Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-12-06

! provement there will be no danger to
the government from the recommend
! ed consolidation and abolition of Gus
| toms districts.
An investigation of the appraising
| system now in vogue in New York city
! has shown underappraisement and
! sacrifice of the interests of the gov
/ eminent, which is in the course of
/ being remedied by reorganization and
! the employment of competent experts
! Prosecutions have been instituted grow
| ing out of the frauds there discovered
and are now awaiting hearing in the
! federal courts.
Very great improvements have been
made in respect to the minis and assay
Offices Diminished appropriations have
been asked for those whose continu-
ance Is unnecessary. and this years es-
innate of expenses is $4,000 less than
| two years ago. There is an opportu-
nifty for further saving in the abolition
| of several minis and assay Offices that
| have now become unnecessary. Dur
! ing the past year 100 unnecessary en-
ployees have been dropped from the
! Philadelphia mint. Modern machinery
has been installed there. more and bet
! ter work has been done, and the appro-
priations have been consequently d.
minished.
! In the bureau of engraving and print
! ing great economies have been effect
! ed. Useless divisions have been abol-
/ isbed with the result of saving $40,
/ 600 this year in the total expenses OF
! the bureau despite increased business.
/ The treasurer's Office and that of the
/ division of public moneys in part cover
/ the same functions, and this is also
/ true of the Office of the register and
| the division of loans and currency.
! Plans for the elimination of the duph-
! cation in these Offices will be presented
I to congress.
The office of the comptroller of the
/ currency is one most important in the
preservation of proper banking meth
DDS in the national banking system of
the United States, and the present
comptroller has impressed his subOrdi-
mates with the necessity of so conduct
ing their Investigations as TO establish
the principle that every bank failure is
unnecessary because proper inspection
and notice of threatening conditions
to the responsible directors and officers
can prevent il.
Public Buildings.
IL Our public buildings We still suf-
fer from The method of appropriation
which has been so much criticised in
connection with our rivers and har-
borS Some method should be devised
for controlling the supply of public
buildings so that they will harmonic
with the actual needs of the govern
ment. Not only are buildings apprOpri-
sted for by congress which are not
needed ard buildings left unapprOpri-
sted fo- by congress which are needed,
but when il comes to the actual con
etruction there has been in the past
too little study OF the building plans
AID sites With q view 70 The actual
needs 0e the government
Postofice buildings which are IN eff
feet warehouses for the economical
handling of transportation of thou
sands Of tons of mail have been made
monumental structures and often 10
Gated far from the convenient and eco
nomical spot. II The actual corstruc-
ton of the buildings Il closer scrutiny
of the methods employed by the gov
eminent architects or by architects en-
A~-~-
ed in decided economies.
1t is hoped that more time viii give
opportunity for q more thorough reor-
ganization. The last public building
bill carried authorization for the ulti-
mate expenditure of S33 oil 500. and ]
approved it because of the many good
features it contained, just as I ap-
proved the river and harbor bill, but
ought to be abandoned 1t seems to
me that the wiser method of prepar-
ing a public building bill would be the
preparation of a report by a commits
sion of government experts whose
duty it should be to report to con-
gress the governments needs in the
way of the construction Of public
buildings in every part Of the couD-
try, just as the army engineers make
report with reference to the utility OF
proposed improvements in rivers and
harbors, with the added function
which I have recommended for the
army engineers of including in their
recommendation the relative impor-
lance of the various projects found to
be worthy Of approval and execution.
Revenues.
As the treasury department is the
one through which the income of the
government is collected and its ex-
penditures are disbursed, this seems a
proper place to consider the operation
of the existing tariff bill, which be-
came a law Aug. 6. 1909. AS an in
come producing measure the existing
tariff bill has never been exceeded by
any customs bill in the history of the
country.
The corporation excise tax, proper |
toned to the net income of every bust |
ness corporation in the country, has |
worked well. The tax has been easily /
collected. Its prompt payment indi-
Gates that the incidence of the tax has |
not been heavy. 1t offers. moreover. |
an opportunity for knowledge by the |
government Of the general condition |