The times., 1897-08-21
BIOGRAPHIES OF CLERKS
The Latest Wrinkle Evolved at
the Treasury Department.
PARTICULARS ABOUT THEM
Ii Is Suspected That the Scheme Is
Intended to Disclose just What
"Pull" Each Enploye Has, Though
This Is Strenuously Denied by
the Officials.

Every empIoye OF tie Treasury Depart
ment is to be put On record, and this
record is to lie just where the Secretary
of the Treasury may put his finger on it
at the right time
A biugra phical sketnll OF every employe
is 10 be prepared and indexed so that i5
will be readily accessible. OF course, there
il a partial history of each appointes. on
file at The de partm ent, but tins personal
history is scattered through the papers
pertaining To tle appointment OF that
employe, and it sometimes requires con
siderable search 10 find out just how
such and such empIoye came TO be ap-
pointed.
A day or two ago A ssfstHnt Secretary
yanderlp selected a committee TO de-
wise ways and means OF carrying TINS
biographical plan into execution. Ihe
gentlemen so chosen are Auditor Andrews,
Assistant appointment Clerk Rose and
Mr. DeLand, secretary TO the Committee
on personnel. This committee has held
several Informal meetings, but the plan
is stiIl ia d formative state
A blank containing all the questions to
which answers are desired viii be sent
to each cmploye OF the department These
blanks win be filled out and returned
TO the committee. They viii then be
indexed and filed away for reference
when needed. It is not the design of
the officials of the department that the
information SO gathered shall be printed
or published, AS it was said yesterday that
publicity might defeat the purpose Of
the plan.
sf1a fha- &c nth har eicr
nificance in tire NOV ement than the Treas
ury Officials wish TO know as much as pos
slble about the people in the service of the
department, and that this desire is legiti-
mate and business-Hke 1t was denied
that the plan is simply TO discover the
influence used by the clerks 10 secure their
| prcferment that the department may weed
out clerks who We're appointed through
"infIueuce'' which the department has
blackIisted. There are some people at the
| Treasury who profess TO believe that this
is the real reason why the officials wish To
find out 80 much OF the employees, but they
seem TO nave no other foundation for this
belief than their suspicion.
The Blanks which the employees will
! have t. fill in viii show how they OBJ
| tanned their positions, how they got into
| the classified service, and Will show tie
story of their promotion, reduction, etc.
The exact questions TO lie answe cred hav We
not been as vet agreed on, but pro Dably
will be within u few days. The blanks
VIII be printed Immediately after that
| question is decided, and Will then be dis
| tributed throughout the service.
There are nearly 10000 people employed
in the Treasury Department. First, there
is the departmental service, which includes
all the offices and bureaus in Washington,
tie marine hospital service, lighthouse and
| life-saying services, mints and assay OK
fices, worAmen employed on public build
ings, sthtreasuries, etc The number of
| employees within the classified services in
this great department of the Treasury is
| l1,564. Then there is the customs service
| including all people employed i'll custom
| houses, at ports of entry, SUPPORTS etc.
There are 1,45I people thus employed. The
third department OF the Treasury is the
| internal revenue service. in which 3, 3,I68
persons are employ ed.
The biographies Of all these people viii
he directly under tie eye Of the Secretary
OF the Treasury.