The morning times., 1896-07-26
VETERANS IN THE TREASURY
Men Who Have Clerked More
Than Forty Years.
SOPHIE HOLMES FIND
Adventure of an Honest Darkey
Woman Who Discovered
Quarter of a Million.


teenth street have literally grown up In
the service. They came as youths and
maidens, some without the age Qualiflca-
tions for suffrage, and remain toaay at
home IN tile DulIdlng, after u lifetime as
sis,ants TO Uncle Sam IN his none y-making
and uIsbursinS.
A man woman who has been in gov
ernment service iOr twenty-five Or thirty
years is not uncommon. Some nave rec
ord OF rorty-oGd years behind them. 1t is u
curious Iacl LnaJ connecI,on wiln tue
Treasury, department amenable to ali
the transitions and mutations or succeed
ing administration, there are SO many
veterans in continuous service. In the
War and Navy departments this is ex-
pected, for the appointees are in the main
chosen from men who have given their life
service 10 the country and can demand
reciprocal Obligation OF support.
Veterans who entered before the war
were naturally appointees of Democratic
administration, and their maintenance in
their positions is evidence of their faithful
ness in their duties, and a recognition
thereof, which transcribed the small dick
erings OF politics. Until recent years there
has been no protective policy of civil ser
vice TO shield tile ncumDents, and. except
ing those whose efficiency and honesty had
made them invaluable to their bureaus, all
written law, Ito the victors belong the
spoils.''
DEAN OF THE VETERANS.
The dean of the veterans and Nestor of
the Treasury is E. F. French of the audit
ing departnent. Mr.. French is a native
of New Hampshire, and appears to have
been born with the stability of the granite
of his native State in his constitution.
He is hale and hearty at seventy-seyen
years of age, active and happy, proud OF
his record and hopeful OF many useful years
to come.
He first came into the Treasury in 1s4S,
within two years of half a century ago,
the longest continued period of service OF
any man in government employ. In all
that time he has been devotedly regular
at his desk and has only had two vaca-
tions of any length. Once he was excused
to remain at home and entertain a case
of malarial fever and at another time to
fight pneumonia. These illnesses have left
no traces in his ruddy cheeks, bright eyes
and clear voice.
Mr.. French has always been a great
Sportsman and lover of outdoor diversion
When he first came to Washington IT was
quite a different town from the present
city. He says the memory of the old town
is as of a different place, and he some
times thinks he is spending the latter half
u
days he used to hunt the plentiful duck in
the commons and marshes extending to
the Eastern Branch from the present East
Capitol and Second streets.
He was one of the organizers of the
present League club, or at least OF Its
director ancestor. In November, 1853,
Mr.. French, Arthur Pugh German, then
mail boy, and James Morrill, held a meet
ing which resulted in the formation and
tifr nft ha National
Of Washington.
1--WE were volunteers in those days., said
Mr. French, "but we had fine games and
lots of fun. I recollect when the New
York team first came down; 1t was a
great event. When a foreign team from
such a distance complimented us with a
visit, we made a festival for them The
pla yers were tnken to the theater, on ex-
cursions up and down the river, and in
variably we ended up with big dinner
ct the Kirkwood House, on the site of the
present Raleigh Later the National Club
became professional and entered the ma jor
associations I think / saw nearly every
game until about '72. Since then I've been
taking my baseball out of the papers, un-
ill.," he added, with a wink, '"the last
few days"
Citizens of Washington will remember
other III embersofthe rench family. Benja-
min B. French, a brother of Z. F. French, |
was all his life one of the m ost conspicuous |
District Masons He was clerk of the |
House In AZ and '4S, and president OF |
the first telegraph line from Washington to |
New Orleans Another brother, Henry F. |
French, was for nine years Assistant Sec |
retary of the Treasury.
Next to Mr.. French in continuous service |
stands Henry Sproggn. who came into the |
depa rtment in 1857. He has for years han
died all the gold which has come into the !
Treasury 1t is unnecessary to say that his
labors have been considerably lightened the |
last few years in proportion, as the burden
has been shifted to the clerk who handles |
all the outgoing yellow metal.
SERVICE SINCE 1853.
Third in service of the present iucum-
bents is Thomas j. Hobbies, disbursing
clerk Mr. Hobbies is a Maine man, and
came from the pine State in the early sos,
q mere boy. He took a clerkship in the |
Treasury, and has made himself invalu-
able to each succeeding chief whose for
tune it WAS TO have him in his office, until
his full measure of desserts was served,
and by degrees he was promoted to the |
dignified and responsible position he now
holds as disbursng clerk Mr.. Hobbies has
not only seen the building of the Treasury
expand from the long front on Fifteenth
street and projecting wing to the present
extensive pile, but he has day after day
seen developed the minutiae of the great
financial system which was in his earliest
service crude and >inconsequential, until
now it is a mountain of detail and
marvel of completeness. Though he left
Maine as a boy and has lived in Washing
ton for nearly fifty years, he is still proud
to have retained through the almost half !
century his home suffrage. He remains a
citizen OF the State of Maine, pays his
taxes. interests himself in the politics of
his Commonwealth, and even returns oc-
casionally to exercise the dearest politi-
cal prerogative of an American citizen.
= Mfr. Ho''hes entered the department in
April, Mr.. H. A. Lockwood followed him in
November of the same year He is from
Wisconsin: citizen OF Prairieviile, now
famous to the world as Waukesha. His
father named the town and plated the |
town. 1t was afterward changed to its
present by force OF the fame of its waters.
Mr.. Lockwood has teen in the depart
nlent so long that he has lost track of
the accurate date OF his entry. He went
to book case OF scared md yellow volumes
andpicking the first on the top shelf brought
itdown TO correct the deficiency in his men,
DRY. i Vas The first volume of engrossed |,
pay rolls OF the commissioner of customs
office and each clerks signature for
Ealary received. Mr.. Lockwood made up |
the pay roll OF the office of commissioner |
Of customs from 1862 to 1894. He was the
only man ever to hold the position of
deputy commissioner OF customs. He was
the incumbent from the time the office was
Instituted until 1t was abolished in "a by |
the Dockery bill.
VETERANS GONE BEFORE.
Running his finger down that first page
open before hin, Mr.. Lockwood commented