Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-19
FAN AND WINDOW PROBLEM.
One of the Most Annoying Questions
Confronting Bureau Chiefs.

1.-THE chief of one OF the large bureaus of
the War Department has ordered all of the
electric fans out of the rooms under his
jurisdiction" said a chief OF a division in
one of the uptown departments to a Star
reporter, land this is such an unusual ao-
ton at the beginning OF the summer
months that It will probably strike the
public as singular that he has taken such
step at time of year when the fans are
usually installed.
but there is good reason for his ac-
ton. The fan problem and the window
problem are two of the most annoying
questions in the departments during tho
season the fans are in use and the win
dows open. A good percentage OF the
clerical force in the different departments
is from time to time laid up and away
from their duties by reason OF colds and
sickness contracted by drafts from the win
dows or from currents of air blown by the
fa u.s. roa,n ro..on ,or ,,,. 8. ,ooonso ,,o
desks of clerks are arbitrarily fixed by the
chiefs. The rooms mostly very crowd
ed with clerks and files, and clerk must
stay where he IS put And he is also re-
quired to remain seated at his desk and
cannot shift to more desirable location in
the room. as he can in a private office.
Consequently clerks in exposed portions in
a room are often made Ill, and this means
an absence from the office, not to speak of
the clerks personal discomfort or his con-
sequent illness and suffering. number
of clerks away because OF Illness means
retarding of the work, which is a serious
matter with the chiefs who are responsible
for getting out the work.
I'VE have found in the depar tnents that
currents of air from fans are even more
deadly than drafts from windows. There is
a great deal of activity among the clerks
In crowded rooms, and with the close, heat
ed atmosphere therein they perspire free
ly If you turn fan upon person when
he is warm, IL is not only likely to give
him violent cold, but ii will go stiffen the
muscles of the exposed part-the neck or
back for instance-that he is very quickly
put out of business.
"Chiefs of divisions have found that so
many of their clerks have been incapaci-
tated by the fans that some have attempt
ed to solve the problem by causing the fans
to be well elevated that the currents
of air pass over the heads of the clerks and
keep the air in the upper part of the room
in circulation. This is a good plan where
the arrangements in the room admit OF It,
There are some clerks however, who are
naturally so contrary that they persist In
the fans being kept going, but insist that
cupant of the room other than themselves
It is these hot-blooded contrary clerks that
make their fellow clerks suffer by reason
OF their own selfishness.
There are some chiefs, however, who
lack the necessary backbone TO see that all
of their clerks are treated alike though
they are very insistent upon a fun attend
ance of the force. In such offices the fans
are being constantly shifted AS clerks do
not like TO lose their time from sickness,
great deal of hard feeling is engendered.
and the only way 10 obviate II Is to remove
the fans altogether IL is probably upon
this principle that the chief of the burelu
in the War Department has acted"