Government clerk

“ The municipal clerk is the oldest of public servants and a critical part of efficient and responsive local government. The accurate recording, careful safeguarding, and prompt retrieval of public records are vital functions, without which effective local government could not exist. ”

“ I have told him a dozen times,—for after all one ought to tell the truth to an honest clerk, and what I call an honest clerk is one like that little fellow who gives us 'recta' his ten francs on New-Year's day,—I have said to him again and again: The more you work the more they'll make you work, and they won't promote you. He doesn't listen to me; he tires himself out staying here till five o'clock, an hour after all the others have gone. ”

“ After remaining for about six years in the ‘parish property’ department, where his practical knowledge of law proved of great service, he was promoted in 1853 to the post of chief clerk, an office which he retained after the reorganisation of the commission under the name of the local government board until his retirement in November 1872. ”

“ Employment of extra clerks.Sec. 15. And be it further enacted, That no extra clerk shall be employed, in any department, bureau, or office, at the seat of Government, except during the session of Congress, or when indispensably necessary to enable such department, bureau, or office, to answer some call made by either House of Congress at one session, to be answered at another; and not then, except by order of the head of the department in which, or in some bureau or office which, such extra clerk shall be employed ”

“ There shall be elected in like manner and for a like term all such additional clerks of courts for cities as the General Assembly may prescribe, or as are now authorized by law, so long as such courts shall continue in existence. But in no city of less than thirty thousand inhabitants shall there be more than one clerk of the court, who shall be clerk of all the courts of record in such city. ”

“ Each bureau and division has at its head an officer called Commissioner and Chief of Division, respectively. Each department and bureau, and, in some cases, the division also, has a Chief Clerk who has charge of the details of the administration, and immediate oversight over the clerks. [1] All work in one finely organized system. The clerk is responsible to his chief of division, the chief of division to his commissioner, the commissioner to the Secretary and he, finally, to Congress. Each man has his particular place in the system, and no one works at random. ”

“ The clerk is entitled to a fee of 10 cents for administering the oath to witnesses repecting their mileage and attendance, but there is no reason for preserving the affidavit as a part of the records of the court. This item should be reduced accordingly. It is but just to say that no charge is made for filing these affidavits.
(5) Item 9 includes charges for papers entered by the clerk upon the final record of the cases, and disallowed by the comptroller as forming no proper part of the judgment record, and unnecessarily burdensome to the government. ”

“ In the matter of dress Bixiou had the merit of never being ridiculous; he was perhaps the only official of the ministry whose dress did not lead outsiders to say, "That man is a government clerk!" He wore elegant boots with black trousers strapped under them, a fancy waistcoat, a becoming blue coat, collars that were the never-ending gift of grisettes, one of Bandoni's hats, and a pair of dark-colored kid gloves. ”

“ The poor supernumerary, on the other hand, who is the only real worker, is almost always the son of some former clerk's widow, who lives on a meagre pension and sacrifices herself to support her son until he can get a place as copying-clerk, and then dies leaving him no nearer the head of his department than writer of deeds, order-clerks, or, possibly, under-head-clerk. ”

“ The most usual source of office-holding is the humble work of the clerk, handyman or messenger, responsible for carrying out the nagging routine of government. Beyond this common labor of public service are public servants skilled in their several professions. Beyond and above them are department heads and still higher are the appointed or elected officials responsible for the success or failure of a given public policy. ”

“ Where the clerk ends, the functionary begins; where the functionary ends, the statesman rises. There are very few statesmen among the prefects. The prefect is therefore a neutral being among the higher species. He comes between the statesman and the clerk, just as the custom-house officer stands between the civil and the military. Let us continue to clear up these important points." [Poiret turns crimson with distress.] "Suppose we formulate the whole matter in a maxim worthy of Larochefoucault: Officials with salaries of twenty thousand francs are not clerks. ”

“ Pigault-Lebrun, Piis, Duvicquet, in their day, were in government employ. Monsieur Scribe's head-librarian was a clerk in the Treasury.
Besides such information as this, Rabourdin's memorandum contained an inquiry into the moral and physical capacities and faculties necessary in those who were to examine the intelligence, aptitude for labor, and sound health of the applicants for government service,—three indispensable qualities in men who are to bear the burden of public affairs and should do their business well and quickly. ”

“ Likewise, [212] an individual who holds a federal government or state government salaried office or employment or the position of court judge, Commonwealth attorney, sheriff, sergeant, treasurer, assessor of taxes, commissioner of revenue, collector of taxes, or court clerk cannot be a member of either house of the General Assembly during his continuance in office. If such an individual is elected to either house of the General Assembly, his former office must be vacated. ”

“ A clerk in the employ of the Rothchilds corresponds with all England; another, in a government office, may communicate with all the prefects; but where the one learns the way to make his fortune, the other loses time and health and life to no avail. An undermining evil lies here. Certainly a nation does not seem threatened with immediate dissolution because an able clerk is sent away and a middling sort of man replaces him. Unfortunately for the welfare of nations individual men never seem essential to their existence. ”

“ It shall be the duty of such court to appoint a reporter of its decisions. There shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the state one clerk of the supreme court, who shall hold his office for the term of three years, and until his successor is duly elected and qualified; and the judges of the supreme court, or a majority of them, shall have the power to fill any vacancy in the office of clerk of the supreme court until an election can be regularly had. ”

