Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-12-15

he estimates that expenditures will
be less than receipts.
The classification of government
employees by bureaus would make it
possible to economic.
An Investigation ordered by my
predecessor resulted in the recommen-
dation that the civil service be re-
classified according to the kind OF
work, so that the work requiring most
application and knowledge and ability
shall receive most compensation. l
believe such q change would be fairer
to the whole force and would per-
manei.ly improve the personnel OF
the service.
Civil Service Pensions.
I am aware that there is a strong
feeling in both houses Of congress and
possibly in the country against the
establishment Of civil pensions and
that this has naturally grown out Of
the heavy burden of military pensions
which it has always been the policy
Of our government to assume, but L
am strongly convinced that no other
practical solution Of the difficulties
presented by the superannuation of
! civil servants can be found than that
of a system of civil pensions.
The business and expenditures OF
the government have expended enor-
mously since the Spanish war, but the
revenues have increased in nearly the
same proportion as the expenditures,
We cannot, in view of the advancing
prices of living, hope to save money
by a reduction in the standard Of
salaries paid. Indeed, if any change
is made i'll hat regard an increase
rather than a decrease will be neces-
sary, and the only. means of econ
omy will be in reducing the number of
employees and in obtaining a greater
average of efficiency from those re-
tanned in the srevice. 1 note with much
satisfaction the organization in the
senate of a committee on public ex-
penditures, charged with the duty Of
conducting such an investigation, and
I tender to that committee all the as.
sistance which the executive branch
Of the government can possibly rem
der.
It is to be regretted that extensive
frauds have been practiced in the
custom house at New York, but much
has been recovered and prosecutions
are il progress. It would seem to me
that an investigation of the frauds
by congress at present, pending the
probing by the treasury department
and the department of justice, as pro-
posed, might by giving immunity and
otherwise prove an embarrassment in
securing conviction of the guilty par
ties.
The President is charged with the
duty of placing a 25 per cent adj
valorum tariff, on imports from
tries discriminating unduly against
the United States. Fear has been
expressed that this power conferred
and duty imposed on the executive
are likely to lead to a tariff war. [
beg to express the hope and belief
that no such result need be antitci-
pated.
The utmost precautions will be TAX
en- to avoid the necessity of a revision
Of the tariff as nothing halts business
so much.
In the interests of economy 49,
100000 is cut from the expenses of
The war department 1t is done large
|lyI by stopping all projects and neg
Letting to recruit the army to the
limit. This can only be a temporary
e1pedient to decrease the deficiency Of
revenue.
The secretary of war calls atten-
Ition to a number. of needed changes
in the army, in all of which, I concur,
but the point upon which I place most
emphasis is the need for IN elimina-
ton bill providing a method by
which the merits of officers shall have
some effect upon their advancement
and by which the advancement of all
may be accelerated by the effective
elimination of a definite proportion
of the least efficient.
The coast defenses of the United
States proper are generally all that
could be desired, and in some respects
they are rather more elaborate than
under present conditions are needed
10 stop an enemy's fleet from entering
the harbors defended. There is, how
ever, one place where additional de-
tense is badly needed, and that is at
the mout.l Of Chesapeake bay, where
it is proposed to make an artificial
island for a fort which Shall prevent
an enemy's fleet from entering this
most important strategical base of
operations on the whole Atlantic and
gulf coasts. I hope that appropriate
legislation will be adopted to secure
the construction of this defense.
The naval board recommend the es-
tablishment of a naval base in the
Philippines be not made but that it
be established at Pearl Harbor near
Honolulu.
The return of the battleships from
a cruise around the world in better
condition than when they left is graft
flying and gives us prestige before the
world.
Department of CHARACTERIZATION in
Legal Procedure.
The ~deplorable delays in the admin
istration Of civil and criminal law