Evening star., 1923-03-24
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL y. COLLINS

IAN examination of his effects show
ed that he had been waiting a long time
for a government check
This is quoted from the story Of the
suicide Of a former service man. who
and, after an honorable discharge.
and hospitaliZation had been unable
TO find employment. The delayed
check was probably scrap of
paper" to some bureaucrat. was life
or death to the starving veteran, and
when IL failed. he stood in the pres
ence of scores of people. and with the
muzzle of a pistol in his mouth, blew
out his brains.
K 4 X i
These interminable and chronic de-
days in the Veterans Bureau are not
necessarily due to an over elaborate
system of checking and safeguarding
disbursements, but 10 the spirit Of
callous Indifference Of the checkers,
it is claimed by the veterans.
Weeks pass. while papers. which
might go forward in q day. lie upon
an officials desk, untouched. The TOO
frequent suicides Of the discouraged
veterans. which bring the procrastin-
alton into daylight, are not isolated
cases; they are outbreaks from the
masses of complaints which do not
reach quite to the tragic climax, but
all Of which are unfair an1 unncre=-
sary according to the veterans.
The spirit of the new director. Gen.
Hines. the head Of the Veterans
! Bureau. indicates d determiEIatiO 10
stand first and emphatically for the
interest of the veterans.
i :.
A business manager of large rx-
perience in handling men. suggests
that IL would be a long. stride toward
eliminating procrastinatiou # time
clock were Installed at every step in
| the progress Of 4 CHECK through tn"
| ranges of bureaucracy. and its record
stamped by every Official handling Il.
showing the minute i arrived a. his
dek and when il was forwarded 10 the
next. Then, he says. let inspectors
enter into any officials desk at unex-
pected moment, and take over all
contents. and list the items. with the
! period they had rested there. This *
what a bank examiner or an auditor
of insurance agencies or railroad Of
fees, does.
Much Of the merit even of doing a
. good thing lies in doing II on time,
according TO this successful eXecu-
! tive.
;: i i x
/ A story is told illustrating the meth
! DDS of John Fl. Patterson. head Of one
| Of the largest establishments in
| America. He appeared in the offices
Of his works. the National Cash Reg
lister company, one morning, accom-
| panied by n man with a pushcart.
/ The President approached the desks
| of the vice president, the secretary
and numerous other officials and chief
/ employees, heads of departments and
| demanded that each inform him in
stantly what were the exact contents
| of every drawer in his desk. Then
| the drawers were opened, and what
| ever was found therein which had not
/ been mentally listed and also every
listed item. for which there was no
/; plausible excuse for holding, was
! ordered summarily scrapped. regard
; less of its value or ownership. Bust
ness drawers We're not supposed 10
! be repositories Of private knicknacks.
i The pushcart carried d great load on
that first inspection.
Perhaps Gen. Hines might get an
army lorry for his first inspection of
the Veterans Bureau desks.
+ K y
1t would not be fair TO quote TO
government employees: THE wicked
stand in slippery places" but some
thing like that must have been meant
when an efficiency expert warned the
authorities that scrubbing depart
ment floors during Office hours last
year had caused thirty-five accidents.
costing the government $4,000 Why
should the daily office work, covering
eight hours. be interfered with by
the scrubbing when there are sixteen
other hours?
= x
The greatest ship af1oat weighs just
q little more than half the weight of
water reauired TO make q rainfall one