El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-01
RED TAPE STILL
HANDICAPS ARMY
WORK IN FRANCE
Many Hours By Scores of
Clerks Required To Pay
Soldiers Two Cents
RED CROSS REPORT
TAKES MUCH TIME

~ ARTS, France, July Red tape
~ in France was expeeted to crum-
= bic under the pressure Of war,
| hut IL seems 10 show resisting powers
! quite equal to those OF the armies,
armOr and concrete. The late Gen.
Gallieni vigorously sssailed it and was
thought to have made q big breach in
its breastworks, at least insofar as
3 concerned the war department. Evil
I donce comes TO light every day, how
ever, showing that its principal strong
holds are untouched.
! Among the latest examples OF what
the French call "paperaSserie" a morn
ing paper produces a photograph show
ing a roll S 1-2 yards long, made Of
sheets Of official paper pasted togeth-
er; II required the time of several
clerks several days to note upon these
sheets duplicate entries Of the balances
CT pay and meal indemnities due to the
soldiers OF q single company while on
leave What the same expenditure OF
time and effort would amount to IN
the entire army Of several million
men may, be imagined but calculated
with difficulty.
Red Tape In Money Orders.
The OeuVre cites a case in which
more than 1000 postal money orders
for ten confines 1.-TWO cents) and 20
centimes (four cents), each accom-
q o.
were sent each month from the com
handing bases Of army corps to SOL
oiers who had been sent to the rear
TO work N munition factories at c.
The officer IN charge who receives
these postal orders at C from the
different army corps acknowledge re-
ceipt Of each order. writes q new note,
ADDS a new stamp and new signature,
then sends the order to the director
OF the works in which the soldier is
employed; the works director acknowl-
edges receipt of the sums. enters them
in q special register, after which the
order is finally delivered to the soldier
in exchange for a receipt and which
receipt takes the inverse road and fol-
lows the different hierarchic stages
until 1t gets back to the army corps
papers, can then collect his two cents
or four cents as the case may be. in
exchange for another receipt, another
signature and another stamp
One Red Cross Incident.
An order was given to all the heads
Of the different services of the war
department that all clerical work
should be simplified and that every
document not indispensable should be
done away with. However, II recently
transpired that the director Of every
Red Cross hospital received q circular
calling for a detailed report regarding
each patient treated in the hospital,
comprising four full typewritten pages
Of questions. An experimental dem
Onstration proved that 1t required two
days time of one Of the nurses to fill
out this circular. as required. for a
single patient Consequently had the
demand been complied with. it would
have been necessary to multiply the
hospital staff several times to do this
clerical work in addition TO the COM
plicated bookkeeping and the indi-
vidual records made up for the per-
sOnal file of each man brought into
the hospital
Three Orders, No Shoes.
The Cri de Paris cites another case
In which this red tape in the hands
of people not expert with II multiplies
itself A circular from the sanitary
department Of an army corps Informed
the officers in command Of different
units that they were authorized TO buy
shoes for the men to be shipped from
the rear at the minimum price Of 90
francs: three days later a new circular
Cancelled the first and announced that
II was q maximum price Of 20 francs
that was authorized; four days later
q third circular cancelled both the 9TH
ers and announced that the authorize
ton in question applied only to troops
In fighting units actually at the front:
result a number of circulars, enve-
lopes, written and forwarded, triple
the number OF officers comma ndinE
different units Of an army corps Of the
entire forces behind the front