Show where your yo ar taxes go how uncle sam spends your in conduct 1 ing your business w br BY HOWARD EDWARD 0 LOWRY autem s ks ma n d A ua 64 9 W ajl 11 lue L ue fudi W a wet of h authony r C UM IN i bala C wun W un N aw balu U WT WHAT OF THESE OLD MEN 7 congress enacted a law low in 1880 1800 requiring all beada heads of e departmental departments and independent dependent establishments la in the federal service to report each year lear to the secretary ot at the treasury treasur 7 the num ber her of 0 employees under them who wre were below a 4 fair standard of 0 efficiency every year this Is done and the letter letters to the secretary of tho the treasury tron from the various departments depart mente and bureaus bureau are printed in the book of of appropriations compiled for use by congress in making up the annual supply bills congress never pays the slightest heed to these report reports they are made up year after year bit the inefficient are never fired for example last year the chief cleric clerk of the treasury reported ITO employees of the treasury department as below a fair standard of efflo efficiency lerey but nothing will be done about it the interior department reported in effic lents and will probably go on reporting them till they die of old age am there are emp employees loees of the ment in Uns washington hington who are totally blind and who are led from welt homes to their offices each day and hack back home again in lit the afternoon I 1 knew in one gentleman of ninety two yenn years who had been in tb 4 government bervice tor for seventy two lears years being paid at that time raico a beir pir ills mast maximum murn pay dur ing his long service was N as asoo 1 a year faints X polk was ire pre ident when ben this old gentleman came into the ice he ile was us born on january to 10 1828 ills father was a captain ot of the regular army in the war of 1812 after that sen seri ice lee he lie led an acthen life tn in other occupations until 1848 lien be died leaving a dependent family of nine persons person three of them boys it feil fell to the lot of one of them to be the chief support sul port of the family it came to pas 4 then that at the age of twenty he lie received through the influence of ny friends of his father a small clerks clerk alp at the naval atory then under the superintendence of that accomplished officer matthew fontaine Pont alne maury whom born he served as amanuensis for ten years accounting tt it a great privilege and pleasure to have heard voice dictating the words of sen sense sene e and wisdom which make up the sailing directions the wind and current charts and publications issued from the observatory tor for the benefit of the worl from a copyist at first november 0 9 1848 at 3 a day the young man was advanced s follows july 1 1853 clerk at 11 1200 a year july 1 1854 bleik at 1500 a year july 1 2 1870 principal clerk at 1 1800 soo a beur december 0 6 clerk at 1400 a year slay may 1 1918 eapher and typewriter at a year it will be seen that he was as demoted in december 1011 1 and again in slay blay 1018 to lower positions invoking less work and re these thee demo eions ions were nere at his own on request in october 1017 he rec receded elied from the assistant secretary of the navy ir r Roo roosevelt tevelt the fol following loiNing letter e in info vi rt M hl hav bit W e ea 1 tor sl months months be n g C 0 e 1 07 Ls I 1 cu u 1 been een in n vae t e employ ea em loy cl ft rf th tho ux a ja iC menT sow now n nearly arl y s nine yell r fth fand 1 during nil that diat trio jahr your reco record raUs 3 been een 1 elbell excellent benl enl I 1 regret that there Is esno mayfa which the department fo id continue you on the lolla tolls with 1 1 I desire at ahli ilma to the appreciation ol 01 the department jor your long and satisfactory service ena and the hope that you will bd so benefited by this leave that you can fatum and resume clr duties at its expiration I 1 talked with one of the cabinet off officers leers about the air and feeble employees lie ile eald 1 I don dont t know what con eon atess anten intends ds to do about them but I 1 know what I 1 intend to do with those in my department I 1 intend to leave them alone they can stay here as long as they hire like until some rovis vision lono Is lunde ninde for them wuen I 1 was new now in the department I 1 dismissed d two of these old people and demoted another on on the ground that they were euper super annulated and and were a hindrance to the work all three of them wrote e me wd ind letter s a promptly committed sl it clie was eno u I 1 h mc d more thao them enough tor for mr me never ug will I 1 distort rb conj on af of alem them I 1 do aa not IS choose adaa 15 1 tave avi it on conscience that I 1 pronounced sentence en tence of death on en an old min or an old woman in the service of the government they can all stay on hen her as long ion as they like lah I 1 found them here and some of efem will be here when I 1 leave it if conga congress 44 chooses ti 0 provide tor for them that Is its obligation ani U I 1 will never sentence another one of 0 them to self destruction no ma matter ater what the coat cost to file lie taxpayer and the government |