The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-05-15
Clerks and o.ier Subordinates VIII
Rur Departments at Washing
ton-Termed Govern
ment by office Boys"
BY SHELDON S. CLINE.

migrat ton to climes where the rays OF
Old Sol are tempered by breezes from the
sea or the altitude of mountains In
month from now, or six weeks at the
greatest one might stand on Pennsyl-
vania avenue and recite "Goldsmith's De-
serted Village with sense that it was
appropriate to the scene.
1t has been said that in the summer
the government at Washington is run by
office boys. That may not be Utterly true,
but Ii is strikingly close to truth. Per-
haps 1t would be a little nearer home to
say that in the summer the government
runs itself Theoretically, when the head
of a department is absent from the cap
ital the next highest official assumes
direction of affairs and becomes the act
ing secretary. But theories of government
often are punctured at the season when
the sun melts the asphalt of the streets.
Like as not the chief clerk, or even
subordinate clerk, may for the time be
clothed with the outward garments Of
authority.
Not Happy Season.
The summer season is not happy one
for the stranger who seeks 10 Go business
with the department. After a journey
from the Pacific coast maynap, he fndS
there is no one at the seat of government
who can tell him either aye or nay. The
President will have gone to his summer
home at oyster Bay or wherever the
home of the chief executive may be
located At the white house offices there
is temporary executive force, 1t is true,
but it is made up of clerks whose chief
function is to forward mail oyster Bay
may not be surrounded by Gordon of
troops to keep away intruders, but the
barrier which has been raised by custom
Is equally efficacious. The Presidents
vacation may not be encroached upon ex-
cept by appointment, and, to all but the
high placed ones of the nation the Sc
curing of an appointment Is difficult
and tedious thing.
1t may chance that your business Is
with the foreign office. The secretary
of state is in Europe, or In some other
equally distant and perhaps more mac
cessibe place. There are three assistant
secretaries of state, and in the ordinary
course of things one of them would have
been designated as acting secretary
during the absence of his chief. But
things do not always run in their ordin-
airy course, especially when it is hot.
There have been times when personages
whose rank was not above that of clerk
have ostensiby been in charge of our re-
lations with the outer world.
Thus All Down the Line.
And so in the summer time, it goes all
down the line. The secretary of the
trueasury is likely to be off somewhere
addressing convention Of bankers or
making a speech of kind calculated to
further his chances of some day becom-
ing the ruler of the nation. The secre-
tary of war may be in the Philippines.
the secretary of the navy cruising in a
naval yacht or aboard a battleship wit
Messing manuevers far out at sea. The
attorney general. the postmaster general,
the secretaries of the interior, agricul-
ture and commerce and labor are no less
capable of finding good and sufficient ex-
cuses for absence from the capital. when
the sun becomes a stranger to mercy and
not a breath of air ripples the bosom OF
the blue Potomac.
Early in his administration President
Roosevelt established a rule that during
his absence from Washington, at least
one member of the cabinet should re-
main in the city. But members of the
cabinet are not clerks who can be made
to punch time clocks to mark their COM
ings and goings. Nor are the assistant
secretaries, the assistant attorney gen.
eral or the assistant postmasters gem
eral If the head of the department may
absent himself from June until October.
the man next in power naturally thinks
II not without his rights that he should
spend a few days now and then at At
lantic City, Bar Harbor or some other
place that offers opportunity to cool his
heated blood. If the chief Of one of the
numerous bureaus of his department
chances to be in town he is called to the
seat of power If not the chief clerk or
some lesser official is designated.
Army Of Clerks Remains.
There always remains however the
great bulk of the toiling army. Clerks
whose salaries range from $500 to $l,SO0
year havesno privileges not written IN the
letter of law, Each may have thirty
days annual leave with pay upon
doctors certificate of disability, an addi-
tional months absence may be secured
without loss of remuneration. But it is
not possible that all the department en-
ployes may take their vacations in July
and August. And the thousands,
chained by the ever-present fear that they
may be jobess, toll on, beneath swelter-
ing sun, while the heat rises in simmer
ing scorching waves from the asphalt
streets, and the asphalt itself grows
soggy and gives like a sponge beneath the
feet
A stranger who had visited Washington
only at Inauguration time when Con-
gress was in session, might think he mad
stumbled onto the ruins of a long buried
and forgotten city. At high noon ne
might find Pennsylvania avenue from
capitol TO treasury almost as deserted
as a stretch of Arizona desert. At the
cab stands the horses drOop dejectediy
all day long The electric cars crawl
slowly through the streets as though
they, too, felt the curse of heat. The con-
ductor and the mortorman may be tne
only souls on board. The great dry goods
stores at midday are empty. and weary
shopgirs doze and dream of sylvan dells
and shady places where the purple brook
calls the weary one to the delights OF
idleness.
The great hotels, which in the winter
are filled with the notables of this ana
other lands from June till October are
tenanted chiefly by bellboys and cham
bermaids. Only caretakers inhabit the
palatial homes of Connecticut and other
aS\Ies; windows and doors are boarded.
and Absent is written large in all the
thoroughfares where wealth and FASH
ion dwell.
Negroes Numerous.
Negroes, who nominally constitute
third of the city's population seem to be
IN an overwhelming majority. Except
during the morning and evening rush
hours, when department employees are
going to and returning from their work.