The Owosso times., 1922-08-11
RED TAPE GUT IN
THE DEPARTMENTS
LED BY EDWARD CLIFFORD, THE
ASSISTANT SECRETARIES IN
WASHINGTON GET WISE.
TELEPHONE INSTEAD OF PEN
"InItiaIed" Correspondence No Longer
Necessary In Transacting Govern
ment Business Of Which a Written
Record ls Not Required.
BY JAMES p. HoRNADAY

retaries in the ten administrative de-
partments are now successfully
demonstrating that government red
tape can be cut. Edward Clifford of
Chicago, one of the assistant secre-
taries of the treasury, who got his
business training under Charles G.
Dawes. recently retired first chief of
the bureau Of the budget, Is re-
sponsible primarily for the tape cut
ting campaign.
One of the first things Clifford
observed after he took service with
the Treasury department was the
seeming impossibility of transacting
interdepartmental business with
promptness. If his branch of the
Treasury department desired certain
Information from some other admins
trative branch of the government, 1t
was necessary under the rules that
had stood for more than a century for
him to take the subject up through
correspondence. This meant that If
he wrote to an assistant secretary
In another department the letter must
be 'initialed" by either the secretary
Of the treasury or the assistant secre-
tary of the treasury, and that after it
reached the other department 1t would
have to go through the process of be-
Ing 'initialed' up and down until an
answer was ready to be forwarded.
This red tape process frequently con-
sumed days, but the prevailing view
was that tradition must be followed or
the government would probably not
survive.
Use the Phone, Said Clifford.
"All these administrative depart
ments are connected by telephones,
take it," said Assistant Secretary Cliff
ford one day to a member of his Office
force.
"Oh yes, we have perfect telephone
service between the departments" was
the response.
'Well, l think we will use the tele-
phone In transacting some of this
business instead of writing so many
letters" said Clifford.
That was the first step in the re-
form that has been successfully ac-
complished. Clifford soon learned that
the "a assistant secretaries, four in
the Department of Justice, four in
the Post Office department, one in the
Navy department, one in the Depart
ment Of Commerce, and one in the De-
partment of Labor. were not even ac-
quainted. "There should be some CO.
operation in managing the business Of
the federal government" said he, and
forthwith he proposed that the "a
secretaries In the administrative de-
partments hold meeting and get ac-
Quainted. The invitation to this meet
ing was accepted by % of the "a as
sistants and before the evening was
over an organization had been per-
fected 1t was agreed to meet each
Tuesday evening IN the week.
The outcome Of the formation Of
this organization by the assistant Sec
retaries who, after all, are the men
who handle nine-tenths Of the routine
business of Importance, is that inter-
departmental business handled by
these secretaries has been greatly sim
plified. The telephone has practically
supplanted the stenographer, the type
writing machine and the mails.
Secretary MELONS Victory.
Apparently Andrew w. Mellon,
secretary of the treasury, has won
q big victory over the Repub-
lican politicians who set out to force
him to resign. His victory received
its finishing touches when President
Harding decided to accept the resig-
nation Of Elmer Dover, an assistant
secretary and chief political heads
man. AS result of various devel-
opments during the last few months
the merit system as applied to govern
ment services seems to be on q sound
er foundation than at any time since
March 4, 1921. The National Civil
Service Reform league is entitled to
q large measure of credit for the out
come. The league called attention
from time to time to what was going
on and did this in an effective way.
The dismissal Of some thirty-four
chiefs of divisions In the bureau Of
engraving and printing without hear
ing, and without reference to the pro-
lection which the civil service law Is
supposed to give them, stirred up such
a cOmmotion that no attempt has been
made to repeat the performance In
any Of the other branches Of the gov
erpment. 1t is generally understood
that the officials who were respohsi-
BILE for those dismissals In the bureau
now admit privately that the whole
performance was blunder; but no
steps toward correcting the mistake
have been taken.
After all, as things turned out. the
bureau dismissals were probably a
good thing for the government service.
They served to call attention to a pro-
gram set up by the spoilsmen for
general raid on the departments. The
employees who were dismissed have
nearly all obtained positions outside
of the government service at much bet