Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-11-25
OLD SOLDIERS ARE
FAST PASSING
4. OVER DIVIDE
Only 900 Employees Of Pension
Bureau as Against 1900 For
merly and Work Is Much
Lighter.
Morning Journal Bureau,
6l3 Munsey Building,

49, - T~tE-
bly, inciaated in the manner in which
the worn Of the Pension bureau has
been brought up TO date, and the fact
that its former force Of Loo en-
ployes has been gradually reduced
until now the number is in the neigh
borhood Of 900 men and women
Formerly there were five seperate
divisions in the Pension bureau. These
have been consolidated into two dfvi-
sions, namely, the old war and navy
division. and Civil war division. Tn
less there is future general pension
legislation passed by congress, or
another war, the two divisions can
be reduced TO one.
1t has not been a long time since
there were $50 special examiners in
the field. Now there are less than rs
Of these officials travelling about the
country.
on the pesion board of review in
1906 there We're 200 employees draw
ing salaries ranging from $1,000 to
So. 900 a year. Now this board has
been reduced to less than 100. and
many OF its members who have no
duties to perform on the board are
engaged in the mental job Of remov-
ing old paper files in the bureau.
II Is StdAtu VII 6tpN IL ny tH'fN
at least 500 employees Of the Pension
bureau slated to lose their jobs on
July 1 next year. This cation will be
taken on the ground that there is
not enough work in the bureau TO
keep them employed. 1t Is said that
this number of The bureau force
could easily have been spared even last
July. Fearing their dismissal might
have some effect upon h old soldiers
vote throughout the country during
the past campaign, action toward the
removal Of these employees was de-
ferred until next year.
President Taft Will ~undoubtfui re-
70 congress this winter some
Kind Of a retirement bill for old gov
eminent employees, should no action
be taken by congress, it is understood
there will be a general w~eedlng-out OF
the aged employees, not onlr IN the
Pension bureau, but in every depart
ment of the government. The presi-
dent wishes to place the whole re-
s~ponsibility of congress in solving the
question OF what is to be done with
the aged employees.
In the Pension bureau there are
many employees who receive today. as
they have received for many years
past. good salaries, but they give the
oVernm little returns for IL. The
situation there is different than in
other branches of the executive de-
uartments in that there is not enough
work for the number Of people m
pioyed. In years past these same
clerks were expected to adJudicate
from a dozen to fifteen or twenty pen
sion cases a day. Now, it is said that
clerk seldom has more than
or two cases a day to pass on, and
the balance Of the day Is unoc-
cupied officially. They spend their
idle time in reading newspapers ana
magazines, and visiting" among one
another.
The situation concerning the aged
and incapacitated employees in other
departments is different. There they
are employed in more active atmos-
pheres, and compelled to produce AZ
least a certain amount OF work each
day. sad a say that hundreds OF old
men ana women, drawing substantial
salaries too, have a long time since
passed their days Of real usefulness to
the government and are Kept on the
nav rolls mostly through sympathy OF
their superiors.
The service Of thes Old employees
are not worth n dollar a day, yet
they are retained right along from
year to year and given easy, unim-
portant routine work.
Last winter Senator Aldrich told
the senate if he were running the gov
eminent departments he would install
businss methods and save annually at
least $500, 900. Taking his cue from
this remark. President Taft urged
each Of his cabinet Officers to econo-
niize as much as they possibly cou'd
injuring the efficiency of the
puzzle service. The result is. that
aor.e Of the departments have gone
through "a pretty thorough pruninf
process which viii reduce their an
nual expenses many thousands of do'-
lars.
1t is confidently hoped that the
pruning process in the various de-
p%artnents win result in a saving of
RI least the amount which Senator
Aldrich claimed he could save the
government each year.
Ii is noteworthy to mention that no
dismissals have been made in any OF
The departments in the effort to cut
expenses. But Wholesale dis
are being planned in many
cases, particularly in the field SER
vice. cabinet officers are instruetinS
heir chiefs to make a thorough in
v%estieation into various branches OF
local and field services with q
view OF dispensing with employees
their duties are light and un-
important, and can easily be doubled
ln with the work of others.
In some instances departments have
aIready consolidated divisions and re-
the salaries OF officials in
.harrc Of them. They have also, TO
some extent. reduced the pay of old
men and women in cases whose 1t is
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