Evening star., 1936-10-25
CAPITAL PAY DAY
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Continued From Second Page.)
and ar-headedness of one official
in particular. He is Guy Allen, chief
disbursing officer Of the United States,
whose name has appeared at the bot
tom of every check issued by the
Federal Government since 1888, when
he was appointed to consolidate 500
different disbursing accounts, manned
by 500 disbursing agents, under MS
own very capable and experienced
wing.
Mr.. Allen pays everybody except
emergency employees, the national
defense, District of Columbia en-
ployes and employees of certain cor
porations, such as the Reconstruction
Finance Corp. and the Home Owners
Loan Corp That means he pays the
departmental forces of the Army and
Navy, all executive departments and
independent establishments, which
means, in turn, that approximately
$4,000 people sign above his signature
every IS days. Civil Service reports
115,500 employees, and this slight dis
crepancy is due to the fact that their
records contain the names Of some not
continuously on the United States pay
roll, while Mr.. Aliens list pays only
permanent employees.
MR.. ALLEN, naturally enough. must
A'A receive his authorization for so
doing. This comes in the form OF
pay roll, certified by the respective
heads of the various departments.
This certified pay roll is made up,
checked and certified in the office OF
the administrative departmental head
who then sends it over to Mr.. Aliens
Office in the Treasury Annex. These
lists are checked against lists in the
Office of the chief disbursing officer.
Every permanent employe of the
United States Government is repre-
sented in the disbursing office by an
addressograph plate and when he is
shown to be entitled to compensation
these plates are run through ma
chimes. stamping the name OF the
recipient of the check and its amount
on check forms previously suppi.ed by
the Bureau of Printing and EngraV-
ing.
The vast amount of $50 tons OF
check paper is the regular supply
necessitated yearly for payment pur-
poses. and from this great bulk OF
especially prepared paper 25,oOO,ooo
sheets of checks are printed. FROM
these, too, are printed certain minor
miscellaneous sheets, such as travel
requests, but by far the great bulk
of paper is used for check purposes.
Each of these blank checks has It's
own number and sealed bundles OF
them are sent to the disbursing OIL
GERS headquarters from time to time
as occasion demands, to be accounted
for to the very last slip.
Mistakes-which are uncommonly
rare-may necessitate the destroying
of a check already made out. The
destroyed check and the new one is
sued are carefully recorded and ac-
counted for later to the Bureau OF
Engraving and Printing.
There arrives in the Office of the
disbursing chief the pay rolls from
all departments a few days before the
18th and 3Oth of each month. They
represent tentative lists, for scme-
times corrections or deductions at the
last minute must be made in them.
A clerk may be absent without leave
a day or two after the pay roll has
been made up. The memo of this
deduction is sent to Mr.. Aliens office
and is duly made there before the
addressograph of that clerk Is run
through the machine.
Sometimes minor corrections IN the
pay roll are necessary, such as in
amount, or the spelling OF the clerks
name, and these changes are duly
noted, But, with these exceptions,
nav rolls and addressographs can be
checked and much work gone
through with before actual pay day
Is upon them.
Pay rolls begin to arrive as early
rs four or five days before the l5th
and 30th of the month, but some DO
not put in an appearance until the
day before these dates.
In the Offices of the chief disbursing
officer 500 clerks are kept continue
ously busy working upon those mat
ters that constitute the daily routine
of disbursement functions, but for three
days before pay day this staff devotes
its energies to getting the pay checks
out on time.
AS MIR. ALLEN points out, earth
uuakes may come or go, storms
break about our heads, but nothing
must interfere with the orderly and
timely distribution of a mans or
woman's earnings. Delays are not
FREQUENT, but, as with all human
agencies, they sometimes occur. Such
delays usually are occasioned by ex-
traordinary events quite without the
Jurisdiction of the disbursement ofhce.
For example, an emergency appro-
priation may be delayed by much
discussion on the part of Congress.
Until that appropriation comes
through Mr.. Allen cannot, obviously,
draw checks against it.
Such delay occurred in the Park
Service appropriation last year and
employees of that branch of the Gov
ernment had to wait beyond pay day
for their checks. To cite another
instance, the Supreme Court decision
with respect to the A. A. A. caused
doubt as to what funds would be
available to make payment and there
was delay in getting the rolls over to
the disbursing office.
Before the checks can be run
through the addressograph, and even
after each has been checked for &C
curacy in name and amount, there
are further records to be made. Each
individual check must be charged
against a suitable appropriation. While
each department head designates the
appropriation, it is the Division OF
l. - t,af