“ Paved like the corridor, and hung with a shabby paper, the first room, where the servant is stationed, is furnished with a stove, a large black table with inkstand, pens, and paper, and benches, but no mats on which to wipe the public feet. The clerk's office beyond is a large room, tolerably well lighted, but seldom floored with wood. Wooden floors and fireplaces are commonly kept sacred to heads of bureaus and divisions ”

“ Each judge, clerk of court, or other officer who issues any subpena or takes a deposition and each person who serves any subpena or other paper herein authorized shall be entitled to receive from the party at whose instance the service shall have been performed such fees as are allowed for similar services in the district courts of the United States. ”

“ Such were the principal figures of La Billardiere's division of the ministry, where also were other clerks of less account, who resembled more or less those that are represented here. It is difficult even for an observer to decide from the aspect of these strange personalities whether the goose-quill tribe were becoming idiots from the effects of their employment or whether they entered the service because they were natural born fools. Possibly the making of them lies at the door of Nature and of the government both. Nature, to a civil-service clerk is, in fact, the sphere of the office ”

“ If the office was derived from the President and Senate, the application had to be made to the President; but if the office applied for came from a Secretary, then he only was addressed, but it must be in writing. A story has been for some time past running around the whole Union, during the last year, in relation to the appointment of a clerk. ”

“ He is to have the general management of the business, and the selection of the officers and crew; but the clerk, or receiving and disbursing agent, is to be appointed by the Wards, and to be under their control. ”

“ We do not think it important to decide in this case whether such a clerkship is an office within the meaning of these sections of the law and the constitution, because sections 1764 and 1765 both include in their prohibition officers, clerks, and other persons. The proposition of the comptroller that the clerk is not an officer is made to meet his concession that a person who holds two distinct compatible offices may lawfully receive the salary of each. ”

“ Idle and incapable, he hated Rabourdin,—naturally enough, for Rabourdin had no vice to flatter, and no bad or weak side on which Dutocq could make himself useful. Far too noble to injure a clerk, the chief was also too clear-sighted to be deceived by any make-believe. Dutocq kept his place therefore solely through Rabourdin's generosity, and was very certain that he could never be promoted if the latter succeeded La Billardiere. Though he knew himself incapable of important work, Dutocq was well aware that in a government office incapacity was no hindrance to advancement ”

“ Moreover, by the agreed statement of facts it appears that a deputy clerk, who became ex officio recorder, was appointed June 30, 1906, and opened his office for the transaction of business at Duncan on July 7, 1906. ”

“ A distinction, however, is claimed between the case of a clerk, who is strictly a subordinate officer of the court, and a commissioner, who, it is said, is a separate judicial officer over whom the court has no control. ”

“ Illusion is illimitable faith. Now the supernumerary has faith in the administration; he never thinks it cold, cruel, and hard, as it really is. There are two kinds of supernumeraries, or hangers-on,—one poor, the other rich. The poor one is rich in hope and wants a place, the rich one is poor in spirit and wants nothing. A wealthy family is not so foolish as to put its able men into the administration. It confides an unfledged scion to some head-clerk, or gives him in charge of a directory who initiates him into what Bilboquet, that profound philosopher, called the high comedy of government ”

“ Then another person may be elected or appointed to the vacant office: "Provided always, that the exercise of such office by a sufficient deputy who shall duly and faithfully perform the duties thereof, and in all respects well and properly demean himself, shall not be deemed a wilful neglect of his office on the part of such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, so as to render him liable, for such cause alone, to be suspended or removed therefrom." ”

“ If, therefore, the requirement that the grand jurors should be selected by the commissioner and the clerk was a fundamental requisite, that is, if the deputy clerk, in the absence of the clerk, had no authority, under any circumstances, to act, then the motion in arrest of judgment did not come too late. ”

“ Let me now enunciate a principle, which is this: “In modern organization the chief clerk as we now know him has no place. When the stage is reached that such a chief clerk seems to be needed, there should be another assistant this or that.” ”

“ In many country districts, where the justices are old and incompetent, they are absolutely in the hands of their clerk, who for all practical purposes becomes not only a magistrate, but the sole magistrate present. ”

“ It was addressed, not to an officer of the court or a counsel in the case, but to a stranger. The clerk, by merely filing such a document, does not adjudicate that it is in fact that which on its face it purports to be. ”

“ Looking, however, through form to the essence of things, as no mere independent action of the clerk as clerk is involved, but the authority exe ted by the court in directing the action of the clerk complained of is the subject-matter at issue and is the only justification relied upon by the clerk in the answer to the rule, we are of the opinion that in the exercise of a sound discretion we may treat the case from that point of view, that is to say, under the circumstances consider the authority to have made the order with the clerk alone as a technical party to the proceeding. ”

“ It also requires that any person who engages himself for pay for the purpose of attempting to influence the passage or defeat of legislation, before doing anything in furtherance of that objective, register with the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate, and state in writing, inter alia, his name and address and the name and address of the person by whom he is employed, and in whose interest he works. ”

“ By the way, whose hand-writing is this copy in?" said the General, looking earnestly at the Colonel. "A clerk's, sir." "A clerk! Another d——d pretty piece of business," continued the General, rising. "Colonel, that record is not worth a G—d d—n not a G—d d—n, Sir! Who ever heard of a clerk being employed? no clerk has a right to know any thing of the proceedings." ”