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Show Why Gen. Dawes Said "H 1 and Maria!" HE USED to be a clerk in one of the government departments during the, In a manner -of speaking, late war. One day a desk was deposited In the hall out-iBlde out-iBlde his door. He needed a desk. Just that sort of a desk. "Shall I make out a requisition for it, sir?" he asked the head clerk. The head clerk is an old-timer in government circles. He recalled to his Subordinate's mind the Incident of the inule which was shot and which, upon Inquiry, proved to be the wrong mule. Whereupon 48 letters were written and jthe time of many men in war time (was taken up in putting the record straight. "First take the desk," said he. "Then put in your requisition." So the clerk who needed a desk took the desk and put in his requisition. Time went on. He used the desk until It became warped and scratched. He forgot about the requisition, the head clerk forgot about It, every one forgot about it except that department of government which answers to the mills of the gods, that "grind slowly, but they grind exceeding 6ne." Nineteen months after he had made the requisition requisi-tion the reply came back: "The answer is 'No.' " He didn't care by that time, for he was about ready to go out of the government gov-ernment service. But he had learned his lesson. Nowadays the man who pays him his weekly wage looks upon him with awe and approbation. He Is the go-getter go-getter of the staff. When he is told to get something, or do something, he does not ask for permission. He first goes and gets. He then tells the world that he's got it. Half the time the world says it is all right. The other half of the time he is forced to pay a price. "But the point is that in almost 100 per cent of cases I get what I go after," said he. "Whereas In the strictly conventional con-ventional way I might average a bad one-third." No doubt there Is a moral which proves that he is entirely wrong. But nobody doubts that the story Is true, except that It may exaggerate a trifle In stating the haste with which the "No" was returned to the desk requisition. |