Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1902-03-14
HIS CURE FOR RED TAPE.


A Chicago Nan Collects n uin NJ al
once whore They HAD System.
Stories ~ che red tape In the govern
ment departments at Washington are
common. but they are not the only
places where delays In the TRANSACTION
Of business are found. There are con
Germs In every large city so hemmeo
in by red tape that 1t may take a weeh
OF so to untangle It. and a Chicago
man ran into one of them not long ago
The concern owed him a lite mon
ey, and after waiting awhile for o
check be went TO collect Il. He didn't
so far. however. for he was stopped
by a boy at the outer door Of the first
Of the many offices.
"What do you wantT' asked the boy
Money" said the man.
"What forf' demanded the boy.
The man explained, and thereupon
the boy told him that all such accounts
were paid Saturdays at the cashiers
cfice. SO the man came back Satur
day.
Don't know anything about it." sale
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 ma
ture of your business said the boy
"anu I'll take It in to Mr.. Smith"
The man did as he was told, ana
word came back that Mr.. Smith didn't
know anything at all about 1t.
"If | can see Mr.. Smith half a min
ute" suggested the man, II think l
al stralghten the matter out"
"Air. Smith has no tine to see you
answered the boy, but maybe Mr..
Jones knows something about IT,"
Mr. 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 Mr.. Jones didn't know anything
about II.
Cant see anybody in this officer
demanded the man In desperation.
ITS only a small matter, and if | could
get hold Of some one in authority !
could s~traighten 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 Q letter.
but 1t remained unanswered. 81 he
went back in person. BY this time be
had become interested as well as lndig
nant. 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 sill
through when no n was looking ant
get bold Of a man at one Of the desks.
How about ltT' he asked when b,
had stated his business.
Everything here" replied the mai
at the desk. "is done according to
system. Now, If anything is due yol
you should make out IA bill in regula
form and
"Alake u a blll!' cried the amateu
collector. Hang II all! | can't get
chance to present a bill to any one"
However. that seemed to be the onl.
thing left for him to do. so he departel
to make out a bill. and while be wa
doing it he kept getting warmer ant
warmer until he reached II point wher
he made the bill for services rendered
$751;" Then he returned TO the ofic
and give It to the first boy he met.
"Ill bet that will wake them up" b
said TO himself.
1t did. The boy was back inside o
two minutes with the message tina
"NIr. Smith says It is eXorbitant. IL
called up the right department throug
the Office phone and was told tn
amount due was only 81"
"Of course" said the man with tn
bill. but ! wanted to get action Oh
some way. You tell Mr.. Smith tina
there is a discount Of $50 for cash"
Word came back that n check wOIl
be mailed that afternoon. and 1t wa
All of which shows that there is a wa
to wake up a red tape oGice.-Chicag
Inter Ocean.