Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-06-06
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(rRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT

The Secretary of the Interior, Mr..
Garfield is busy cleaning house these
days and if he keeps up the work in
the way he has begun he will make
a thorough job of it. He has intro
duced two innovations lately that will
enable the various bureaus under him
to do more effective work, though it
will throw out of employment over a
hundred old clerks who have been re-
tanned on the rolls through pity for
many years. In the Land Office the
records have always been copied by
hand in pen and ink. Hcnccforth
they will be copied on the typewriter
at saving Of fifty per cent in cost
and sixty per cent in labor. Thirteen
clerks have already been dismissed
and hundred more will follow as a
result of this change and there is a
howl from the Government clerk and
the newspapers of the city all OF which
befriend the Government clerks. TO
do 50 is popular here. This dismiss
ing of aged and dccrcpit clerks is an
unpleasant and sometimes even a
heart breaking business. Most OF
them have worked nearly all OF their
lives in a Government Office, or, as
might more correctly be said, have
drawn their salaries from the Govern
mcnt for that time. The majority OF
them could not have retained place
on merit anywhere else for a year
and now at the time of their dismiss
al they have added infmity to incom-
petencc and having saved nothing for
old age and being without the ability
to find or keep a place must become
dependent on charity.
Secretary Garfield is also introduce
ing new system of bookkeeping III
the various bureaus and the old one
which was nearly as old as the con-
stitution and entirely inadequate to
the great business of the Department
will be displaced with the old clerks.
Modern methods and new clerks ed
ucated in expert bookkeeping will be
introduced. This causes howl too
but the Secretary has cotton wool IN
his cars and is going ahead. He was
a member of the Keep Commission
appointed to investigate the workings
of the various departments and it was
not difficult for him to see that the
principal impeachment to effective
work was the retention of old methods
and old clerks from sentiment, timid-
ity or Indifference. Now that he is
in a position to make reforms he is
using some OF the information gained
through his experience on the Keep
Commission and setting good exam
pie for other Departments that arc
handicapped like the Interior Depart
ment.
One of the means employed by
Congressman to make themselves sol
id with their constituents is in the
distribution if free literature of pretty
nearly all known subjects but among
the most valued contribution of this
kind is the map of the United States
which in various sizes are bestowed
on the doubtful voter and the faithful
hcnchman alike. Twenty -onc thous-
and six hundred copies of this map
are distributed annually by members
of Congress, and each year this map
is brought up to date so as to show
all changes that have occurred during
the year, such as new Postoflices,
public surveys, increase or diminution
of territory and all other alterations
in our possessions. The only except
ion in the annual distribution Of this
map was the year of the Baltimore
fire when the map nearly completed
and ready for distribution was entire
ly lost. This year it will be on time
though for bids are being received for
the work now and the Department is
already to hand over the twenty
thousand or more dollars that it costs.
Those persons who are overlooked by
their Congressman may secure the
map by sending one dollar to Secre-
tary Garfield of the Interior Depart
ment.