The Sunday globe., 1901-08-04
TANNERS EFFORT
To CanuOnize Ex-Secretary Frank
Vanderlip.
A NOBLE EULOGISTIC EFFUSION
In Which The Globe Comes in for Several
Scientific Side SwIpeS-NeVertheless, We
are Pleased 10 Give The Writer Space and
a Fair Field as He Has The Courage Of His
Convictions and Signs His Name

EDITOR SUNDAY GLOBE:
The leader in The Globe called forth
by my defense Of ex-Assistant Secre.
tary Vanderlip shows a very marked
difference of opinion.
Nothing is clearer to an experienced
jurist than the difference in the way
of looking at the same subject and Civ
ing an account OF an occurrence by
different persons who saw it,
Vigorous, however, as your article
was in attacking Mr.. Vanderlip, my ar.
gument in his favor was in no way dis.
proved Anyone who knows anything
about the workings of our Depart
ments knows full well that there are
many employees in it that endeayor
more steadfastly to do maximum of
nothing than a minimum Of something
They enter Government employment
with a pull, and they depend upon that
pull to protect them from doing any
duty,
When Mr. Vanderlip entered the
Treasury Department, the work in
many Of the divisions was three years
behind. He knew there was ample
force in the division, where this state
of affairs existed, to do this work and
keep it up.
When many Of the employees in these
divisions were called for they could
not be found at their desks, or even in
the building. They appeared for work
at any hour that suited their conve.
nience and disappeared at their own
sweet pleasure. The only sure thing
about their being on hand at any given
time was on payday,
Mr. Vanderlip appeared promptly at
his work at 9 A. NJ He was the
busiest man in the building from that
time until sometimes - o'clock at
night found him still at work. He con.
scientiously wanted the work Of the
Treasury up to date everywhere in it,
and he conceived it to be his duty as
a sworn officer to have it brought up
and kept up. The task before him was
one that a timid man would never have
dared to undertake. The state of af.
fairs depicted above had existed for
years. Pandora had closed the lid Of
his box, and there seemed no resort
but to let things go on in the same old
immethodical, silp-shod way. It would
have been much easier for Mr., Wander.
lip to have allowed it to do so. But
every nerve and artery in his anatomy
protested against it. Duty to him was
a sun around which all planets reyolv.
ed, and first trying gentle means, and
finding those Of no effect, he found
that
Tender handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains,
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains"
and he found that graspng this Ike
a man of mettle" was the only possible
thing to do to cure the incurable con.
dition he had before him.
This meant making many enemies.
1t struck terror to the hearts of many
"old mossbaclls" who had been indulg.
ed in laziness and loafing the street for
years and years. Mr. Vanderlip did
have to put in time clocks in order to
try to do away with the existing state
of affairs. This the shirker and the
dodger, the loafer and the drawer Of
pay looked upon as the biggest possible
piece of tyranny and wrong Now,
right here, Mr.. Globe, does IL not seem
clear to any working faculties that no
one who had a conscientious desire of
rendering to the Government that duty
they were paid to perform would OBJ
iect to time clocks or anything else
that simply recorded their presence in
the Department? II seems to me this
is too plain to be argued. 1t is plain
no reasonable employe could object to
this. But the editorial i'm The Globe
holds this thing up as a fearful wrong
to the employees. The state of affairs
that such thing had to do away with
is entirely ignored, and the man who
had the nerve to try to do away with
this state of affairs is held up as
Bluebeard.
A wholesale dismissal of the dere-
licts would have been the better course,
but the almighty pull forbade this.
The pull and its terrible force was
illustrated by the very parties on
whom the blow Of requiring something
like duty to be performed getting to-
gether and having Congress take out
the clocks that recorded their presence
for duty, which was a triumph of sloth
over industry.
But, at any rate, Mr.. Vanderlip had
undertaken a certain duty and that
Nlu uOL NlNNOulu uEt Illl III Carl INK
IL to consummation. A weaker man
would have been abashed He persist
ed, and within a moderately short time
the work in every division in the
Treasury Department was up to date.
| know, Mr.. Globe, there is an art
of making the stronger appear the
weaker cause" We see this illustrated
in The Globe to large extent, but, on
the other hand when we know how to
appreciate merit, we show we have the
germ Of it in ourselves. No man
or woman in the Treasury Department
can destroy by word or in any way,
that which Mr., Vanderlip has accom-
plished for the Treasury Department
in a business way. A man who respects
his work so highly and does it so rev.
erently and fearlessly that he cares
little what the world thinks of him, is
the man about whom the world will
come at last to think a great deal.
Frank A. Vanderlip is yet a young
man, perhaps not being more than 35
years old. His position in life has
been won by him from a very humble
start from what The Globe says about
him. The only thing [ know about
him Is the four years / served under
him as one of the humblest of the
Treasury employees. lie only sees well
who sees the whole in che parts, and
the part in the whole, There are three
classes of beholders-those who see
the whole, those who see but part,
and those who see soth. II Mr.. Van
derlip has but accomplished one thing
in the Department over which he so
ably presided and that bringing it's
workings up TO date, he would deserve
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