Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-15
TIMME'S TASK
GREAT INCREASE IN THE EXTENT
OF HIS DUTIES.
It is Likely That Secretary Shaw Will
Ask Congress for Another Official
and More Clerks.


and much additional work. E. G. Timme,
auditor for the State and other depart
ments. intends to press upon Secretary
Shaw the importance of a recommendation
to Congress for extra clerks in his Office. A
considerable addition to the present force
will have to be asked. it is stated, and 1t is
expected that Congress will provide the ex-
ira help that Is to be asked for. In fact.
Auditor Timme is going through something
ike reorganization of his Office, owing
to the increase in his duties.
The addition of the accounts of the De-
partment of Commerce and Labor to his
Office involves a great deal more work and
1t is quite likely that Secretary Shaw will
ask Congress to provide for an additional
auditor, who can take some Of the work
now being done by Auditor Timme
Prior to the passage of the act of July
81, 1894. known as the Dockery act, reor-
ganizng the accounting system of the
treasury. the conditions were such that,
from the designation then given the aud
itors as first auditor, second auditor, etc,
no layman could have any idea where an
account was to be found or to which officer
to apply for Information concerning any
particular service, and there existed no
well defined rule for assigning to the vari-
Gus auditors accounts growing out of new
legislation by Congress
Objects Of the Dockery Law.
One of the objects sought to be accom-
plished by the trainers of the Dockery act
was to bring about Encouragement OF
duties in manner to concentrate in each
of the auditing offices everything which
pertatned to a given service and to give
each title that would at once be COM
prehensible and descriptive. The auditors
were designated auditor for the Treas
ury Department, auditor for the War De
partment, &c.
But there were mere executive depart
ments than there were auditors. 1t was
necessary, therefore, that some one of the
auditors should be designated auditor
for more than one department., and also
for the bureaus and commissions, tenn
porary and permanent which were not in
any executive department The former
fifth auditor was given the anomalous title
of auditor for the State and other depart
ments-a title which came near being as
incomprehensible as the old one, and
which conveys the idea often now to the
average citizen away from the capital that
It covers the entire service-and to his Of
flee were assigned the accounts of three
executive departments and of all bureaus,
commissions, etc. then in existence, or
which might from time to time be created
by Congress.
This office already enjoys the unique dis
tinction of having to deal with each of the
three coordinate branches of the govern
ment, it having the accounts of the Con-
greSS which makes the laws, the courts
which construe them and the departments
which execute them.
Increase in Duties
While the work in the other five auditing
offices is quite likely to increase with the
continuous growth of the country and the
consequent enlargement of the government
tai machinery. the increase in those offices
is necessarily along lines similar to those
they already working on, but the audi
tor for the State and other departments is
constantly confronted with new PROPOSE
tons and must be constantly delving into
fields.
The most marked illustration of this, and
one which is materially affecting the office
at present, is that which grows out of the
act of Congress of February IA last estab-
fishing the new Department of Commerce
and Labor, which act provides that the
auditor for the state and other departments
shall examine and settle all accounts &C
cruing in that department or any Of its
bureaus. The extent of this additional
jurisdiction con be appreciated only by an
analysis of the lay creating the depart
ment.
Its troublesome feature is the variety of
services which 1t takes in, all of which are
entirely new to the office, and the prob
lens concerning which have to be worked
out practically from bed rock basis.
Scope of Functions.
These new fields embrace the light house
service the immigration service with all
its ramifcations, the expenses relating to
the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion
act. the steamboat inspection service, the
bureau of standards and the coast and
geodetic survey, all transferred from the
jurisdiction of the auditor for the Treas
ury Department; the salary and expenses
of the census bureau transferred from
the auditor for the Interior Department,
and the fish commission and Department
of Labor, which were independent estab
lshmcnts.
Besides all of these are the accounts Of
the department proper, which starts out
with an altogether new bureau of corpora
items, and one soon to be Established cover
ing manufactures.
1t is impossible in most instances in the
auditing of these new accounts to pick up
the threads of the work they are dropped
in the offices which had prior Jurisdiction,
for the reason that some q the features of
the Dockery act apply differently in the
several auditing offices.
This is especially true in regard to such
portion of the work-and this really consti-
tutes the bulk of it-as comes from the
Office of auditor for the treasury