Evening star., 1901-10-28
SECURE BUILDING NEEDED
WORK OF THE RECORD AND PEN
SION OFFICE.
Gen. Afnsworth Says That the Clerical
Efficiency of the Employees.

brls. zen. fred Z. AlnSWorth, chief of
the record and pension office, in his report
to the Secretary of War shows that ISL $50
cases were received and disposed of during
the fiscal year. AS usual since the organi-
cation of the record and pension Office, the
public business has been promptly dis
patched, nearly 90 per cent of the cases
received during the fiscal year having been
disposed of within twenty-four hours from
the time they reached the Office and at the
close of business hours on the 20th of June
| not one case remained unacted upon.
General Ainsworth SAYS that thu fiscal
year has witnessed the practical compile
ton of the work, so many years in prog
ress, of the publication of the official rec
ords of the Union and confederate armies
during the civil war. They make Il total of
12o,130 pages of text. The number of books
distributed is 1,541, ,493.
Demand for Hall of Records.
A strong argument is made for additional
space for filing and preserving records, in
Guiding those of the war with Spain and
the Philippine insurrection. General Aims
worth summarizes the situation as follows:
THE government has no records of
greater sentimental and practical value
than those in the custody of the record ard
pension office, and the business of that Of
flee is not inferior in magnitude and impor-
tance to that of any other bureau of the
War Department.
The space allotted to the record and
pension office in the State, War and Navy
building is overcrowded with records and
employees to an extent that is certainly in
furious to health and is possibly danger
Gus to life in more ways than one.
Valuable records, for which there is no
room in the space allotted to The record and
pension office in the State, War and Navy
building, are stored in the Ford's Theater
building, where they are not readily ac-
CCih 10 to ftA -, oR,.
are in constant danger of destruction by
fire.
1.-The records now in the Ford's Theater
building should be removed to a place of
safety and provision should be ma lie at an
early date for the reception and preserya-
tion of the records of the volunteers who
are about to be mustered out of service
for the large number of record cards that
must be made in future and for the con-
stant increase in the files which lecessa-
rily results from the extensive correspond
ence of the office.
"It is not known that there is any private
building in Washington which is capable
Of bearing, with any reasonable allowance
of floor space the great weight of the
records in question, or in which those rec
ords oE any portion of them can be stored
with a due regard to their safety and ac-
cessibility for the use of the Office"
For these reasons it is recommended that
provision be made for the erection of fire
proof building for the use of the record
and pension office having a 1oor space of
at least 1S0,SS9 square feet.
Proposed Reduction of the Force.
Probably the most interesting chapter in
the report, however, is that relating to q
reduction of the clerical force Of the Office.
On this subject General Ainsworth says:
by reason Of the satisfactory condition
OF the business of the record and pension
office, Notwithstanding the additional work
imposed upon the office by the receipt of
the records of the Vnlupfepr farcaS
Spanish war and the Philippine insurrection,
and especially because of the saving of la
bor resulting from the application of the
index-record card system to the military
and medical records, it is believed that a
considerable reduction can be made in the
clerical force in the next fiscal year without
detriment to the public interests.
This condition has resulted very largely
from the commendable industry faithful
ness and zeal with which the employees of
the Office have performed their respective
duties, and especially from the efficient
manner in which the clerks in charge of
divisions have discharged the responsible
and arduous duties that have been assigned
to them.
"Since the organization of the record and
pension office the percentage of high-grade
clerks allowed to il by law has been very
much less than that of the other bureaus of
the War Department, and to bring this per-
centage nearer the average of the depart
ment, as well as to accord recognition to
some of the employees of the office who,
while receiving salaries of lower grades,
have discharged the duties Of higher grades,
the estimate of appropriations submitted
for the next fiscal year is greater than the
present provision by few additional clerks
Of the higher grades. But the estimate is
less by forty-two in the total number of
employees, resulting in a net reduction OF
$41, 200 in the salaries of the office.
''The proposed reduction. added to the
previous reductions of 800 in 1894, so in
1895, % in 1897 and 30 in 1899, which were
made possible by the introduction of i'm
proved business methods since the organ
ization of the record and pension office.
makes a total decrease Of 449 in the num-
ber of employees and results in total an
nual saving Of SOL $40 in salaries alone.
I'm view, therefore, of the disparity In the
number of the higher grade clerkships as
compared with the clerical force of other
bureaus of the department, of the large re-
ductions already made in the clerical force
of the office and the resultant savings
therefrom, which reductions and savings
were made possible by the faithfulness and
efficiency Of the clerks whom 1t is desired
to reward, and in view also of the further
reduction of the number Of employees now
recommended and the savings to result
therefrom, 1t is hoped that in making this
further reduction Congress will not hesi-
tate to sanction the few promotions re-
quested-"