denial Of the story. But, of course, there
never was any real ground for the runner.
| 1t Is not likely that MAJ. Powell was in the
least surprised to find out that the people
did not like the order.
Why PhfladeIphians Are Indignant.
Washington is not the only place where
the city fathers are endeavoring to muzzle
tIa o1th
| to fit tighter here than it does elsewhere.
In Philadelphia the reporters have always
had free and uninterrupted access to the
| floor when the city council and the board
of aldermen are In session, and the result
has been that the public have been kept
well informed Of all that was being done
for them by the powers that be. In the
new city hall an effort is made to relegate
them to a gallery reserved for them on the
order of the press galleries in the Senate
and House of Representatives at the Capt.
tol No effort is made, of course. to keep
them out altogether, but even as 1t is the
press of the Quaker city is up in arms at
this attempt to restrict the privileges of the
| newspaper men and to hamper them in
their efforts to secure legitimate news. The
Philadelphia editors ought to assign their
city hall reporters to do the District Com
| missioners office for a while, and then they
would have a more beautiful appreciat tfon
of the privileges they still enjoy.
A part of the Commissioners rule which
| is particularly unpopular is the last section,
Wn1ch says: Letters received are not to
be given out for publicat tfon or otherwise
made public except on order Of board of
Commissioners"
Complaints Hidden Away.
In the old days. before the bars were
put up so high, communications received
were regarded as public property quite as
much as communicat tions sent out by the
Commissioners and copied in the beautiful
yellow calf-bound letter book, which is now
the only resource of the reporters in their
search for news. This was only natural,
as these letters were almost Invariably on
| matters in which the public has a genuine
interest Among them were reports of fail
ure on the part of District officials to do
this, that or the other, complaints Of nom
collection of garbage, recommendations of
work to be DONE letters finding fault with
the condition of streets and sidewalks, and
covering the thousand and one subjects
connected with the government of a big
city. Things are different now and a cit
izen may find all the fault he wants. and
not a line of his complaint can ever get
into print, albeit 1t may interest all his
neghbors and lots of other people besides