The Washington times., 1921-06-30
FROM THE PUBLIC
- TO THE
-EDITOR-
EDITOR
FROM A DISCHARGED CLERK
re EDITOR OF THE TIMES:

10 THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES;
The Times has been generous In according
space to Government employees. in which to air
grievances. am wondering II few general OBJ
servations from who has his gate ticket
for June 80. yet has mo kick coming" would not
be a welcome chsnge-coming IL does from
who has had three years experience q Gov
ernmcnt employe after twenty years service
directing head of several large corporations his
Speciality during the latter period being the
lection and grading Of clerical help and sys-
tematizing office work
War Department office employees q know moth
ing about other heip) have shorter hours. more
days, longer vacations and with isolated excep-
tions, easier tasks than those of any commercial
concern In the United States-and the women
get about 40 per cent better pay. The men, II
is true. underpaid, except routine clerks
whose pay is about 20 per cent more than they
would get elsewhere- Men of initiative. adapt
ability and resource, whose services command
salaries of $1,000 and Vp in commercial lines get
from from to oo wsh @ $1,000 to-
$4,000. Am not saying that men and women of
equal merit should not should. have equal
pay-that is not part of my argument the lat
ter being that compared with the pay of
ployes in commercial institutions, the women
overpaid and the men. capable men, underpaid-
Reclassification and regarding will help some
but will not accomplish all that Is expected. for
the reason that the sources from which the COM
mittees must get information have different
standards Of efficiency.
be eis.sed as Al by the only standard
they know, probably would not be worth $40
week. judged by commercial standards. OF by the
standard Of some other subdivision head. and
the converse OF the illustration is equally prob
able. In my three years with the Government.
there comparatively few days in which
could finish up my work. satisfactorily to my
self. In eight hours and OF all the assistants
had only one can be recalled who would
stay a minute after office hours; some OF them
could not. some would not do half the work
others would do in day vet all Were recon-
consistency is likely to attend recommendations
made to the committee.
Now. at the risk of being charged with egotism.
wish to add hint to the reorganization COM
mttee. The chiefs OF the several divisions of
the War Department are fine officers and men
of signal ability, but no human being ever sc-
complished much as In expected of any one
Of them. Aside from, other duties. they are re-
quired to sign daily, reams of letters prepared by
others--it Is impossible for them to do more
than barely read and sign these letters-they
cannot dig into the files frequently year old or
more, to determine whether not these letters
are proper and. owing to the constant shifting
employees wAo are not familiar with the trans
action involved and who have not had the train
ing essential to the analysis of complicated
business proposition, that is one of the principal
that the Government Is unbusinesslike. Each of
these chiefs should have assistants whose duty
should be to digest every letter prepared for
them TO sign and, 10 be eligible for appointment,
these assistants, in addition TO possessing the
qualities of ferret, should have had at least
five years training outside Of the Government
two years with the Government and. to have
demonstrated marked ability In both, Further
more, they should be men who appreciate the
wisdom in what Mr. Brisbane once wrote, name
ly. that mo man ever made any money to- amount
and such men cannot be had for the pay OF an
ordinary clerk oLD-rIMER-