LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL APPROPRIATION BILL.

HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE, MESSRS. H. H. BINGHAM, L. N. LITTAUER, ABRAHAM L. BRICK, L. F. LIVINGSTON, AND ALBERT S. BURLESON, OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IN CHARGE OF THE LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, AND JUDICIAL APPROP RIATION BILL FOR 1907, ON THE DAYS NAMED.

WEDNESDAY, February 7, 1906.

STATEMENT OF HON. ALEXANDER MCDOWELL, CLERK, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. LITTAUER. How many branches of work are performed in your office?

Mr. McDOWELL. I have the enrolling room, disbursing room, the file room, the stationery room, the Clerk's office, and the bathroom. Mr. LITTAUER. Have you a force in the Clerk's office sufficient to do the work?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. What is the work done in the Clerk's office?

Mr. McDOWELL. The members come in there for information which they very much need and also for documents. Then we issued the subpoenas.

Mr. TAWNEY. How much of a force have you?

Mr. McDOWELL. I have two employees.

Mr. TAWNEY. Who are they?

Mr. McDOWELL. There is Aaron Russell.

Mr. TAWNEY. What is the designation of that position?

Mr. McDOWELL. Assistant in Clerk's office, salary $1,400.

Mr. TAWNEY. And the other one?

Mr. MCDOWELL. The other one is a stenographer that I am sup

posed to have.

Mr. LITTAUER. And do have, as provided by law?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. BURLESON. Do you mean to say that you have not got him?

Mr. McDOWELL. He is there.

Mr. BURLESON. Is he a stenographer?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. BURLESON. A good stenographer?

Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. He is a nice gentleman. He is all right. I appointed him for a member, that is all. He earns his money.

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Mr. BRICK. How much does he get?

Mr. MCDOWELL. One thousand two hundred dollars.

Mr. LITTAUER. Will you please describe the force and work of the Clerk's office proper?

Mr. MCDOWELL. First, we have the Chief Clerk. He is in charge of the buying of furniture and carpets for the House of Representatives and the general work of the building connected with the House. Then there is Mr. Phillips-he is the Journal clerk. He has charge of the Journal and all the bills, etc., that pass through the House. Messrs. Lampson and Alward are the two reading clerks. You know their work. Winthrop C. Jones is the tally clerk, at $3,000. He keeps the tally at the desk, and is a good man. Matlack is the printing and bill clerk, at $2,500. He is busy all the time. Mr. Hoyt is the disbursing clerk, at $2,500, and well earns every cent of it. Mr. LITTAUER. What does he disburse?

Mr. McDOWELL. He makes out the clerk-hire checks for the members and pays the bills. It is a regular banking office.

Mr. LITTAUER. And he pays the salaries of the employees of the House?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. And disburses the contingent fund?

Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. And the clerk hire for members?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. That is your disbursing office?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. How many assistants does he have?

Mr. McDOWELL. He has five in that office.

Mr. LITTAUER. Is the work well organized?

Mr. McDOWELL. We have a good force there. The work is as well done as in any bank in the country.

Mr. Williams is the file clerk, at $2,500.

Mr. LITTAUER. He was appointed a year or so ago?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. What salary did his predecessor get?

Mr. McDOWELL. Two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars; and Williams is a better man than his predecessor.

Mr. BRICK. How does that salary compare with the salary in the Senate?

Mr. LITTAUER. It is way below the Senate salary. I have not the Senate roll, but by a comparison you will find that the House salaries are all below the salaries of similar offices in the Senate.

Mr. BURLESON. Are they underpaid?

Mr. MCDOWELL. Well, some of them should really receive a little more compensation. Mr. Williams's salary could go back to $2,750. Mr. LITTAUER. What is the designation of the officer in the Senate who performs the same class of duties as our file clerk?

Mr. McDoWELL. I do not know.

Mr. LITTAUER. The file work is done in the Secretary's office in the Senate, is it not?

Mr. MCDOWELL. I think in that department.

Mr. LITTAUER. Is there any one in particular charge, that you know of?

Mr. McDOWELL. I do not know the name of the party.

Then there is Mr. McKenney, the enrolling clerk, $2,500. There is a man who earns every cent of his salary and a little more. He works night and day during the sessions of the House and frequently works until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, when there is a busy day, in order to enroll the bills and get them ready to send to the Senate by noon of the next day.

Mr. LITTAUER. How many assistants has he?

