The Washington times., 1903-09-06
r. WILLIAM TINDALL, Secre-
tary to the Board of District

history. He has been so long and SO in
timateIy associated with the District
government that he might almost be
considered as Priam of Troy. part of
it.
Dr. TindaH many years ago took
course in medicine. and from that fact
received the familiar title OF doctor"
which has stuck to him ever since. He
did not practice medicine long, but has
kept an interest in the science of medi-
cine, and has read much of the litera-
ture Of the profession. and would now
be in a position to give good counsel in a
difficult case
The Secretary's Duties.
The duties of the Secretary OF che
Board of Commissioners are many and
responsible. He is called in about as
many directions in single day, and is
Obliged TO give his attention 10 as many
subjects as the superintendent OF a
railroad line. DR.. TindalI is not only
a confidential helper and adviser OF the
three members Of the board in nearly
all questions coming before them, hut
he is their executive officer and CORES
pondent. All formal papers go through
his office, and are written there and
many Of them signed by him. The exc
cutive records are kept by him, and he
is obliged to exercise a sort of general
supervision over the whole District gov
ernment.
DR.. Tindall has in his Office the sources
of information on all matters OF record,
and he is charged with furnishing for
his chiefs the right kind of data st all
times. He is in charge of the library Of
District law, and for the past two or
three years a clerk has been engaged pre-
pairing an index Of the laws TO facili-
tate reference to them in the rush of
business. In the general course Of
things DR.. Tindall has become the chief
source OF information to the office of the
Corporation counsel. the Auditor. and
other heads of departments, though each
of them have their libraries and records
kept in their own Offices.
Not only in matters pertaining to law,
but in the history of the Government,
as set forth in the minutes of the Board
and in the other records kept in Dr.
Tindal's office, he is the court of last
resort When some subject has been
traced through the Office of the Secre-
tary. it may be taken for granted that
ali, the data available has been pro-
duced.
Handling the Correspondence.
The usual practice in regard to cor
respondence is to acknowledge every
communication received. This is done
IN a formal printed letter which states
the fact that given communication
has reached the Office OF the Commits
sioners. and that ii will receive prompt
and careful attention. The original let
ter is then put in a jacket, properly
briefed and recorded. 1t then is sent
10 the Commissioner in whose depart
ment the subject discussed comes. It is
referred by him 70 the subordinate who
has charge of the bureau, and an in
dorsement is put upon the jacket. This
IS returned TO the secretary's Office, and
passed on 10 the next Commissioner IN
Ill all have examined it. and affixed
their Endorsement or approval Of the
original Endorsement. As the letter is
sent TO each OF the Commissioners a
record is kept, so that at any time
given communication can be found on a
few minutes notice.
When the three Commissioners have
acted on the matter, the jacket is re-
turned to the secretary, and the proper
letter is written in reply. Usually a
communication going over the route in
cicated viii be answered within five
days, but in many cases a longer time
is required. Instances could be null
tiplied where some complaint or request
has gone through the hands of three or
four departments. and has received the
Endorsement Of as many chiefs in
charge. Sometimes it must go TO the
Corporation Counsel and be subjected
to legal opinion. and time for all this
IS necessary. One paper a few months
ago finished its course after going from
Office 10 oflce for more than a year.
and receiving twenty-four written in
dorsements. Even then a clerk in the
Office Of the secretary, to whom fell the
lot of writing the reply. said the thing
must have been in the "Go-to-HelI"
file for some time. using term current
at the District Building for papers that
are pigeon-holed until they are for
gotten
Statements and Reports.
Much Of the time OF the secretary is
taken up in the preparation OF state
ments called for by the Commissioners.
These are memorandums giving facts,
law and the history OF the subjects un-
der consideration. In addition the sec
retary is charged with the big task o.
getting out the annual report OF the
Commissioners. This is written in the
interval between the close OF the fiscal
year and the opening OF Congress. 1t
IS made up Of the annual reports of the
with quite an exhaustive
resume OF the whole, written by DR..
Tindall.
Beginning about the middle Of Sep
tember The Commissioners draft their
annual estimates, TO be submitted TO the
OF the Treasury and by him
sent to Congress. This work requires a
month Of hard work by the Commits