Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-19
Dry-Rot High and Low.

All that is said in favor of the new sum
mary dismissal order is that it eliminates
the red tape which in the past required to
be unwound before an unworthy clerk
could be separated from the public service
II makes, then, for speed of punishment
rather than for certainty of justice. Is
there a crying evil in the delays incidental
to departmental discipline, requiring rem
edy SO drastic?
If this is true if it Is the case that the
public service has in the past suffered be-
cause incompetent or unworthy clerks have
been allowed to remain because of the
slight difficulty and embarra ssment of dis
missing them under the old rules, then
there is much to be said in criticism of the
higher ranks of departmental organize ton.
1t Is urged here and there in support of the
new order that chief clerks and chiefs of
division and others of the same grade have
hositated heretofore TO bring to a focus
cases of long standing in which clerks have
been consistently negligent or inefficient
The higher officials, it is alleged. will now
be enabled to press the objectionable en-
ployes out of the service without trouble
That is to say. they can procure the dis
missal of such clerks without the annoy
ance of notification and hearing.
If this is true, then the departmental
service is sorely in need of a weeding-out
process which will start at the top and
work downwards If the government offices
are administered by a group of who.
charged with executive functions. fall in
the essential matter of keeping their subor-
dinateS up to standard, through dislike of
personal embarrassment or the annoyance
of uuwnding red tape, there Is dry-rot IN
the upper planes far more serious than the
alleged dry-rot in the subordinate positions
which this order is supposed3to aid in elimi-
mating
The chief of division. chief clerk or chief
of bureau who needs the aid of summary
dismissal order to bring recalcitrant sub
ordinate to the notice of his Secretary is
of but slight service to the government.
He fails in the most essential requirement
that of backbone. And it must be borne in
mind that these are the officials upon
whom the Secretary of the department Is
in any case forced to rely for his informa
ton as to the personal merits of clerks
The Secretary cannot acquaint himself with
the individual efficiency OF the hundreds
or perhaps thousands of subordinates In his
department. Only in the rarest instances
will acts of INSTRUMENTATION cases of in
competency come directly to his attention.
Is the new order designed to save the
time of the Secretaries, or that of the
chiefs of bureau, chiefs of division and
chief clerks? This is an important ques-
ton. 1t is impossible to see wherein there
can be any material gain in time expendi-
ture on the part of any one assuming that
the processes of examination care
fully pursued under the new order I'M
der the old method. But if the Secretary's
time is to be saved, then the under-offi
Gals must be the more particular TO be
right in their recommendations. If the bu-
reau and division chiefs are to be spared
by the new order, then an added burden
must inevitably fall upon the Secretaries.
Else there will surely be snap judgment
and gross injustice.