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Show Whv Gen. Dawes Said "H-l 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 drHslted In the hall out-aide out-aide 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 bis subordinate's mind the Incident of the mule which was shot and which, upon Inquiry, proved to be the wrong mule. Whereupon 48 letters were written and the 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 tok the desk and put in his n-qutsltlon. Time went on. lie used the desk until It became warped and scratched. f forgot about the requisition, the head clerk forgot about It, every one forgot libout It eci')it that dej.iirt meat of government which answers o the mills of the (imls. that 'Vrlml slowly, but thvf grind exceeding tine." Nineteen months after he had made the requisition requisi-tion the reply came hack : "The answ er 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 bis lesson. Nowadays the man who pays hlra 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 lie'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 PK) per cent of cases I get what 1 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 li true, except that It may exaggerate a trllle In stating the haste with which the "No" wan returned tv tt Jenli requisition. |