Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-21
CLERKS ENTER A PROTEST
Recent Publication Regarded as an Aspersion
Upon Pension Office Employees.
The Finding of Whisky Bottles Not
temperance Prevails.


covery of large. number of empty whisky
bottle in the pension Office, and of the in
tention of the commissioner to keep the
bureau under stricter surveillance, and TO
investigate applications for leave on ac-
count of sickness. with view to eradicat-
ing the drink evil, has given rise to a
great many protests from employees Of the
office. They regard it las an aspersion,
calculated to give the public an unjust i'm
preston of a large body of unusually we'll
behaved and intelligent people
Among the many who have taken excep-
ton tc the weeping charge against the
office is Mrs. Francis F. Cougle. She ex-
presses great regret that the press has
given publicity to the sweeping assertions
and damaging criticisms. which, she says
reflect upon the integrity of the honorable
men and women in the pension bureau.
I'VE regret said Mrs. Cougle. that
these charges will be spread broadcast over
the country, creating the impression that
the bureau holds high carnival most of the
time. ard no opportunity offers to Tefute
those misrepresentation.
Private Detective Not Needed.
With all due respect for constituted au-
thority, we would kindly suggest that with
out the aid of a private detective the truth
would be arrived at, individuals investi-
gated and those evils complained of
corrected without involving the conscien-
tcus men and women whose duties at their
desks are faithfully. comprehensively and
punctuaNy performed. We. in our expert
ence of office life in this bureau for some
years. know that the most reprehensibie
men and women have better protection and
are accorded privileges and indulgences
not permitted to the more worthy men and
women, hard working and deserving, SO
many of whom, suffering from anxiety for
dependent dear ones and in fear of fatal
sickness. drag their weary way to their
desks by sheer force of will, until exhaust
ed nature relieves them from all care and
they drop by the wayside.
we ask that poverty and honest, hon.
orable work shall not be made a degrade
uon. 1t must be remembered that many
men and women in public office have lived
much of their lives in homes free from re-
straint, surrounded by comforts and lux
ur1es, and none is more willing to comply
with all equitable rules and requirements
than these same men and women, whom
We defend on impartial grounds, who are
sensitive TO undeServed censure and relying
upon the consideration due their honorable,
consistent lives and strict attention to
duty.
Those bottles which appear so much in
evidence should also be traced to the indi-
vidual who INDUCES. The informers who
swarm in the pension bureau should in all
instances be compelled to prove what they
assert, and this great evil, this snake of
calumny, will not only be 'scotched,' but
killed.
Many Beverages Harmless.
MANY harmless beverages Mrs. Cougle
added. ARE carried in bottles, and the dis
tinction should be carefully made. Sick
leaves among the high-principled men and
women when taken are genuine, and this
suspicion of deception and dishonesty must
be relegated to those devoid of all principle
of honor. A careful investigation and
knowledge of facts would right many
wrongs, and we crave the privilege of indi-
vidual opinion and judgment, preferring
not to be like dumb. driven CATTLE but
heroes in this battle of life,' and will ever
appreciate from existing power deserved
recognition of work faithfully performed,
character unassailed and integrity unques-
toned"
Another employee of the bureau, gem
tleman who preferred that his name be
withheld, had this to say:
There are over Loco employees in the
pension office The duties required are i'm
portant and arduous. involving the dis
bursement of more money than any other
executive branch of the government. Clear,
active brains, with good Judgment, are
required to do the work, and high stand
ard of mental and moral equipment must
be constantly maintained.
Of High Character.
IT venture to assert, after a number of
years of experience and observation, that
the personnel of the pension Office is of as
high character as can be found in d similar
collection of men and women anywhere
in the world. Perhaps no town or COM
munity of 1.6OO population in this or any
other country can show sucfi freedom from
drunkenness or other evil habits. Were
such communities to be found everywhere
there would be little business for criminal
courts or policemen to attend TO.
Il do not claim kindergarten innocence
or angelic perfection for the pension office
There is still room for reform in some
directions, although there has been notice
able improvement in the habits and eff
cheney of the clerks within the past ten
years. However, the finding of few
empty bottles in the closets of the office
should not be made the occasion for the
impression that chronic epidemic of Dip
somania RACES in that great establishment
Maybe they were not all whisky bot
ties Probably some of them held coffee
and others contained medicine and /. few
OF those which had had liquor in tie
might have been used by men whose grow
ing infrmties of age greatly palliate their
onense OF taking an occasional dram. l
am not an apologist for the use of intoxi-
eating liquors. There is no excuse for a
young man drinking whisky. But the
handful of old soldiers who indulge in
the habit (and, by the way, some of the
brightest and most efficient clerks in the
offlce are to be found among the veterans
oI the war; contracted 1T under circun-
stances of exposure and exhaustion such
as the rising generation knows nothing
about and which seemed to justify, to
some extent, the use of strong stimulants.
some OF them say whisky saved their
ives. Unfortunately the drinking habit,
like many incurable diseases contracted in
service and line of duty. clings to some of
then yet But their numser is very small.
ana In the course of nature few years will
remove them from the scene of action
Il do not want to be understood how
ever. as lntimating that what little whisky
Is drunk in the pension office is Ill con-
sumed by the veterans.
Ihe deservedly high reputation Of the
clerks in that office cannot be lowered by
the hnding of few empty bottles"
800 to philadelphia
ana return via the best-equipped railroad in
America. pennsylvania railroad special ex-
cursions next Sunday. Ample accommoda.
lions for all.-Adyt.