Milford chronicle., 1905-06-23
WASHINGTON LETTER.

, Washington has been chosen as th
e meeting place of the Russian and Japa
e nese plenipotentiaries and if, as the Presi
2 dent confidently believes they will, they
! negotiate a convention providing for Z
lasting peace in the far East it will be
known as the treaty of Washington tax.
ing its place in history with those impor-
tant international conventions known as
"the Treaty of Ghent," the Treaty Of
Berlin" the Treaty of Paris" and many
others.
The President has taken a step which
does not meet with the entire approval of
some members of his cabinet but which is
likely to be commended by the public at
large. He has created a committee, con-
sisting of his most trusted friends in the
government service, and placed Charles
II. Treat, Assistant Secretary of the Treas
ury, at its head. To this committee he has
confded the duty of making thorough
investigation Of the business methods of
every executive department in Washing
ton with two purposes in view, first to
ascertain if lax methods of handling inan-
ces exist and if so to make recommenda-
tions for their remedy second. to dis
cover if possible, what if any methods
can be adopted to contribute to economi-
cal administration. Such over-hauling of ,
their affairs is not generally welcomed bv
the heads Of the various departments bnt
the President believes that the Postofiice
which grew out of lax methods
in the Postotfice Department, the recent =
iefalcation in the Smithsonian Institute
he recent manifest NAL administration in n
he General Land Office, ETC., amply war G
ant thorough probing of all executive -
Methods with special view to prevent n
ng any further Interpretations of the
overnment's funds, lands and privileges.
In the direction of economy the inyes- ~.
gators are certain to find themselves 0'
)nfronted by numerous instances where '"
lateral economy administration of would ~
effected could Congress be induced to ~
lopt rational and business like methods
place OF the irrational except from 80 Sl'
Spoils'' standpoint now in vogue. For 49,
stance under the existing statutes each -
ecutive department is iscompelled to COM -
Ie, at great expense for compilation and A..
hitting, a complete statement of every Co.
m expended throughout the year. Nor nj
this all, for members of Congress, fear foa,
that one will secure something that =
: other does not, insists that several %
ndred copies of these be printed for ~
ii and every Senator and Representa- bos
Of course they are of no possible non
to the members of Congress except to ,vos
Ike something to frank to their constit- ho,.
It is not forgotten. The reports are of M,
use to the constituents either EXCEPT. ~
sibly, as shaving paper or to light tho
ir fires.
5 matter of fact that there is no good II
ion why these elaborate and detailed sna..
pilations of innumerable petty expen- pr;d
res should be compiled at all. They raar
all matter of record in the Treasury n,
artment and no one ever reads the re- ,;sit
S themselves. No business house re- oiIr,
Is it as necessary to print transcript m
Is entire expenditures for the year PIT
,h can always be ascertained by con hon,
ng the proper books and no one has D.
far advanced any good reason for the vi
rnment's doing so. The extravagant ~.
Of money, resulting from provisions I;ttlo
ted by Congress in every bill author
government publication, that each
every member Of Congress shall have
80 to 100 copies, absolutely irrespec-
of the appropriateness of the publica- Our
for general distribution is enormous. the pr