The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1919-01-23
THURSDAY, JANUARY %, 1919.
DECENTRALIZATION OF GENERALIZATION.

Washington Jan. 2( Especial Correspondence 1.-The slow
progress of the administration in the rehabilitation of both
the military and the civilian forces of the government mob
liked for purposes has been the subject of widespread
criticism The dissatisfaction especially with the failure to de-
mobilize the civilian forces became great that Democratic
senator, Hitchcock of Nebraska, finally introduced and
cured the adoption resolution calling upon all the executive
departments to make report every two weeks showing the
number OF employees and the number discharged since the last
report
Immediately after the signing the aistce many of the
waremegncy boards and commissions declared that the
cessation of would not the need for their continued
activity and that they would not of business On every
hand there evidence that the newly established bureauca
well pleased with their jobs that they determined to
hold The exercise of seemed to be gratifying to
them that they reluctant to up Having supervised
and directed private business for months they seemed
TO have mbbed the idea that private business could not
should not run without their guiding hands
But the storm of protest against the continuance of
emergency bureaus that the administration
realized that the perpeuaton of the supervisory bureaus
boards and would not be tolerated One after
another the boards announced that they would gradually close
out their work This created the impression that there would
be rapid rehabilitation of the civilian forces employed at the
national capital but the impression Although
the amstce signed November H. the housing
mission for the District of Columbia reported early January
that there great need for the completion of
housing projects and that only about 1000 of the vast
civilian employees had been dismissed Later secretary of
Baker announced that instead of senng the number of clerks
some 1000 additional clerks would be employed to aid in the
rehabilitation of the army
At the time of the of the United States the
the suggestion made that of solving the diff
cult problem of securing competent clerical assistance
the ordinary activities should be suspended and
the clerks diverted for work. where their should
be of special value in organizing the bureaus Apparently
of the normal work suspended although
the administration asking and compelling private enter
prise to discontinue essential work Clerks continued
the gathering, abulaton, editing publication and dstr
button of statistics that had relation to the and that
of very doubtful value Thus the government using
office space and clerical forces non-essena work time
when and of office buildings had to be
structed and thousands of inexperienced clerks
needed.
The result of that policy that persons of absolutely
clerical training clerical work salaries they
before dreamed of receiving And most of these people
still employed There is rehabilitation of the civilian
forces though the want ADJ columns of the Washington
papers still crowded with advertisements for help pri-
waite employment Suspension of war-emergency bureaus
has been accomplished only in the publicity
The ~payrolls practically undiminshed.