Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-31
TO IMPROVE THE REPORTS
Work of a Special Treasury Department
Commission.
Uniformity To BE Instituted I'm Ar
ranEcment of Tables and the -.
Use of Type.

| Consistency and symmetry In the reports
OF the Treasury Department arr the objects
| OF special commission which is acting
under authority of Assistant Secretary
Nanderlip. Mr.. Vanderlip. as a newspaper
| man and newspaper owner. WAS not entire-
| ly satisfied with the manner IN which the
reports of the various bureau chiefs In the
| treasury have been thrown together in the
annual volume called The Finance Re
| port" Different styles Of type. different
arrangements for tables. different policies
regarding what should he Included and
various dates for making reports were
| among the elements Of confusion which at
| tracted his attention. He accordingly
named commission to go over the subject
IN detail with each bureau officer agree
upon uniform type and style. and endeavor
to secure promptness in the preparation
and publication of the reports
Among the members OF the commission
are Mr.. Milton +. Allies who has rendered
such unusual service to Secretary Gage in
the position of private secretary. Mr. Geo.
summons, long the deputy and now the
chief of the division of stationery and Sow
eral experts employed in various bureaus
of the department They have been for
some time at work and report from day 70
day 10 Assistant Secretary Nanderlp.
The Proposed Reform.
1t is proposed. to begin with that all the
annual reports shall be completed hereafter
fiscal year. June 20. Some officials have
taken many months before doing any seri-
Gus work on their reports and others have
failed to include the latest available data
This Will be brought to an end under the
new regime. Work upon the reports will
be begun as soon as possible after the close
OF the fiscal year, but certain points will be
| left open until just before the presentation
OF the report of the Secretary to Congress
| in December, in or der that the latest data
may be included. The policy Of bringing
information up To date will be enforced
also in the summary OF the reports OF the
bureau chiefs which is usually embodied IN
the text Of the Secretarys report. The ex-
act nsures for the fiscal year will be given
in each case, as heretofore, but there Will
be added the latest official figures up 10 the
time OF the meeting of Congress thereby
putting in the hands of Congress the fresh
est information on all the subjects dealt
with.
Tables to Be Made More Valuable.
Additions and subtractions will be made
| in the tables which are now presented re-
garding the debt receipts and expenditures,
the currency and the business OF the Treas
ury Department. The Information Will be
made more complete on those subjects or
general interest to financial and economic
students. including the receipts and eX-
pendtures of the government and the
fluctuations in the gold reserve
Useless lumber will be eliminated from
| illustrative work OF the department Mr..
Nanderlip took several steps in this direc-
| ton with the annual reports for 1887. the
frSt year after he entered office, when
some OF the needless material In the reports
OF the auditors was stricken out. 1t has
not been the custom to include every report
prepared at the treasury in the finance re-
port 1t would be impossible To include the
report Of the bureau of statistics which in
itself makes quarto volume. and II has
not been thought appropriate 20 include
such reports as those OF the lighthouse
board and the life saving service because
they do not pertain directly to the finances.
IL Is possible that some reports not now In
Guided Will be added to the list but II IL
hoped That more material of real value can
be embodied into a smaller and more AT
tractive volume. bringing the figures closer
up to date than has heretofore been tho
custom. The matter has been I'm the hands
OF the separate bureau chiefs UP to the
present time, many of whom have been of
the most efficient character, but there mas
oeeh no directing head or uniform policy
IN welding their reports into a symmetrical
and harmonious whole.