HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 811 
of that sort. I have got to have a man with clerical experience and 
education as second assistant. 
Mr. Scorr. Did you say the foreman knows nothing about book- 
railed and you must keep books; what have you been doing here- 
tofore ¢ 
Mr. Hixv. I have been keeping it with a part of the clerical force, 
but to our very great disadvantage. I have been helping Mr. Handy 
in a spasmodic way, sending somebody over there at tinies. I want 
somebody to be there permanently. You see our force is scattered; 
our document-section force is in three different buildings, a great 
many rooms, and Mr. Handy, with all his good qualities, is far from 
being ubiquitous. He is absent a great deal, from one place to 
another. He is very earnest, tries his very best, but I need to give 
him help; it has grown beyond us. The present force has not been 
increased in that section, Mr. Chairman, since the time when we 
issued 7,000,000 publications during the year, and we handled nearly 
12,000,000 last year. We are accomplishing a great deal more for 
the reason that we are getting rid of the ‘*dead wood,” little by little. 
My force is getting more and more eflicient as time goes on. We are 
accomplishing more and we are doing 25 per cent more work, without 
additional help, than we were doing four years ago. But it is 
The CHarrMan. Are you troubled much with what is generally 
called ‘‘dry rot,” either on your lump sum or statutory roll? 
Mr. Hii. There are a few ladies and gentlemen that I could spare, 
but they seem to have too much influence to be gotten rid of. I think 
we probably have as little ‘‘dry rot” as anywhere. 
Mr. Lever. Your force is under the civil service? 
Mr. Hixz. Yes. 
The CuarrMan (resuming). What: percentage of the whole—10 per 
cent? 
Mr. Hiiu. No, sir; I should think it was less. 
The CuarrMan. Five in 100% 
Mr. Hitt. I think possibly I might, out of my force of 150 or 160, 
if I had to do it, take out about 8 or 10 or 12 that I would be glad to 
see taken away. 
The Cuarrman. Mostly on account of age, or on account of incom- 
petency ? 
Mr. Hitt. With some, natural meanness; some, just natural lazi- 
ness; some, because they can not see why I am worrying about their 
doing work when they have got pull enough to keep them there with- 
out doing it. 
The CHarrman. Haye you ever tried to get rid of them? 
Mr. Hux. I furnish a semiannual report, in which I state that their 
absence would be better than their company. I try to persuade them 
(o resign; sometimes I have made them unhappy enough so that they 
have resigned. 
Mr. Bowie. Have you any power to discharge them? 
Mr. Hitz. No; I have no punitive power whatever; that belongs to 
the chief clerk. 
The Cuatrman. He makes the recommendation and it goes to the 
Secretary ? 
Mr. Hix. I make the recommendation. 
Mr. Burueson. The chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture? 
Mr. Hitt. Of the Department of Agriculture. 
