Evening star., 1909-07-02
DRY ROT" IMPORTED
An EXPLANATION Of How 1t Got
Into Department.
FROM THE OTHER BUREAUS
Cortelyou's New Cream Spoiled by
Outside Skinned Milk.
WAS ALL RIGHT AS ORGANIZED
Transfers to the Department of Com
merce and Labor Alleged Cause
OF. Inefdciency.
FROM THE OTHER BUREAUS
WAS ALL RIGHT AS ORGANIZED

Officials of the Department OF Commerce
and Labor think those congressman who
expressed surprise that dry rot should
have set in at the department in the six
short years since former Secretary Cortel-
you got himself disliked by other cabinet
officers of the Roosevelt administration
by selecting the Cream of the govern
ment' service for the new department
when he began building that department
up have not given consideration to all the
facts.
That dry rot" does exist is admitted.
Such admission, by the way, is necessary
to tit in with the alleged policy of whole
sale dismissal which is worrying the
clerks of the department so that they
will have no chance to really enjoy the
safe and sanA Fourth of July or any
thing else pleasant that may come along
in the near future. If there were no
dry rot" there could be no good cause
for dismissais in large ssssulbers.
1t is also admitted by those who have
been in the department since Its ofganiza-
ton under the card index system " MT.
Cortelyou, admitted with pride, as mat
ter of f ct. that the first head OF the de-
partment did get the cream OF government
clerks during the organization Gays. me
members Of the original torteiyou Ap-
pointees' Association. Limited, in sup
port OF their confession tnat the cream
went with Cortelyou six years ago, point
with pride to themselves and prove their
contention.
Thrust Upon Cortelyou.
But, granting all this. and more, if
pressed, they maintain that nevertheless
and twithstanding. and also III spite OF
thu Spif there
Il lot of SKINNED milk in the Department
of Commerce, some of which is even
slightly sour This, they declare, was
thrust upon Cortelyou against his will and
was neither part nor parcel of his orlsl-
nal card-indeX system, of which FRANK
H. Hitchcock was the card that bore the
big letter A.
This element that the cream claims is
anything but cream got into the depart
ment with the various bureaus of other
departments. particularly the Treasury,
which We're transferred To the Departlnent
of Commerce and Labor by the act OF
Congress which created the new depart
ment Among these bureaus are the
lighthouse board, the bureau of labor,
the census office, the coast ana geouetlc
survey, steamboat inspection, the fish
commits sion or bureau Of hsheries, naVl-
cation and immigration.
There was lot Of dead wood In these
bureaus when they were transferred to
the Department of Commerce and La
bor" said one of the officials today. Mr..
Cor;elyou knew all this when he got hold
of them and would have liked to make
drastic changes In several of the bureaus
when they were unloaded on him, out
he could not quite see his way clear"
Left as Legacy.
1t was we'll known at the time that
Cortelyou wanted to lop off here and
there in these various bureaus what he
considered dead wood, but. after looking
the situation over with characteristic eau
ton and giving it mature consideration.
he executed a beautiful sde-stepping mo-
ton and left things as they were. trust
ing to any of his successors who might
undertake the task Of cleaning up.
Cortelyou was followed as head of the
department by Mr.. Metcalf, VINO, IN
turn. gave way to Mr.. Straus. Neither
Metcalf nor Straus felt called upon to
hunt trouble. and. if they discovered any
stagnation in the transferred bureaus or
any other bureaus they showed no undue
excl. ement over their discoveries.
But Nagel and his chief lieutenant.
Ormsby McHarg, the assistant secretary,
look at things differently. McHarg being
of the seen his duty and dGne-it type.
and having east his piercing gray eyes on
a situation he thinks needs remedying. is
going forward with determination that
would do credit to a New England con-
science operating at some other PERSONS
expense. He is going to c.ean out the de-
partment IL it takes all summer, and will
burn every witch in sight, even IL the
fire never touches him.
OF course there is that onslaught of SEN
ators and representatives to save con-
stituents, and something may come of
that, but not if McHarg can help it.