Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-26
COLLECTION AGENCIES.
As n Rule the Departments Decline 10
Interfere In Such Matters


ct hammered to be in the office of the
chief clerk of my department few Gays
aso." said a clerk in one of the uptown de-
partments when the chief was taxing
clerk to task for not paying a h:n alleged
to he dine to a creditor who had applied to
the chief clerk to compel the clerk TO make
settlement
THE clerk who had recently graduated
from one of the law schools. politely in
formed his official superior that while ne
recognized and would obey his official Or
ders and wishes. he would not permit the
chief clerk to ooerce him in his private at
fairs, and that the adjustment of the claim
lay between him and his creditor.
The clerk was strictly within his legal
and what ought to be. and is in most Of the
departments, his official rights also. No
third party except court has the right to
say what another person shall do In his
private affairs. 1t is often question
whether any debt exists at all. and where
one man trusts another he does so at the
risk of losing the amount Of the debt con-
tracted. 1t is part of his business.
Most of the departments refuse to turn
themselves into collection agencies for the
benefit of tradeSmen and others who may
have claims against any OF the clerks.
Nevertheless. scarcely a week passes that
| their chief clerks are not importuned to
bring to bear official authority to scare or
coerce a clerk into settling bill. although
1t is now becoming generally known that
the officials will decline to interfere In such
matters.
TT Is not because government clerks
any less hone.,t than any other class Of the
employed, or that they are given to the
habit of contracting debts which they re-
fuse subsequently to honor. but because the
creditor belieyes that the clerk stands in
| such fear of being prejudiced in the eyes
of his official superiors that he will prefer
ably settle.
'-There are often counter-clairns and co,,n-
ter-debts. and honest disputes to the
amount owing. If any. and In such a case
IL is the duty Of the creditor to proceed in
the courts.
In some Of the departments the chief
clerks are very abrupt with importuning
creditors. and decline to permit themselves
to be used in the slightest degree, or to
even so much as summon the clerk. and. to
my mind, this Is the correct position to as
sumo. they holding that the government is
not in the collecting business Others think
that a clerk ought to pay his debts. and in
| terest themselves to a greater or lesser de-
gree. usually abandoning the matter sum-
martly II the clerk has any sort of reason
able defense to offer for non-payment.
There is one exception which is of inter
est. since a clerks salary may not be gar
nisheed on a judgment. and that is where
the creditor has sued the clerk and obtained
a judgment 1t is considered that the cred
itor Is In the right and that the clerk hon
estly owing the debt should pay II or make
a compromise. In the instance Of q judg-
ment the chief clerk will often interest
| himself to the extent Of endeavoring to
bring about settlement.
Human nature undergoes no change
when a man enters government service.
and some are not as scrupulous as they
ought to be in settling accounts. Speaking
from experience of twenty years in the
service in all grades. consider that as
class government clerks are exact as 9TH
ers in their money dealings, and knowing to
a cent and day what they are to receive,
adaDt themselves ScCOrQlQRly. III clerk
owes few debts 1t cannot be said that he
is any the less efficient at his desk. and
beyond this his official superiors ought not
| to go unless a question of moral turpitude
Is involved which would raise a question
as to his desirability and worthiness to be
| trusted