The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-16
WASH|NG7ON
DAYBOOK
By JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, May 15-James F. Grady, a
quiet-voiced fellow with wavy, pepperand-salt
hair, has started a revolution that's spreading
to every government department.. Before it's
over, it probably will create more good will than
all the pork barrel, relief and federal aid pro-
grams ever conceived.
What he's doing is showing the federal agen-
cies how to streamline their correspondence;
how to take out stuffed-shirt expressions, delete
the S. words, and turn out letters and sound
like a pat on the back rather than the POM
pous high-handedness of some minor official
who's so self-important he doesn't realize the
taxpayer buffers his bread.
Scarcely A hay
If you think this isn't important, ask your
congressman. There are 100000 pieces of gov
eminent mail pouring out of Washington every
day and it's estimated that 1000, 900 of these
are personal letters. There isn't a day that gov
eminent officials cont get complaints.
Often, it isn't the employees fault, as in the
case Of the home owner who went into hiding
when told his loan was to be reamortized and
nearly tainted from relief when he found he was
to be given 20 years to repay instead of ten.
After three years Of working with government
agents, Grady finds that even before any in.
structions in l~etter-writing have been given,
their letters stack up favorahly with those Of
most private industries.
Yet, in one department alone, he found ex.
amples of letters that were contradictory, insult
ing, commanding, impertinent, weakly apologetic
arbitrary, offensive, insincere, g%rudging, critic.
al, petulant and Indifferent.
Hoopskirts First
One of the first things the letter writers learn
is to ge rid of the "hoopskirts:" Your letter
was duly received. We beg to advise that.
. AS of even date herewith. Your letter
80 A. It'll - --:-
beg to hand you herewith. - and so on and
so on.
A by-product of Grady's program has been
economy, but he doesn't emphasize that. In one
agency a survey disclosed that letters cost rs
cents apiece to prepare and mail. If this aver
age holds for the 1000, 900 a day that go out,
that's $750,000 a day for Uncle Sans Washing.
ton letters.
Grady became an expert on epistles by acct.
dent. An administrator in a California college,
he was asked to assist in organization of the
Land Bank office at Berkeley when it mushroom
ed almost overnight from so to 1,400 employees.
In coordinating the work, he found employees
needed most some instruction in writing effective
letters. Out of the conferences came Grady's
plans for training and supervision. The Land
Bank governor asked Grady to come to Wash
ington as a special assistant. That was three
years ago.
Since then, the demand for Grady has been
far In excess of the supply. He has worked in
the field for the Land Bank, in Farm Security,
in the census bureau, weather bureau, and now
is launched on circuit of other agriculture de.
partment agencies, starting with the soil con.
servatlon division. He has lecture courses at the
American University. And he is co-author with
Milton Hall Of a book called Writing Effective
Government Letters"
If you get a letter from the government that
sounds as if it came from an official in a Vic.
torian counting house, or makes you wonder
why you have to pay taxes for salaries for smart
alecky nincompoops, just be patient. The Grady
revolution will get 'em yet,