Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-15

Hilles sent a notification to eacn oil
the bureaus directing that two carbon
copies OF every lcttcr written IN every
branch of the department be sent TO
headquarters, ono for the assistant sec
retary under whose direct jurisdiction
the bureau Is and the other to the sec-
retary himself Within u week the sec
etaIy of the treasury had piled In his
office mass of carbon copies OF letters
which exceeded three feet In height
He was literally swamped ana 1t did
not take him long TO, countermand The
order of his assistant.
Some years ago Mr.. Vanderlip was
assistant secretary of the treasury He
Issued an order to the chiefs of all the
bureaus under his immediate jurisdic-
tion to the effect that every letter that
was sent out by those bureaus Should
b9 signed by the assistant secretary,
Mr. Vanderllp. Probably the clerks get
busy the morning the order was re-
ceived. perhaps they were little more
Industrious than usual but that night
when the order had been returned 1t
was promptly revoked. Mr.. Vanderlip.
however. was game. He signed every
ono of that bunch of letters and 1t took
him three days TO do II. Since tnat
time heads OF departments have been
careful how they issue Ill considered or
ders which may result in piling enor-
IDOuS AMOUNTS OIL uPOu tnCii- A'de
the present executive order is good
one in principle and will probably re-
suit In the Withholding of great deal
of mis-informatlon from Congress.
sUPERANNUATED EMPLOYEES
One of the hardest problems that con-
front the executive and his assistants
today is what should be done with the
supcrannuated clerks and employees who
1.ax al IN. IN car
are hundreds of cases In the depart
ments of Washington wherein worn out
employees are retained In their positions
although their usefulness has long
since passed. One of these is that of an
old lady now nearly 30 years of age
that has been employed for third of
a century and who during nearly all Of
that time has devoted her salary to the
support and care of an insane daush-
ter who should have been cared for by
the government itself In the asylum
of tho insane This old lady was mark
ed for dismissal until her case was
brought to the attention OF her chief
who promptly ordered that she be
placed on the payroll for about two
thirds of her former salary saying as
he Issued instructions to the appoint
ment clerk that inasmuch as the gov
ernment has been relieved OF the cost
of the care of the afflicted daughter for
30 years 1t was only right in his judg-
ment that the government should con-
tinue the support of the mother as we'll
as the daughter even though the serv
Ices rendered were of little or no value.
There arc, scores of old fellows who
were literally shot to pieces during the
Civil war who hold positions in the
various departments, the duties of
which are too much for their strength
although In the old days they did ex-
.cellent work There are again others
whose services seem to be Insignificant
but are In reality valuable and 1t Is be-
cause of these that the president and
his secretaries have urged upon Con-
gress the advisnbility and desirability
Of creating a civil pension list which
will prevent these old servants of the
government from becoming paupers in
the last years of their lives.