The Washington times., 1901-07-08


are known as secretaries to the Com
missioners.s They are in fact what they
! are often called in joke, assistant Com
| missioners' 1t is by the exercise of tact
on their part that their chiefs are saved
much annoyance by many persons, ana
! they are enabled to make things easy for
! the many callers upon the Commissioners.
Sometimes as many as forty people
! caIi upon a Commissioner in single
morning Their business is more or less
| important, from the office seeker to a
! busy contractor whose minutes are wcrth
| the hours of ordinary men. The Com
missioners are very democratic, end,
! within reasonable limits. everybody who
| calls is entitled to a few words with one
| of the official triumvirate The callers
| of a morning may consist of a citizen
| who has just dropped in to commend
some piece of work the Commissioners
have done, or a dignffied Senator of the
| United States, who calls to place one OF
| the many constituents who look to him
| for positions under the Government
1t is the business of the secretary to
meet all these with courtesy. to find out,
| # he can, what the caller is after, and to
arrange the interview with his chief.
The wise man who calls on the Commits
sioners will quietly impart TO the secre-
tary the nature of his errand, and there
by have his chances of seeing the chief
| advanced.
Waldo c. Hibbs secretary to Commits
sioner Macfariand. occupied a similar ca
pacity under Commissioner John b. Wight
and has had quite an extended experience
in dealing with the many people who seek
interviews with the president OF the
Board. Mr.. HibDs is a Washingtonian.
and has spent the greater part of his life
here AS is the case with the other sec
retaries he is an expert stenogIapher and
typewriter, as he has tel be=to work off
the large daily correspondence Of the
Commissioner, after the callers have be-
gun to fall off about noon. Commissioner
Macfarland is a very busy man, and has
learned from experience howito, save time.
He therefore has little or-no use for the
stenographer. he dictates TO his secre-
tary while the latter writes rapidly upon
the typewriter He says that is the>right
way to save time, because when he is
through the secretary is also through, and
has time for other things.
Francis Nye, secretary 70 Commissioner
Ross. adds TO his accomplishments of
stenography, typewriting, and general di-
plomacy thorough knowledge OF Inc Jaw
and is. besides, notary pubic; Mr: Nye,
as he puts il, was born in Washington
before the Spanish war, ana has round
life so pleasant at the National Capital
that he has never been tempted to seek
fortune elsewhere. Commissioner Ross
has quite as many callers as the presl-
dent of the Board and it falls to the lot
of Mr.. Nye TO take care OF them, "hich
he does gracefully and tactfuLy-
Possibly the busiest OF the secretaries
is Moucure Burk, who looks after the
outside Office of the Engineer Commis
sioner. Like most military men, Captain
Beach is punctilious about how the al
fairs of his office shall be carried on No
carelessnesS or failure to measure up 10
a high standard would be tolerated, ana
as a consequence much labor devolyes
upon Mr.. Burk and his capable assistant,
Daniel L. Garges, who assists with cor
respondence, reports, etc, and ls legal
helper to the Engineer Commissioner. Mr..
Burk is a Nirginian by birth, but has lived
in Washington since 1881. How matters
sometimes go in the south end Of the Dis
trict Building Is best told by Mr.. Burk
himself in the following:
Yes we see d good deal of human ma
ture in the office mere. All sorts and con-
ditions of people come in, from the presi-
dent of the great corporation with vast
schemes in his head to the poor day Ia
borer looking for a job The unfortunate
crank drifts in occasionally, but not often,
1 am glad to say. / remember my first
experience with this latter class. A few
days after | came with Colonel Robert
then Engineer Commissioner, was IN
The office alone, when shaggy, red
haired, red-bearded individual came stalk
ing in. 1 want TO know where Mr.. So
and-So lives? he demanded in broken
English, repeating some tongue-twisting
foreign name. l handed him a copy of
The city directory, but the individual in
question had either escaped the directory
man or the printer was unable to work
out his name. The anarchiStic looking
caller insisted ne was bound to have the
address and when / informed him We
didn't deal in such things he went out
with an injured air, mumbling something
about the farce of government, saying 1t
was pretty expensive business paying
car fare all over town on wild goose
chase and that the Government ought to
keep a list OF people so they could be
found when wanted.
-Of course, people don't come to the
Jffice for fun. They come to the Engineer
Department, as rule, TO get Improve
Glents made-water mains, sewers, or
sidewalks laid roads repaired, pave
ments put down, etc. What they get
office does not expect TO be thanked for
performing its natural functions. But
occasionally some individual, with the
bump of gratitude unusually developed,
writes us a long letter that warns the
heart. Commissioner Beach received such
a communication the other day. 1t was
lrief and to the point, running something
Ike this: 1 rite yore honJser TO say
-vything is done all satisfaction
Some people are powerful secretive'
bout small matters. They Will sit IN
he office hour after hour, waiting their
urn, and when we ask If we can be of
service they shake their heads mys-
Ieriously and whisper IL is absolutely
necessary to see the Commissioner him
self When their turn finally comes they
lean over and confide To him probably
something that the Office has nothing on
earth to do with or perhaps that brick
IS loose in the sidewalk up on X Street,
or that Vagrant worms are eating the
shade from their favorite tree, or some
thing else equally important, and then
the secretary has to come in and make
a note of the offending condition. If they
would only tell that individual what they
lots of time and bother, as in nine cases
out Of ten he can attend 70 the
matter for them, or tell them where 10
go TO get il attended to, or advise them
whether il is necessary to see the Com
missioner about 1t. This. however,
does not apply to the up-to-date man
Of business. He knows what we are
his valuable time as far as may be. The
mysterious ones are Usually those with
empty cases, or else the poor fellows
looking for work.
And about applicants for employment
| remember the rather humorous case Of
an old Irish lady who succeeded in getting
a cart and horse employed on the public
works. After q lapse of some months
she came around TO offer the Government
a second horse and cart. Now, of course,
II the department were TO commit such
q Diplomatic breach TO hire two carts
and horses from one Irish lady when hun
dreds of other Irish ladies owning carts
and horses couldn't even get one team
employed, there would be Il scandal at
once. So the thrifty old lady with two
carts had run up against the wall OF pub
lie opinion, so to speak. But she wasn't
discouraged, and regularly twice a week |
she appeared at the office on important