Evening star., 1902-07-30
CLERKS ARE IMPROVED.
Decrease in the Complaints Against
Them by Creditors.

One side issue of the civil service in fixing
the tenure of clerks in the executive depart
ments upon good behavior. instead of the
old spoils system of political influence,
which may be said to have accrued bene-
ficially to the clerks and to Washington as
city, is the decrease of complaints against
clerks by creditors, such as storekeepers.
etc. said a chief clerk this morning.
AS chief clerk these complaints are re-
ferred to me In my department. and In the
other departments it is the chief clerks who
attend to such matters except in case of
special Importance, where serious charges
are made against clerk. and the case is
carried to the head of the bureau, the as
slstant secretary, and at times to head of
the department for final action so l have
noted the point in question with much In
terest. Some years ago when the positions
OF clerks were comparatively insecure many
or the clerks were INSCRIPTIONS in their
dealings with tradesmen. landlords and
money lenders, and l have known of one
clerk owing as high several thousand
dollars. If they lost their positions they
left town and they were that much ahead,
while the other fellows were that much out.
But these complaints have lessened to an
appreciable degree. One or two of the de-
partments have issued stringent rules which
In effect inform the clerk that If he cannot
pay MS Just debts he cannot expect to hold
his position. This somewhat of threat,
however. has not been followed by the other
departments, mine, for instance, where we
feel that We may control our force without
resort to such drastic measures. We alb
solutely refuse, however, to be made col
lection agencies, yet We differentiate in the
kinds Of debts. Money lending sharks get
scant courtesy around here. Where debt
is for the necessares of life sometimes
look into the matter and endeavor to effect
settlement, or where clerk becomes what
we call Chronic and l glad to say
that there are not many, We will call him
up. There is always the other side to these
matters, and We do not permit ourselves to
be used as tools for people who have
grievances. Some of the tales We hear are
as astonishing as they are amusing, people
are SO biased In their own matters.
Some people for unaccountable reasons
seem to think that because their creditor
works for the government they can injure
him by going down to the department and
seeing about it This Is about all the
satisfaction they get in most cases. Gov
eminent clerks get into financial difficulties
the same as any other class of wage earn
ers. and because a clerk owes a few dollars
it in nowise detracts from his clerical ca
pacity If he is not dishonest.
Money lenders and 10 percenters have
been pretty well squelched in the depart
ments, and 1t is a good thing for the city
that this is true. l remember the time
when these sharks would stand in the cor
ridors outside Of disbursing officers rooms,
wa. for their victims to show up in line
and then pounce upon them. If We catch
any OF these gentry around our line of
clerks We have them run out of the build
ing. This remedy is effective, otherwise
they make themselves not only nuisance,
but preferential class of creditors on their
own motion.
Both the clerks who allow themselves to
be bled by the money lenders and the lat
ter We class in the same category in that
neither gets any sympathy in the event of a
loss. Clerks a great class, however let
these chaps severely alone. In this re-
Spect the department clerks of Washington
have improved. if l may use the word in
this connection, over the clerks of twenty
years ago under the old free and easy
spoils system