The Washington herald., 1914-06-19
Stats.ns., R1sl asd Near.
BY FBHp c. KELLY. +

Every little NM you bear somebed,
Iay: z
ri isnt' the sxpsnss mind. It's tn,
principls OF ths thing" /.
cnltsd States Treasury oniciais have
found that ths country Il overrun with
persons Who fsel just that way.
For example, not long ago = coal
dealer In Grand Rapids. Mich.-eithei
Grand Rapids or Detroit broke a win
dow in the basement OF tho Federal
building. or rather the dealers driver
broke 1t. owing to carelessness in back
ing up his team.
So the Treasury Department sent the
coal man bill for " cents. the cost Of
repairing the window.
Now 10 cents was not an insurmount-
able sum to the coal man. but he felt
that the broken window was not the
fault Of himself or his driver. He. there
fore. declined to pay the 10 cents. and
the correspondence on the qeustion went
back and forth for q few weeks, and
piled up until the item had cost the
government about SO in the form OF
wasted effort-all on account Of the prin-
ciple OF the thing
At that stage of the proceedings. one
OF the minor treasury oficials brought
to the attention Of Assistant Secretary
Byron r. Newton, formal inquiry ask
ing IL 1t would not be entirely practi-
cable to deduct 70 cents from the next
voucher mailed to the coal dealer In
payment for his coal.
Newton scrawled on the corner Of the
note of inquiry these few simple words
Go to it, \
That Immediately threw one whole
wing of the Treasury Department into
CONSERVATION. For never before in the
history OF the department had an As
sistant Secretary or any other high Of
ficial issued an order in any such in
formal language as that. One after
another read the words and tried to hg-
ure out their meaning. Go to it, II
was like something from a foreign
tongue. You see, the point Is that gov
ernment officials become SO accustomed
to. and SO bound up with formal prece-
dent, that il Is extremely difficult to
make a sudden shift Of viewpoint II
Newton had dictated a note saying:
The Assistant Secretary of the Treas
ury feels that 1t would be perfectly prop
er and according to law and order as in
such cases made and provided to deduct
the sum of 40 cents from the voucher of
John Smith, coal dealer. etc.
II he had expressed himself like that
all might have been well. But no one
about the department had the remotest
idea what he meant by. Go to It." They
did not know whether he was trying to
say yes or no. And what was more. no
one had the nerve to go and ask him.
1t was feared that a confession of fall
ure to comprehend an Assistant Secre-
tary's meaning might be construed as q
lack OF official respect. And. Furthermore,
there was no form or precedent for ask
ing q high official what he meant when
he said certain thing.
So you can imagine the furry and fiut-
ter of excitement For all l know they
may not yet have figured out what to
do.
This 20 cents controversy recalls another
famous case in the Treasury Department
Some years ago the crew of a govern
ment revenue cutter gave an entertain
ment OF some sort, anu, according to GUS
tom, assessed the cost OF the affair among
those aboard. Each mans share was
taken from his pay. One young man was
not in sympathy with some feature Of the
entertainment and objected to having to
pay his share. II cost him only % cents.
but IL was the principle of the thing.
He began to write to the Assistant Sec
retary of the Treasury, who had charge
OF the revenue-cutter service. and demand
justice.
That was about seven years ago and
the man has averaged about two letters
week ever since. He numbers his let
tiers. and the last one was numbered
seven hundred and something. Two or
three years ago he resigned from the rev.
enue-cutter service and is now living In
New York, but he Is still after his 20
cents and the establishment of a great
principle. When Charles Dewey Hilles
was an Assistant Secretary of the Treas
ury he sent the man his personal check
for 30 cents in the hope that II would
end the long correspondence. but II did
not The man promptly sent back the
check, saying that he did not want the
money. but justice, and that the 80 cents
must come from the government itself.
And SO the correspondence goes on with
no sign Of ever letting up.
Copyright, lsl4l