The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-09


OF the volunteer armies and the business
connected Herewith. thus separating then
from the current work OF the living army
| with which they have no connection. Ma.
! for Ainsworth having completed the card
! ing of the hospital registers. turned his at
tention to the muster rolls and other MILL
tary records when these were put under his
charge, and so theoretically was the work
of carding pushed that 1t was completed
! In about eighteen months. Moreover, the
current work of the office has been so
/ much simplifed and facilitated by the sub
stitution of the readily accessible cards for
! the tettered and ilegible old rolls that 1t
was found possible to keep up the current
work with a greatly diminished force and
| to employ constantly over 300 men out OF
$50 belonging to the division upon the
work of reproducing the old records. In
other words. practical saving of over
5000, 900 year in salaries alone was eff
fected in the current work of the office,
while at the same time that work has been
disposed OF with greater promptness than
ever before, over 5000 calls having been
received and answered in one day with
greater ease than 500 could have been I'M
der the old system.
4 ~
Secretary Proctor In his report that
year estimated that the permanent saw
ing to the government, by this Ainsworth
system, in salaries, rent. and otherwise,
would aggregate at least $1,0O0,000 an
nually. When 1t is taken into considera-
ton that this system has now been In
operation for the last ten years, and that
1t has been made possible by the executive
ability and untiring zeal of the present
officer in charge, Brigadier General Aims
worth, some conception of the value of
the service rendered by this office can be
formed. The commissioner of pensions, In
his annual report very rarely fails to
make acknowledge of the great as
sistance which his bureau received from
this division. AS by far the greatest and
most important portion of the duty
of the officer in charge of this
division is the dealing with ques-
tions of purely military nature re-
lating to the service of organizations and
individuals, and their status under the
various laws bearing upon them, 1t is safe
to say that no citizen will ever be put
in charge of it and 1t is also safe bet
that General Ainsworth will be there when
he dies or retires as major general,
which position and rank he has so justly
earned.
years Of labor on the part of this palms.
taking officer and he has had no bed of
roses, l assure you. 1t was his misfor-
tune to be located in the old Ford's thea
ter building when that old rattle trap
collapsed several years ago and killed
several of the clerks. Then his enemies
came down upon him like an avalanche.
nv ornia
any enemies l could not understand until
| learned how he had chopped off the heads
of useless employees in his department.
Then | readily understood it. These peo-
pie in the District of Columbia love goF-
eminent pap better than a hound pup
loves pot liquor, and they look upon every
man who starts in on retrenchment and
reform as their mortal enemy. They had
it In for Ainsworth good and hard for the
wedding process he had been guilty of |
and the Ford's theater accident gave them |
opportunity to vent their spleen. The old |
"comrags" and the whole pack Of District |
hangerson were soon in full cry against |
him. They wanted his blood. They had |
him indicted for murder, manslaughter |
and almost every offense in the catalogue |
OF crime. They made dire threats against |
him and threatened to kill him by hang |
ing to lamp post. Answorth went along |
the even tenor of his way and defed the |
WuOle klI anu Dim OIL llem.
~
After all the array Of legal talent for
the prosecution had made their bluffs,
the quiet Major Newt Morrison of the
judge advocate generals office got up and
read the judge little law and knocked
the indictment into a cooked hat. When
his promotion TO the rank of colonel came
up they made another flutter at him and
again retired discomfitted. Again last
winter when his promotion to the rank of
brigadier general was before congress they
opened up their sluice gates cS filth and
mendacity and tried their Level best to
down him. He has got not only the finest
staying powers on earth, but he has got
some of the best friends who ever blest a
man, and l am glad that he numbers the
newspaper gang among them and they did
some pretty plain talking to divers men,
bers OF congress concerning the promotion
of man who has saved the taxpayers of
this country $1O,000,000 In the last ten
years.
am afraid that some of my readers in
Texas have come to regard me as simply
roasting machine up here. because I
have thrown so many brickbats since l
came here. While it is true that 1t is a
hard matter to find much to commend
here In the way the affairs of this govern
ment are conducted, that / take great
pleasure in thus being able to throw an
occasional bouquet and especially one that :
is so well deserved as this one is by that /,
amiable, generous, chivalrous gentleman
and splendid officer, Brigadier General
+. G. Ainsworth. Next to his wife, he y
loves the people of Southwest Texas \
among whom he lived so long, and / am o
sorry they can not see him now in his
brand new uniform of brigadier general, +
Tor ne looks as slick as slide.