Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-29
BETWEEN CHIEF AND CLERK
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THEIR
PECULIAR RELATIONSHIP.
Unlike That Which Exists in CONNER
cta1 Pursuits-The Complexities
Which Arise.

'"rhe relationship existing between chief
and clerk. and between higher and suboTdi-
nate grades Of the officials in government
service Is peculiar and so distinct from
that which exists between employer and
employee In other walks of life as to call up
some interesting comparisons, which, while
known to those on the outside in a general
way are brought most keenly into the
lives of those who are on government rolls. !"
said a chief clerk. who has himself been a
clerk, to a Star reporter today.
In civil life the employer hires his force
himself, or through his agents In a concern
too large for his personal management. He
has them constantly under his immediate
| supervision and if a man is inefficient ac-
cording to the standard of the establish
ment he is discharged; If he be meritorious
and skilled his salary is raised and he adj
vanced torrespondingly toward the higher
grades in the firms employ.
His Force Awaiting Him.
How vastly different in the government
service. The chief of bureau, or even of
a department. and certainly of division
finds his force awaiting him when he first
seats himself at his desk with a messenger
to blot his SIGNATURE force composed of
all kinds of people from all quarters of the
country, old and young, efficient and inefti-
cient and of all sorts of dispositions, with
shlrkers and drivers and steady-goers side
by side
1T is not he who hires his force, and he
knows 1t and so do his clerks. True that
the power of recommending a clerks DIS
missal Is coincident with that Of recon-
mending his promotion, but in both in
stances the former lies simply in the recon-
mendation which is approved or disappro ed
by the cabinet officer to whom it is made.
And therein lies the secret of the retention
in office OF clerks at small and large salar-
les who are Superannuated otherwise
disqualified, and why 1t Is in some offices
where the clerks are mostly past middle
life and incapable of rapid work. the work
is not kept up to standard which would
forever obliterate that question.
The chief is held accountable by his SUI
perior that the work be kept up The
chief knowing that perhaps 60 per cent, II
not even more of his force is composed Of
clerks whose years are such that a full
days work cannot be obtained from them
puts into operation stringent rules which
compel clerks attention to their work dur
ing Office hours. incurs their anmosty and
engenders a feeling of bitterness all around
which is perforce shared by the really com
petent clerk who is thus compelled %
knuckle down by reason of the incompe-
tence, age or the disregard of rules by
those in question. These offices and di-
visions. Of which there are many in the
| different departments. are well known to
all the clerical world in Washington, and a
young. really competent clerk considers it
in the matter Of a degradation to be
signed to them
The Question of Influence.
can outsider would naturally exclaim: IF
I were chief. I'd dismiss these clerks who.
by reason of age or otherwise, are incompe-
tent and this has been the thought in the
mind of many chief when he first as
sumed the reins of power. Probably 20
per cent of his force could be gathered
under this particular category. But If he
IL his Ia tan
would be met at the cabinet officers desk
with the protest OF the clerks senator or
member. and it would in all probability re-
pose peacefully in the private Secretarys
files. In division which l once had in
charge there were eleven clerks out of 115
who were unentiiled to their pay for the
reasons stated. and whose presence on the
pay roll deprived others beneath them of
de served promotions, and though all Of
these clerks were from time to time recon-
mended for dismissal for specific reasons,
or for the good Of the service, they were re-
tanned because the head of the department
deemed 1t eXpedient to retain them since
they could put In appearance at their desks
and do some work. In dismissing one clerk
he would have antagonized a member of
the committee either in the Senate or House
which had charge of the affairs of his de-
partment or in dismissng another he
would have gone up against a member OF
the committee on appropriations. and SO on,
whatever the reason may have been, thus
exemplifyfng how man changes his opin-
ions when really he possesses executive
power.
at is this knowledge, among other things.
which makes some chiefs strict discplinar-
fans. OF course. If clerk commits griey-
Gus offenSe, such as becoming intoxicated
during Office hours or commits some other
infraction Of the rules which cannot be
overlooked, he generally walks the p'ank,
but even in these instances I have known Of
reinstatement where the clerk had the
right influence.
From the Clerks Standpoint.
But the clerks have official and indi-
vidual rights which their chiefs are bound
to respect. AS body, the clerks In Wash
ington are a eady-working lot of salaried
people either from choice or fear. They
have, however. their proportion of shfrkers
nall runners, make believe-buSy, laxative
superannuated. incompetent and others,
who constitute class, when combined by
themselves, and 1t is these who cause
trouble for themselves, entail the enforce
ment of stringent rules and make 1t I'M
comfortable for others. The really compe-
tent and faithful clerk smarts under the
crack of the whip, which necessarily snaps
over his own head in order that the clerk
whose desk adjoins his. and who spends the
best part OF her or his time In talk or
dawdling may also hear 1t.
MANY chiefs in their zeal to please their
superors. become overzealous in the car
rying out of their duties and the keeptng
up of the work of their division and were i
not that the rights or clerks are recOg-
MED by those higher in authority and their
hours regulated by statute. which the cabi-
| net officer alone has power to curtail or
extend. they would keep their clerks in
after hours or give them such tasks as
could not be reasonably performed In the
allotted time.
An Ever-Present Friction.
"There must. therefore, be an ever-pres-
ent friction. mild or accentuated, between
the great body Of clerks and their official
superors. Nearly every clerk In the de-
partments has his or her grievance and is
more or less sore on somebody, either q
fellow clerk for getting a promotion that
the clerk thought he was entitled to- or
against the chief for reducing or failing to
advance him. Complete satisfaction and
unanimity of agreement would be arcadial
in contemplation and impossible in per-
fcrmance. What is often one clerks in
jury is his neighbours profit. AS rule the
bitterest haters are the women clerks The
men are more philosophical.
THE feeling engendered by the intrisues
and the ups and downs in government ser
vice usually ends in a bitter and lasting
hatred only. 1t is seldom that the out
come is an exchange of blows. and but
once in the history Of the departments has