Arizona republican., 1901-12-02
HIS CURE FOR RED TAPE
Chicago Man Collects Bill at an Of-
 fee Where They Had System

| Stories of red tape in the government . departments at Washington are com
 mon but they are not the only places
 where delays in the transaction of business are found. There are concerns i in every large city so hemmed in by red
 tape that it may take a week or so 10 | untangle it, and a Chicago man ran ! into one of them not long ago The concern owed him little money, | and after waiting awhile for a check he went to collect it. He didn't go far. | however. for he was stopped by a boy at the outer door of the first of the
 many offices.
 What do you want?" asked the boy.
 Money said the man.
 What for?" demanded the boy. The man explained. and thereupon the boy told him that all such accounts
 were paid Saturdays at the cashiers office. So the man came back Satur- day.
 Don't know anything about it." said
 the cashier. You'll have to get an or der from some one" Then the man started out after the order and promptly ran up against the
 boy again.
 Write out your name and the nature
 of your business" said the boy, and I'll take it in to Mir. smith,"
 The man did as he was told, and word came back that Mir. Smith didn't
 know anything at all about it.
 If I can see MT. Smith half a min ute" suggested the man. "I think can straighten the matter out
 MT, smith has no time to see you"
 answered the boy. but maybe Mir. Jones knows something about it"
 MT. Jones was equally inaccessible. Another boy guarded the outer door for him. and another statement had to
 be written out and sent in to him, which resulted in the announcement that Mir. Jones didn't know anything about it.
 Cant I see anybody in this office?" demanded the man in desperation. Its only a small matter and if l could get hold of somebody in authority could straighten it out in less than two minutes
 Nix" answered the boy. Cant see anybody here unless he knows about your business first.''
 The man next tried writing a letter. but it remained unanswered. So he went back in person. By this time he had become interested as well as i'm dignant. He wanted to see how much time and labor it would take to get
 the money.
 On the second trip luck favored him. Workmen were changing some office partitions. and he managed to slip | through when no one was looking and
 get hold of a man at one of the desks. How about 1t 9" he asked when he
 had stated his business. Everything here" replied the man at the desk. lis done according to a system. Now. If anything is due you you should make out bill in regular form and"
 Make out a bill" cried the amateur collector. Hang it ali, I can't get a chance to present a bill to any one" However, that seemed to be the only thing left for him to do. so he de parted to make out a bill; and while he was doing 1t he kept getting warmer
 and warmer until he reached a point where he made the bill flor services rendered. S157." Then he returned to ! the office and gave 1t to the first boy
 he met.
 I'll bet that will wake them up" he said to himself
 It did. The boy was back inside of two minutes with the message that ! Mir. smith says il Is exorbitant. He called up the right department through
 the office phone and was told the
 amount was only ST.
 "Of course" said the man with the bill. but I wanted to get action on it some way. You tell Mir. smith that
 there is discount of S15O for cash Word came back that a check would be mailed that afternoon: and it was. All of which shows that there is a way
 to wake up a red tape office.-New
 York Sun.