Mr. TAWNEY. But not to the ordinary mailing of letters to members of Congress containing clerk-hire checks or anything else? Mr. MCDOWELL. No, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. How much are you allowed for postage? Mr. McDOWELL. Three hundred dollars. Mr. LITTAUER. And in your opinion it should be $400? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. And you have kept track of it, and you know that in the last year it has amounted to a little over $400? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. I have to furnish the disbursing room, the chief clerk's office, the file room, and all the different departments with postage. Mr. TAWNEY. You spoke of sending matter by registered mail in contests; what did you mean? Mr. MCDOWELL. I have to register the notices to contestants and contestees for my safety, in order to get a receipt showing that they have received them. Mr. LITTAUER. I can not quite comprehend that. You can send out 50 letters for $1, and $300 allows you to send 15,000 letters? Mr. McDOWELL. All I know is that I have that much less than I should have. Mr. LITTAUER. And all the postage is expended for the public business in the work of your office? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir; and I know that the same will apply to Mr. Casson, only more so. Mr. LITTAUER. Will you kindly continue? Mr. MCDOWELL. The next is Mr. Mitchell, superintendent clerk's document room, $1,800. Two assistants in the library, at $1,600 each. Then comes the bookkeeper, at $1,600. He is really a clerk, but we keep him in the disbursing room. Then we have seven clerks, at $1,600 each; a document and bill clerk, at $1,600; an assistant index clerk, at $1,500; a document clerk, at $1,440; an assistant in the disbursing office, $1,400; an assistant in clerk's office, $1,400, and locksmith, $1,200. Mr. LITTAUER. The law requires that the locksmith shall be skilled in his trade? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. Does he attend to all the locks? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir; and to the desks and clocks. Mr. LITTAUER. Then we now have a practical man? Mr. McDOWELL. He says he is. Mr. BURLESON. What business was he engaged in before he was appointed? Mr. MCDOWELL. He told me he had two years' employment in a jewelry store, where they handled materials of this kind. Then we have a telegraph operator and an assistant, at $1,200 each. Mr. BURLESON. Are they in your office? Mr. MCDOWELL. No; they are out in the lobby of the House. Then there is the assistant file clerk, at $1,200, and the stenographer to Clerk, $1,200. Mr. BRICK. That is the stenographer we talked about before? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. Then there is the messenger in file room, $900; assistant in library, $900; assistant in document room, $900; assistant in stationery room, $900; page, at $720; three laborers in the bathroom, at $720 each, and three laborers, at $720, making six laborers. Mr. LITTAUER. The three laborers are in the enrolling room? Mr. McDOWELL. No, sir; they attend to the boxes and bags and do the general labor around the different departments. Then there is a page in the enrolling room, at $720; messenger to chief clerk, $900, and janitor, House library, $720. Mr. LITTAUER. That janitor simply takes care of the House library? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. How are your own offices cleaned? Mr. McDOWELL. We clean them ourselves. We really should have a janitor in the Clerk's office and enrolling room combined. Mr. LITTAUER. The work has been done by your laborers? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. Is it not satisfactorily done in that way? Mr. McDOWELL. Oh, yes; if we can not find a laborer we take the cuspidor out ourselves, just as we do at home, and clean it. Mr. TAWNEY. Do you not think that the janitors should be included in the janitor force of the House? Would there be any objection if the janitor force was all put under the head of one man and that officer was made responsible for the entire janitor force of the building? Mr. McDOWELL. I have charge of the library, and if that man Rogers-I do not know him from Adam-was to fail to do his work properly his name would not be Rogers. Mr. TAWNEY. He would not be continued on the rolls? Mr. McDOWELL. No, sir. It gives us a chance to keep them at work and to have them do their work well. He can play messenger, for instance, and when we want to send books to members we can send them. Mr. TAWNEY. He is there all the time? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. That completes the description of the men employed in your office? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. We have here a service which a year ago was appropriated for to complete a digested summary and alphabetical list of private claims under your charge. Mr. McDOWELL. Those people are working at that. Mr. LITTAUER. What have they accomplished? Mr. McDOWELL. They are doing very good work and getting the matter in very good shape. They are down to about the Fifty-sixth Congress. They have that much completed. Mr. LITTAUER. The appropriation made a year ago was specifically made to complete this work. Was not the force sufficient to complete it? Mr. McDOWELL. There is vet considerable work to be done. Mr. LITTAUER. It will not be completed by the end of this fiscal year? Mr. MCDOWELL. I doubt it. I do not see how they can finish it by that time. They are faithful workers. Mr. LITTAUER. Is the work published? Mr. MCDOWELL. No, sir; it is not in print. They have the material about ready to print. Mr. LITTAUER. The object of the work is what? Mr. MCDOWELL. To reduce the bills and documents into the smallest possible space. For instance, here would be, say, five different bills for Henry Casson. They reduce that all from half a page to about three lines, so it is perfectly intelligible. They reduce it down so that you can find a completed case of Henry Casson in three lines. Mr. BURLESON. That relates to private claims? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir; to private claims. Mr. TAWNEY. What is the value of that service? What is the necessity for it? Mr. LITTAUER. Who is going to use it—who is that designed to be used by? Mr. McDOWELL. The members imagined that they wanted it—at least some of them did. Mr. TAWNEY. At whose instance was it first started? Mr. McDOWELL. I think Colonel French, of the file room, suggested this work. Mr. LITTAUER. Is the work conducted under the file clerk now? