Evening star., 1918-05-19
Clean Up Every Night.

Bureau after bureau has adopted
the slogan of clean up your desks
every night" In hundreds of indi-
vidual cases clerks now are found to
be working until or s o'clock at
night to live up to this ideal boy,
page Mr.. Borland," remarked one as
he walked out. tired and supperless,
one evening after dark.
Naturally one cannot put q finger
on any one department and say that
on May /, 1918. that department be-
came efficient and cut out routine. 1t
has been a matter of spontaneous
combustion in many cases. But 1t
took time for the smoldering embers
to reach white heat.
There still are cases like the one in
a department that had expanded
rapidly where a certain paper intend
ed for gentleman on the floor above
travelled through the proper chan
quick action), circulated about
through several new buildings occu-
pied by branches of that department,
and wandered back to the man up
stairs after several days. when he
could have had it in three minutes.
Found Him in Department.
It was only a few months ago that
one department wanted to engage a
civil service examination few
months before. spent considerable
money in teleeraphing to Boston for
him. and finally sent a field agent up
to locate him. All the while he was
working quietly away in another bu-
reau of the department. where he had
been employed for several weeks.
There also have been inroads on the
telegraph habit. which became such
an epidemic in a certain department
fa1 Iof-
the hands of an overcrowded and un-
dermanned telegraph office for men
who could have been reached by
walking down the hail.
have not been eliminated. They new
er viii be. But they are being re-
duced. They are being reduced in
two ways. Some departments have
taken matters in their own hands
Others have called upon the United
States bureau of efficiency, headed by
Herbert d. Brown. and asked for ex-
pert assistance that they were not at
all anxious to accept in peace time.
An example OF the former type Of
ment. at the War Department. only
recently of committee headed by
Col. Ira Louis Reeves. who is assist
ed by Maj. Harlow Stafford Persons,
formerly of Dartmouth College, to
undertake a novel task.
Keep Eorce Busy.
They have gone about instituting
campaign of prompt arrival in the
morning. Daily inspections are con-
Quoted to determine whether clerks
are idle. and when they are found
to be so they are assigned to other
omces where work is piling up.
There has been much criticism
that In some new Offices clerks are
engaged and then sit around for
weeks before they have enough to
do to keep them busy. It is a matter
of official REGARD that the time thus
Cross many sweater and added to
the. literary knowledge of many a
newly arrived clerk.
Now this came about in a natural
fashion. bureau or office chief
was told to get ready for certain
-STx. He requisitioned the proper
number os clerks. The civil service
furnished them promptly-in many
cases too promptly. often they came
before the work was ready
Obviously 1t is not always possible
and the girl accurately. But this War
Department committee. in conjunc-
tion with the experts of the United
States bureau of efficiency, whose
services were asked for by the de-
pArtment. arc trying to see to 1t that
these clerks are transferred to places
whore there Is work to do while they
wait.
Present Emciency Work.
War time found the United States
bureau Of efficiency. just as 1t found