Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-25
Condition of the Auditors Office.

Post Office Department?
Condition of the Auditors Office.
when I came to Washington to take
| charge of this bureau / expected to find
| similar ccrCitioas. 1t is said to be the
| largest accounting Office in the world. Its
| five hundred employees are engaged upon
! the important work of adjusting the ac-
counts of the entire postal service. with
| its S9o,000,OW of receipts and Gis5urse-
ments. We keep separate ledger account
with each of the seventy thousand post
| Offices in the country. We audit the pay of
each OF the postmaSteTs, railway mail
| clerks, post office clerks letter carriers
mail contrs ctors and Others constituting
| the 10000 employees of the postal system.
We receive, check W. ana assort each of
4 the 230Do,0U0 money orders issued annual
| ly in the United States, aggregating in
amount many hundreds of millions OF dol
| lars. All this vast and responsible work
is done in this bureau over which | have
| been called to preside and where I am
vested with many discretionary powers Al
though entirely concerned with postal mat
| tiers, this is bureau of the Treasury De-
partment.
Il expected to find here a well-organized
and administered business institution
where the purely business operations COM
| mltted to its care would be conducted on
| the same basis that they would be in a
| railroad Office, bank or large manufacture
ing establishment, If one of such extensive
operations could be found. discovered on
| investigation. that while there was no uni
| form or consistent record of the efficiency
| of the clerks, there was a very clear
| record as to the politics of every employee
III appeared also that two-thirds at least
of the employees relied. and always had re-
| lied, to much greater extent upon po-
litlcal influence to secure promotion than
upon any record they had made for eff
| hciency In the discharge Of their duties
| was at once overwhelmed with appli-
cantS Tor reinstatement, restoration and
: promotion, each applicant backed by a
Cfrr nf N1st,.
| only a few of them making claims for
! preferment on grounds of efficiency"
What action did you take on those ap-
DlicationS?"
| Has Proceeded Slowly.
Il did not take any action. 1 waited to
| get my bearings. Meanwhile my attention
was called to a report made by the demo-
cratic Secretary CT the Treasury to Con-
| gress last winter, showing that a VERY
large number of rapid, arbitrary and an.
/ Parently partisan promotions had been
| made In my bureau during the past four
years, among those clerks classcd by him
In That report as democrats, and that q
| corresponding number Of seemingly arbi-
| .raTy ana partisan reductions in salaries
| mad been made by him among those who
| We're classed by him republicans many
OF them eN-Cnion soldiers. Loud complaint
was made to me by the persons who had
| been thus reduced, and many alleged cases
1 III.
| have patiently lahored for four months 10
| learn what l could as TO the merits or de-
| merits OF these complaints, to acquaint my
| sell as thoroughly possible with the
| personnel of the office and to study the re-
| quirements of The service. These promo
lions and reductions having become ac-
complished facts, there is no way TO RENE
| dy any injustice that had been perpetrate ted
therein, except by an exhaustive process
| OF individual investigation. 1t was finally
| decided TO settle the matter once for ali
| by proceeding carefully with such an in
NeStigation. We have taken list Of these
| rapid and arbitrary promotions from Secrc-
| tary Carlisle's official report and have
| called upon seventy of the beneficiaries to
| show whether the promotion has been Jus
| tilted by subsequent work and present eff
| cause We do not find in the files of this
office single paper showing that they
were made on grounds of merit but we do
| lind some papers on file recommending
them on the sole ground of democratic par
tisan activity"
What is the proposed process of adjudi-
cation?''
Clerks to BE Given Hearings.
Each one of the clerks who has thus
been called upon to justify his promotion
will be given a fair and judicial hearing on
| the merits of the case. If it is found that
the promotion was justified, or has been
vindicated by the efficiency of the person
promoted as compared with his fellow en-
| ployes he will not be disturbed. If it is
| found, on the other hand. in any case that
| the eElploye had not earned his promotion
| by his services and has not indicated 1t
| by his efficiency. and is not now earning
i