Gentlemen, I have here a newspaper clipping explaining a bulletin recently issued by one of our Federal Bureaus to establish systematic methods to be observed by officials and employees in using the various compartments of their desks. But there are a few aspects of this bulletin which rather quicken my interest; and while the bulletin is supposed to deal with desks it seems to me that it goes rather far afield. Go instance, one section reads:

Now gentlemen, I am in favor of systematic office management; but I doubt if efficiency would really be promoted by numbering the stenographers’ drawers. For that matter, you couldn’t enforce the system. No gentlemanly executive would want to snoop around to see if his stenographer was using the right number.

But, according to the bulletin, it seems that the high-up officials will not only have numerical designations for their drawers, but they can also give them names; and so these big shots will have what the bulletin calls ‘Work Drawers’, ‘Full Drawers’, ‘Middle Drawers’ and ‘Miscellaneous Drawers’. They’ll also have ‘File Drawers’; and I am frank to say I see no need for this. I’ve filed papers for the last 30 years; and I don’t think a man needs specially equipped drawers for filing.

I believe this business of naming our drawers is really a good thing; because we have always referred to drawers in rather hazy terms and they’ve been difficult subjects for identification. But under this new system (for illustration) the head of the accounting department could send in a complaint that his Work Drawers had dropped down and his File Drawers were too tight, while his Miscellaneous Drawers were sagging.

Under this federal bulletin, the junior Clerk’s drawers won’t have any names; they’ll just have numbers - without any extra trimmings. But of course these young fellows can look forward to the day when they’ll become big executives, with names for their drawers - just like the officials who now enjoy this great honor.

This bulletin has one very interesting subdivision entitled ‘Use of Drawers’. Now the fellow who wrote this part really knew his drawers; and even if a man had never used any drawers he could learn all about them from reading this chapter.

But I don’t know - I may have missed something in life. I have been in and out of drawers for more that 50 years; but my drawers have gone unnamed and unnumbered. Nor have I used them according to bulletins or scientific formulae. In respect to drawers, I have pursued a rather negative policy; but I’ve kept myself calm and unruffled.

But a new light has dawned on democracy. Our government of the people, by the people and for the people is going to give names and numbers to the peoples drawers!