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. The office of these people is in the back end of the enrolling room. They are well fitted up there, and they work faithfully, but whether the work is worth anything or not I do not know. Mr. TAWNEY. The work was authorized by Congress? Mr. McDOWELL. Yes, sir. I never would want a copy of it in the world. I do not know whether or not anybody else would. It was no suggestion of mine. I think there are about 16 large red wooden boxes filled with the stuff ready to be printed. Mr. BRICK. Then, when it is printed you will have to have a force to keep it up year after year? Mr. MCDOWELL. No; I think not. It would then go to the library and into the general archives and into the cellar. Mr. BURLESON. And into the waste basket? Mr. McDOWELL. And into the homes and stables of the members. Mr. TAWNEY. Have you any idea how many volumes it will make? Mr. McDOWELL. I could only make a rough guess; I should say 8 or 10 volumes. Mr. TAWNEY. About 10 volumes? Mr. McDowELL. I think so. Mr. TAWNEY. And all private claims? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. BURLESON. It would cost a great deal of money to print it? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. How many years has this work been going on? Mr. MCDOWELL. I think three years. Mr. LITTAUER. And it has cost $4,800 a year? Mr. MCDOWELL. I think that is the amount. I think they get $1,600 per annum each. Mr. BRICK. Do you think the work is as valuable as the messages and documents? Mr. MCDOWELL. I would not want to go that far. I think it would perhaps come up to the irrigation pamphlets we receive. Mr. LITTAUER. Who will be able to tell us the actual condition of this work? Mr. MCDOWELL. If the committee would go down to the enrolling room they could see it. Mr. TAWNEY. Who is in charge of it; can not he come here? Mr. MCDOWELL. Yes, sir; I will send a gentleman to the committee. WEDNESDAY, February 7, 1906. DIGEST OF PRIVATE CLAIMS. STATEMENT OF MR. F. G. HUNSICKER, CLERK. Mr. LITTAUER. You are one of the clerks completing the work of the digested summary and alphabetical list of private claims? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. How long has that work been going on? Mr. HUNSICKER. We started it at the end of the Fifty-seventh Congress, the 1st of July. Mr. LITTAUER. What year was that? Mr. HUNSICKER. 1902. Mr. LITTAUER. So you have been at work, or will be by next July, four years? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. By next July what condition will the work be in? Mr. HUNSICKER. We are starting now to assemble the cards. We have written cards for the six Congresses, from the Fifty-second to the Fifty-seventh, inclusive. We made requisition in all for 260,000 cards. We have left, I believe, about 15,000 in blank form, making about 245,000 cards used. Mr. LITTAUER. Does that mean there are 245,000 claims? Mr. HUNSICKER. No, sir; it means that, we have used that many cards in the writing of these Congresses. I have brought some cards along to show you. The first card we get is when the bill is introduced in the House. The second is, perhaps, papers or petitions accompanying the bill; the third is a favorable report; the fourth is where the bill is passed, and the fifth is where it is signed by the President. Mr. LITTAUER. Do you need so many cards in order to keep track of a single claim? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. TAWNEY. Why could you not have all that data on one card? Mr. HUNSICKER. For this reason: I did not bring the first session of this Congress with me. In the first session, where the bill was first introduced, we put that on one card and throw it into the "E" box. Later on, perhaps ten or twelve pages from there, we run onto papers or petitions and we make a record and throw that card into the "E" box. Perhaps in the second session, or later on in that same session, we find a favorable report, and that also goes into the "E" box. Then we assemble the cards together and we take them and make one card. Mr. LITTAUER. Who has supervision of this work? Mr. HUNSICKER. Major McDowell. Mr. LITTAUER. Did he authorize this method of doing the work? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. TAWNEY. On this card there is a bill to correct a military record? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. TAWNEY. That does not involve the payment of a claim? Mr. HUNSICKER. No, sir. Mr. TAWNEY. I thought it was only to digest private claims. Mr. LITTAUER. Describe to us the entire scope of what you consider private claims. Mr. HUNSICKER. Private claims, or claims of a private nature, where an individual or company-railroad company-is concerned or interested, whether it be for the correction of a military record, a pension, increase of pension, extra compensation for labor performed, or excess of pay for labor. Mr. TAWNEY. Claims for excess pay? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir; claims for excess pay, or difference in pay-pay for extra material and work done. Compensation to reimburse postmasters for losses and the carying of mails on the star routes. That is provided for in the post-office appropriation bill. Mr. LITTAUER. On what basis did you construe a private pension to be a claim? Mr. HUNSICKER. I will explain that to you. The directions we received from Major McDowell were to go to Mr. Page, of the Committee on Accounts. He prepared the index for two or three Congresses up to the Fifty-second Congress. Mr. LITTAUER. Then you are following out the same lines that the old digest followed? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir; and he referred us to the index gotten up by the Senate. I brought a copy of the Senate index for the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses; that gives you an idea. I might also mention, in connection with the claims, the claims for stores. Mr. LITTAUER. Those are private claims. You state that your reason for putting in the charges of desertion and private pension bills comes simply from the fact that you were directed to follow the old system? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. Mr. LITTAUER. And you paid no attention to the law under which you are now operating? Mr. HUNSICKER. Those who instructed us in the work placed that construction upon it, I presume. Mr. LITTAUER. Are not the pensions and desertions a large part of your work? Mr. HUNSICKER. No, sir; they do not run nearly so large as the war claims. Mr. LITTAUER. You also put the war claims in? Mr. HUNSICKER. Yes, sir. |