The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-06

which results in no greater security :, to the government. The naval officers in the various ports are presidential l appointees, many of them drawing | good salaries, aud those offices should be abolished or with reduced force | made part of the central auditing sys- tenn There are entirely too many customs districts and too many customs col lectors These districts should be con solidated and the collectors in charge of them who draw good salaries, many of them out of proportion to the col lections made, should be abolished or treated as mere branch offices, ill ac- cordance with the plan of the treas ury department, which will be present. ed for the consideration of congress. As an illustration. the cost of collect ing S1 of revenue at typical small ports like the port of York, Me, was S50.o4. At the port of Annapolis, Md. 1t cost S309.41 to collect $1 of revenue; at Natchez, S52.76: at Alexandria, Va. S122.40
 It Is not essential to the preventing of smuggling that customs districts should be increased in number. The violation of the customs laws can be quite as easily prevented and much more economically by the revenue cut ter service and by the use of the spe- cial agent travelling force of the treas '' Iiry depa rtlnent A reorganization of the sDecial customs agents has been perfected with view to retaining only those who have special knowledge CT the customs laws, regulations and usual methods of evasion. and with this i'm i,rovcilent there will he no danger to tiac government from the recommend .t ,3nsoiitia and abolition of cus- iol...; districts
 .n investioatiJn of the appraising system now in vogue in New York city hes si,oU-u erappraisement and s;icriiico of tlc IF; arcsts Of the gov eIn,!'e-... which is i4 the course of llcin;s r..,. died ''y reorganization and r.i.. e:cr.',; i2ie;:t cf competent experts. f'ro~.e-.t;'..< .li,, Eccu instituted grow Iie. s:.-; .;f th.. ..;l,5 there discovered a:,.i sf-s,-.,v, aa' uitin.. hearing in the feGt.,s, -ii''.
 Ve*z great ir,proyemsnts have beers made i.i respect 7o the hints and assay offices l,:n.i1iisI;ed appropriations have been :;ei;rs; rGg those whose cOntinu- :,ncc iS uIinacpss;iry and this years cs innate If cxT.alse; is $326,000 less than two years uco. There is an opportu- nity foi. fGI.t':c 1T .;;;vinc in the abolition Of sevcr;, hints and assay offices that have HOW Leccme unnecessary. Dur ing tl.e psst year 100 unnecessary en- plovces Elvc been dropped from the Philadelphia mint. Modern machinery has been installed there, more and bet ter work i,as been done. and the appro- priations have been consequently di- unfinished.
 In the bureau Of engraving and print ing great cc>lomIes have been effect ed. Useless divisions have been abOl- ished with the result of saving S44O,- GOO this ,e2r in the total expenses of the bureau despite increased buMness.
 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 duplf- cation in these offices will be presented to congress.
 The office of the comptroller of the currency is one most important in the preservation of proper banking meth ods 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 pri ciple that every bank failure is unnecessary because proper inspection and notice of threatening conditions to the responsible directors and officers can prevent it.
 Public Buildings.
 In 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 tuildngs so that they will harmoniZe with the actual needs of the govern ment. Not only are buildtags approprl ated for by congress which arc not needed and buildings left unappropri ate5 .2- by congress which are needed but when it comes to the actual con
  too little study of the building plan l; and sites with a view to the actual needs of the government.
 Postoffice buildings which are in cf- feet warehouses for the economical handling of transportation of thou sands of tons of mail have been made monumental structures and often To. cated far from the convenient and eco- nOmical spot In the actual construc- ton of the buildings a closer scrutiny of the methods employed by the gov ernment architects or by architects em- ployed by the government has result cd in decided economies.
 It is hoped that more time will give opportunity for a more thorough reor- ganization. The last public building bill carried authorization for the ulti- mate expenditure of $33 OH 800, and I approved it because of the many good features 1t contained, just as I ap proved the river and harbor bill, but 1t was drawn upon a principle that ought to be abandoned It seems to me that the wiser method of prepar- l yl, L,.sI Isl t-~ T.