Mr. McDOWELL. One assistant. Then we use the newspaper clerk, who is a newspaper man, to help him in reading and comparing the

bills.

Mr. LITTAUER. Of course that work is only during the sessions of the House?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. What is a newspaper clerk?

Mr. McDOWELL. That is misleading in its title. That should be executive clerk. Of course he has charge of all newspapers that come to the House, but that is a very small part of what he does. He has charge of all the executive documents.

Mr. LITTAUER. What do you mean by "executive documents? "

Mr. McDOWELL. You know the documents that come from the executive departments. It is important work.

Mr. LITTAUER. That is, House documents, such as I am showing you now [exhibiting].

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. He has charge of the distribution or printing?

Mr. McDOWELL. The printing of them.

Mr. LITTAUER. He is practically a document clerk?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. TAWNEY. That would be a better title.

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir; newspaper clerk is very misleading. One might think all he had to do was to take charge of the newspaper files.

Mr. BURLESON. I thought the old negro paid attention to the newspapers.

Mr. McDOWELL. He does when you come in there, but this man attends to the subscriptions for those papers, all the accounts, and also the stationery accounts. When the accounts come in there they go to the newspaper clerk for his O. K. before paid. He has to examine all those accounts.

Mr. TAWNEY. "Executive clerk" would be the best title for him. Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir; I think so.

Mr. LITTAUER. I think the proper title to call him is clerk, and give him what work you see fit to have him do.

Mr. MCDOWELL. He is busy all the time.

Mr. LITTAUER. He is a necessary official in your office?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. If you put him on as an additional clerk, all the $1,600 clerks would want that job; but when there is specific work for him to do and a salary attached to it they say that is different work and they do not expect that.

David Moore is the distributing clerk. He distributes the documents among the committees.

Mr. LITTAUER. What compensation do you give for that distribution?

Mr. MCDOWELL. He gets $2,250. He is a good man, faithful, and does his work well.

Mr. TAWNEY. And he is kept pretty busy during the session?

Mr. McDOWELL. There is no doubt about that. I never knew how valuable he was until he got the "shingles" and could not work. Then we found out how badly we needed him.

Harry Pottenburgh is the assistant disbursing clerk, at $2,000, a very responsible position and a well-earned salary. Willis H. Wing, assistant enrolling clerk, $2,000; he is the assistant to Mr. McKenney. I do not think there is a more faithful man than Mr. Wing. Charles N. Thomas, resolution and petition clerk, $2,000. Dinger is the index clerk, at $2,000. He keeps the indexes of all documents. He is a very busy man, as is his assistant.

Mr. LITTAUER. I see you have a librarian?

Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. What does he do?

Mr. McDOWELL. He attends to the library. He has built the library up until there is no better library in the country than the House Library. You can go up there and get any document you want, and instantly.

Mr. BURLESON. Who is he?

Mr. McDOWELL. Mr. Boobar.

Mr. BRICK. Did he ever graduate from a library school?

Mr. MCDOWELL. I hope not; but he is a good man, and $1,800 is very small pay for the work he does. John L. Morrison, stationery clerk, $1,800. That salary should be $2,000. He has charge of the stationery rooms, where we handle from $60,000 to $70,000 worth of supplies in a year.

Mr. LITTAUER. Does he make the purchases?

Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. It is all done through bids, but he is an honest, faithful, hard-working man. It is a shame to pay him $1,800; he should have $2,000.

Mr. LITTAUER. How long has he been there?

Mr. McDOWELL. Ever since I have been in the Clerk's office.

Mr. TAWNEY. Ever since the Fifty-fourth Congress?

Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir.

The Sergeant-at-Arms and myself are paying out more postage every year than the Government is giving us, and in the case of the Sergeant-at-Arms I think it is double.

Mr. LITTAUER. For what purpose?

Mr. MCDOWELL. For the mailing of the clerk-hire checks and all documents to members.

Mr. TAWNEY. Can you not send them out under your frank?

Mr. McDOWELL. No, sir. In the contests we have got to send out papers by registered mail.

Mr. LITTAUER. Did you keep track of that in your office?

Mr. McDowELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. LITTAUER. How much have you expended in the last three years more than you have received?

Mr. MCDOWELL. It averages about a hundred dollars a year, and I think that the Government is as able to pay the postage as I am. Mr. TAWNEY. How far does your franking privilege extend? Mr. McDOWELL. Just to documents.