The Sunday globe., 1901-08-04
RATHER PERSONAL
Some Explanations Evoked by a
Correspondents Screed.
THE GLOBES POSITION STATED
For His and Others Benefit in Tho Matter OF
What / Publishes and What II Does Not.
Neither Scandal MOnger Nor ubsIer
10 Please The Vicious or The DesgnIng-A
Few Cold Facts.

The Globe is not scold, and so far
as its editors feature articles are con.
cerned, they deal with facts and per.
| sons. An article can not be cited in
which we confne our criticism or
charges to glittering generalities. We
! do not indulge ourselves with exclam-
atory periods thus:
"The Department is rotten" "The
head is a thief and the chief is a
liar" "The grossest favoritism pre-
| walls Merit has no chance" Good
I men are turned down and bad women
elevated" ETC., etc.
This kind Of writing we have too
| long INDUCED our correspondents
with, and in a bushel Of their commu-
nications it is impossible to find an
/ item Of news or a fact, name or hap
! pening upon which to found an ar.
| ticle.' We call attention to the con-
| trast between our own handling of
Machen, Geddes, Lyman ct. al. We
| have not abused these gentlemen. nor
! called them names. We have simply
made specific charges, for which we
could be punished If they we're not
| the truth or if we failed to establish
, their truth in a court of law.
And yet' We are called down" by
the writer of the following screed of
glittering generalities, who fails to
| cite an instance name, a specific act
| of any man or woman in the Pension
Office which would justify the editor of
/ The Globe in founding an article or
criticism Of that Department And
this, too, in the face Of the fact that we
have ourselves given the names and
the divisions calling for reproof and
reform, and in the publication Of which
we were led into a single error in a
mass of truth, which, because we had
the manliness and fairness to correct
unsolicited, we are thus roasted Hear
thfs dyspeptic:
EDITOR GLOBE: The writer desires to
see The Globe succeed, and regrets the
apparent ShallOWness and instability
Of the sources whence it draws its in
formation Assertions positively made
in one issue are apOlogized for in the
next. This is weak and looks as II
the paper, begun with promise Of a
vigorous warfare against intrenched
arrogance, injustice, sycophancy and
official general coTruptness, would
dwindle into a sheet merely Offering to
morbid readers the venom of vitupera-
tive scandalmongers, who neither
have the courage to, nor can, substan-
tiate the charges they make Bring
your paper up, Mr.. Editor; make it
what Don Piatt made his, and there's
millions in it for the right.
Your article today, on what we know
about the Bureau of Pensions, is good
so far as it goes (and you promise
mOre). Scores of honorable men and
women in that great hive will be glad
If through your efforts some of the
fragrant abuses that exist there are
wiped out, IL it takes heads off in the
doing; although that would not be
found necessary, for those who walk
with lordliest stride and frown with
iercest virtue on the poor subordi-
mates, are very vulnerable, and a little
discipline from those above them
quickly will bring them down to their
normal apOlogetic and obsequiOus
state, for the chief and chiefets cringe
now and curry favor with the man
with a pull They have always an eye
single to their own interests. Virtue.
integrity, industry go for naught.
Wantonness, profligacy and idlehess
among the women in the Office the
ldlers, those whose records are made
excellent by the word Of their chief,
and not by competitive or compara-
tive record Of work done, are the fa-
vored in every way, Among the men,
only those who are utterly without
opinions have any chance at all. II
man has the courage and intellect to
have an opinion, he is at once declared
to be a dangerous fellow, and il be-
comes the work, for the time being,
the sole object for which he lives, of
every chief sub-chief, and section chief,
down through all the grades of author
ity to humiliate and to make life a
burden to that man who has happened,
by reason of the assertion of his man
hood
The head Of the Bureau is for this
by no means responsible. He trusts,
perforce his lieutenants. These are
bound by oath to fidelity, but, alas!
how few are faithful, how few respect
that oath? In the elevation Of clerks
to chiefships, under the operation of
the civil-service law, as eXempliied in
the Pension Office, we see the man ad-
vanced to a position of authority who
early learned to repress self, never to
express his honest thought, to be all
things to all men. Through this obse-
quiousness alone did the most of them
win their present positions. An exam
nation of poll lists in districts where
they claim residence will not disclose
their names as voters. Furthermore.
the most of them came into the office
of chief with "grudges to pay" on
their own account, or pledged to the
venom clamOr Of some other with a
pull, to some jealous woman, perhaps,
and are ever ready to deal cruelty with
whOmsOever does not render to them
their full mead Of flattery and homage.
As for executive ability and general
knowledge of the law and practice in
pension work, they do not have il. but
as long as the ring, each scratching the
back OF the fellow next him, is un.
broken-and 1t isn't likely to break;
it's pretty stTOng-there won't be much
chance for industry and fidelity to win.
Mr.. Globe, could tell you a deal and
give names, dates and facts, but II
would be a waste Of space. The mil
lenium isn't here yet. ! have heard IL
said in the Bureau that Satan himself
could get pointers there. Perhaps the
chief could tutor him.
Prince George Co., Md
Signs his name? OF course, he signs
his name. and with impunity too, as
the editor of The Globe has never been
known to disclose the identity Of a
correspondent, whether he gets us a
libel suit a shooting match, or