EXPENDITURES IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT. [Committee room, basement, main building. Telephone 278. Meets on call.] EXPENDITURES IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT. SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT, Monday, March 18, 1912. The subcommittee met at 2.30 o'clock p. m., Hon. Courtney W. Hamlin (chairman) presiding. STATEMENT OF MR. ROBERT S. CLAYTON. The CHAIRMAN. State your name, please. Mr. CLAYTON. Robert S. Clayton. The CHAIRMAN. What position do you hold? Mr. CLAYTON. I am rated as a clerk, in charge of the mail room in the State Department. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you occupied that position? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, I have only been in charge about five or six months, since September 26. The CHAIRMAN. Had you been employed in that particular work prior to that time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How long? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, I had been there all told about 15 months; no, 27 months; I have been there a trifle over two years, about 27 months. The CHAIRMAN. Had you been in the employ of the State Department prior to that time? Mr. CLAYTON. No, sir; I had been in the building; I was under the superintendent previous to going under the State Department. The CHAIRMAN. Superintendent of what? Mr. CLAYTON. The State, War, and Navy Building. The CHAIRMAN. How many men have you under you in the mail room? Mr. CLAYTON. Six, including myself. The CHAIRMAN. Please give us their names? Mr. CLAYTON. Maj. E. P. Walker, Maj. H. C. McArthur, C. H. Clements, C. E. Byson, and O. L. Reed. The CHAIRMAN. And yourself? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. Mr. DAVIS. Five altogether? Mr. CLAYTON. No; six with myself. The CHAIRMAN. I want to ask you whether you have a man there by the name of Pinkett? Mr. CLAYTON. I have; I did not think to put him in because he does not work there in the room very much. The CHAIRMAN. What are his initials? Mr. CLAYTON. A. S. The CHAIRMAN. He does not work there very much? Mr. CLAYTON. No. He is off with the Secretary on his trip now. The CHAIRMAN. Is he a white man or a colored man? Mr. CLAYTON. A colored man. The CHAIRMAN. How long has he been assigned to your division? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, to my knowledge, he has been there about three years. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know what salary he draws? Mr. CLAYTON. $1,200. The CHAIRMAN. How much of the time during these three years. has he been at work in your division? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, that is a pretty hard thing to figure out; there are some days he does not come there at all, and there are some days that he is there an hour or two. The CHAIRMAN. Well, about what percentage of the time has he put in at work there? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, I would not say over one-third. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think he has been there one-third of the time during the three years? Mr. CLAYTON. I guess he has, when you sum total the whole thing up. The CHAIRMAN. You would say about one-third of the time? The CHAIRMAN. Do you know what he has been doing the other two-thirds of his time? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, he is employed as a clerk to the Secretary of State, and he works at the house a great deal; that is, with his correspondence. The CHAIRMAN. He works at the Secretary's house? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. How do you know that? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, I have got it from himself. The CHAIRMAN. Pinkett himself? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. Clayton, I want to be perfectly frank with you. I have a letter here stating that A. S. Pinkett, negro, appointed as clerk in the department, under Executive order, April 26, 1909 and I have verified that by the register-is drawing $1,200 salary; that he works solely for Mr. Knox at his house, probably as his butler, or something of that sort; he is assigned to the mail room of the department. Now, is that statement substantially true? Mr. CLAYTON. That is true. But as far as being assigned as butler, he is not assigned as butler or anything of the kind; he is a stenographer and typewriter and takes dictation and writes letters for the Secretary, for instance, his speeches and things of that kind; he does a great deal of that work. The CHAIRMAN. And he is with him on his trip now? The CHAIRMAN. How about Maj. Walker; does he put in all of this time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What does he get? Mr. CLAYTON. He is rated as a messenger at $60 a month; $720 a year. The CHAIRMAN. Is he a white man? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And puts in all of his time and gets $720? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. Mr. DAVIS. Is he a major in fact? Mr. CLAYTON. He is a major in fact; both of them, Maj. Walker and Maj. McArthur. The CHAIRMAN. They were both soldiers and are actually entitled to the rank of major? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. Mr. DAVIS. Are they on the retired list? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, they were in the service from 1861 to 1864, you know. The CHAIRMAN. Are they retired under the law, or are they on the Army retired list? Mr. CLAYTON. No; they were enlisted men. I mean, they were men who volunteered for service; that is what I am trying to get at; they did not belong to the Regular Army. The CHAIRMAN. You mean they were volunteers in the war, but they did not afterwards join the Regular Army? Mr. CLAYTON. No; that is the idea. The CHAIRMAN. Is Maj. McArthur a white man? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And does he put in all of his time in your division? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What salary does he draw? Mr. CLAYTON. $1,000. The CHAIRMAN. How about Clements? Mr. CLAYTON. He is a driver and gets $50 a month. The CHAIRMAN. Is he a white man? Mr. CLAYTON. No; he is a colored man and gets $50; and Dyson is a colored man. The CHAIRMAN. What does he get? Mr. CLAYTON. $60. The CHAIRMAN. Do they both put in all of their time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What is Reed? Mr. CLAYTON. He is a colored man. The CHAIRMAN. What does he do? Mr. CLAYTON. He is a messenger at $60. The CHAIRMAN. Does he put in all of his time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And the highest priced man in your bureau is this man Pinkett, a colored man, at $1,200, and he only puts in about one-third of his time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir; and Maj. McArthur comes next, drawing $1,000: he is the next. The CHAIRMAN. What do you draw? Mr. CLAYTON. $1,200. The CHAIRMAN. You only draw $1,200 and you are the chief of that division? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And put in all of your time? Mr. CLAYTON. Pretty much all of it; usually from 7 or 7.30 in the morning until 7 and 7.30 in the night, and sometimes later. I have to do it. I have not made any kick and I do not care to make any kick, because I have got those two old men there; while it is wearing me out I am not one to make any fuss over it, but to make the best of it. They are aware of the fact. I have spoken to the chief clerk along the line and tried to get somebody who was a younger man. The CHAIRMAN. What are your duties? Mr. CLAYTON. I have charge of the dispatch of foreign mails and receive all foreign mails, pouch mails, and dispatch all domestic mails connected with the department. Mr. DAVIS. Do you keep a record? Mr. CLAYTON. We keep a record of every letter and pouch and of all official supplies; in fact, everything going out from the depart ment. Mr. DAVIS. Are you the only one who keeps any record? Mr. DAVIS. What do the others do? What does Maj. Walker do? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, he is rated as a messenger, but he is doing clerical work. Mr. DAVIS. What kind of clerical work? Mr. CLAYTON. Well, we have to keep-for instance, we receive an advice card, stating a pouch has been dispatched, and he enters that card on the book and when the pouch has been received he also notes that fact on the book. Then, in making up a pouch and sending it out, he will make out a card advising the legation or embassy to that effect, and the same thing all the way through. Mr. DAVIS. Does that particular work keep him busy all of the time? Mr. CLAYTON. Yes, sir; it is a good day's work for any man who wants to try it. Mr. DAVIS. What does Maj. McArthur do? Mr. CLAYTON. He helps to make up the invoices-that is to say, he makes up the contents of the pouches, tieing up newspapers and magazines, and things of that kind, listing, and does most of the typewriting. Mr. DAVIS. Is there much occasion or necessity for any great amount of typewriting? Mr. CLAYTON.. There is; at times there is quite a good bit of it. It would be an utter impossibility to do that work by pen in this particular work. Mr. DAVIS. What does Mr. Clements do? Mr. CLAYTON. He is a driver; he drives the mail wagon. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of wagon does he drive-a wagon drawn by a horse or is it an automobile? Mr. CLAYTON. It is a horse-drawn wagon. The CHAIRMAN. How many wagons have you? |