310 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
Mr. Hitt. No, sir. You will find the law says that where the De- 
artment shall be so and so, the head of the Department may, in his 
Heoretien, if the work of the Department permits, allow employes not 
to exceed thirty days’ leave, during the year. 
The Cuarrman. I have been here sixteen or eighteen years, and that 
is absolutely new to me. I though that obligatory. 
Mr. Hitt. It is with the Public Printer. It is made obligatory, but 
on the other hand they never ask a man—— 
The Caarrman (reading). ‘‘One second assistant in document sec- 
tion.” Do you think you need two assistants there? 
Mr. Hutt. Indeed, Mr. Chairman, I do. It is perfectly impossible 
for me or Mr. Arnold to be free when occasion requires Mr. Handy’s 
absence. You must remember, Mr. Chairman, another thing, that that 
section is scattered all over an acre of ground. 
The CHarrman. You have a foreman in the document section at 
$1,400. You have one assistant in charge of the document section -— 
Mr. Hitz. At present getting $1,800. 
The Cuarrman. You want him increased to $2,000? 
Mr. Hruu. I would like to get him increased a couple of hundred 
dollars; he has never had an increase. 
The Cuarrman. Who is the foreman? 
Mr. Hirt. A man named Hendricks; but he is not competent to 
take Mr. Handy’s place in any way. It would be like appointing a 
sergeant to be captain; some of them are good sergeants, but not fit 
to be captains. 
The Cuatrman. What is the character of the foreman’s work? 
Mr. Hity. He simply has charge of some 30 men who do what I call 
the heavy work—mailing of the Year Book and Horse Book, the mail- 
ing of the Soil Report; he superintends men who do practically manual 
labor. The civil service calls it ‘‘semi-clerical,” because they have to 
know how to read and write. 
The Cuarrman. If it is manual labor, you are giving him a pretty 
big salary. 
Mr. Hixx. He supervises 20 or 30 men, too. It is the supervision 
we pay for. The only fault I have to find with the old man is that he 
tries to do too much manual labor. 
The Cuatrman. How long has he been there? 
Mr. Hitz. About eight, or nine, or ten years. 
Mr. Lams. What is his name? 
Mr. Hitz. Hendricks. 
The Cuarrman. How old is he? 
Mr. Hiri. That is a delicate subject; but he was all through the 
war; he is an old soldier; I should judge he is a man in the late sixties. 
The CuarrMan. Nearly 70 years old? 
Mr. Hii. I should think so. 
The Cuarrmay. It is all owing to his age or decrepitude that you 
feel bound to ask for a second assistant for him? 
Mr. Hit. No, sir; but he can not supervise outside of these men, 
and I want a second assistant. I want aman who has got education, 
a man who can write letters, a man who can dictate, a man who under- 
stands bookkeeping. The foreman understands nothing about book- 
keeping. We keep accounts; we keep a ledger account with every 
Senator and Member of Congress; we keep card indexes, and things 
