The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-07-31
SOME ASSUME TOO
MUCH IMPORTANCE
Dignity of Chief Clerks in
Washington Very Hard to
Endure.
LAWYER RELATES STORY
OFFENDER DENOTED BY TAFT,
SECRETARY OF WAR.
LAWYER RELATES STORY
BY RODERICK CLIFFORD.

III hONE KUN AeA4AE FOEAD-
Washington. July 3O--"Occasionai-
b have a run I'm with the chief OF
a division. and sometimes the chief
clerk OF the department" remarked
a prominent attorney the other day.
whose business is largely Of depart
mental character. searching public
records "and not infrcquentiy / am
forced 20 appeal 60 the secretary be-
fore I am allowed 90 examine the pa
pers. With few exceptions. all the
correspondence carried on by the gov
eminent Is Of public nature. and at
torneys having business before the
departments have the right 20 inspect
the records. In the course Of my
work I have met subordinates that al
most took my breath By the amount
81 dignity they assumed. and the i'm
pOrtancc they attached to their small
once.
7 remember an incident that hap
pcucd when President Taft was score
tary Of war IL was my first meet
Ing with that official. and / shall
never forget f. I received a letter
from a very prominent gentleman
who lived I'm Ohio. He had request
cd rae 60 get him n copy Of n certain
public document en- the war depart
ment was familiar with the case
and knew the division that had juris-
diction over the matter. So I saun-
tered into the room OF the chief and
made known my crrand. He was one
OF the self-importaut subordinates.
who imagined that the entire respOn-
Sibiity of the department rested upon
his shoulders. and impressed YOU
with the idca thu YOU were I'm the
= presence 0f the high and mighty.
With not so much as take n seat. ne
said; Have you an order 90 copy the
document.
Why no. sir IL is public docu-
mcnt and as citizen have the
right Co copy it, 7 answered.
TT YOU have not an order 90 copy
u then I cannot let you have st. was
the reply. and that closed the in
tcrvicw.
Taft Thought Otherwise.
leaving the room OF the chief.
Immediately sought Secretary Taft.
As soon us my name was sent In by
the messenger 7 was ushered into the
sccrcta~r's room and was cordially
greeted by AR TAFT without any
formuiitics 7 explained my mission
and told him OF my experience. Smil-
Ing. ne said that Il was singular that
some men who were capable Of hold
ing the position Of chief OF q division
could not appreciate the fact that
documents Of a public nature we're 20
be shown to any citizen who had oc-
casion 20 inspect them. and it was
not necessary TO call for an order
from suDcriors. The document I want
ed n copy Of. the secretary said. was
q public one. and I should have 70
without DELAY 7 will add that 7 got
Do. and soon afterwards that sclf-im-
portant chief was denoted By the
secretary Of war.
that when President Taft was sccro-
tary Of war 10 was a real pleasure TO
do business with that department, for
ne impressed the subOrdinatcs that Il
was part OF their public duty TO assist
every ore who sought Information Of
n public character. and he would not
tolerate little technical objections so
often practiced by the petty official"
Wisconsin BOOlSworm.
Among the bookworns I'm the
House none has a keener appreciation
or old editions than Representative
Henry &. Cooper OF Wisconsin. u IS
not an uncommon thing to find him
almost any day after his work is
through 40 the Capitol IN the rear OF
some secondhand book store among
tho dusty shelves reading and exam
lining the titles Of musty volumes OF
forgotten lore"
The statesman from the Badger
state says that ne has made many
find Of rare editions Of the old authors
and has bought such prizes for al
most a song. Not every dealer in a
secondhand book store. says the
member from Wisconsin. can place
value on first and second editions Of
the early books and magazines that
cortain the work or authors who
have become famous after their
death. In his wauderings among the
old book stores Mr. Cooper. who re-