Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-16
TO RESTRICT HARDNESS.
Latest Experiment Adopted by De-
partment Officials.

"Of the various expedients which have
from time to time been resorted to by de-
partment officials to enforce punctuality on
the part of their clerical forces the latest
put in practice by one or two Of the down.
town departments Of charging the clerks
with half hour If more than five minutes
late Is the most interesting to both sides. -
said an experienced department clerk to a
Star reporter.
when the order was promulgated, espe-
cially in the Post Office Department. 1t
| caused a great deal of comment among the
clerks, and was not received with especial
favor for the reason that, singular as 1t
may seem to outsiders, the clerical forces
as a great class in all of the departments
| strive Independently of orders to be pune
tual at their desks. In such large army
of workers. by reason Of suburban resi-
dence. sickness Of the individuals or In the
family, the missing of cars and various
morning hindrances which thousand or
ders day from headquarters cannot by
the very necessity of things obviate or con-
troll, a certain percentage of this great
horde of hurrying toiler must from day to
day arrive late. 1t wo2ld be SO If all
were housed under one roof and marched
In squads like soldiers each morning to
work. while. with separate domiciles abso-
Lutte clock-work regularity cannot be had
to perfect unit.
1.-THE clerks did not mind being charged
up with the actual time they were late, but
when II came to losing a haif-hour when
only few minutes behind the protest was
unanimous. AS the order stood, however,
the clerks cut the gordan knot by re-
naming away in the mornings when 1t be-
came apparent that they could not make
the office on the dot of o o'clock for the
full half-hour. AS It takes some minutes
for clerk to settle down to work and
to get the papers and materials arranged
to begin the day, procedure usually ac-
complshed before o'clock, the officials
found that they actually lost in the serv-
Ices of these clerks more than the half
hour. A million orders a minute from
headquarters cannot stop this loss Of time
and the officials know It,
And thus the matter stands. with both
sides resting on their oars. with the advan-
tage so far in favor of the clerks. In some
of the offices they hold the clerks down to
q single minute behind. Clerks do not like
to lose this time, and as human nature Is
the same in the departments as elsewhere,
though some officials, especially new ones
seem to consider the clerks mere machines
without feeling, the clerks who are thus
locked necessarily feel resentment which
is manifested In various ways. Upon the
whole the rule is not conducive nor stimu-
lative to additional endeavor on the part
of the clerks. but acts just to the con-
trary.
'The surest way to enforce punctuality
with a large diversified force is to segre-
gate the habftually tardy ones, who are
well known, both to the clerks and the
chiefs, and caution or punish them as the
case deserves. 1t makes the usually prompt
clerks necessarily resentful to be made to
suffer for the faults Of the few, especially
when Ii lies In the power Of the superiors
to correct them, and blanket orders Of this
Kind cause very heavy general percentage
of wasted time, which would otherwise be
given cheerfully to work"