The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-06

machinery at present exists for sup plying the president of the United States with such information respect ing the business for which he is re sponsible.
 For the first time in the history of the government congress in the last session supplied this need and maoe an appropriation to enable the presi- dent to inquire into the economy and efficiency of the executive departments and 1 am now assembling an Organi- zation for the purpose.
 At the outset l find comparison be- tween departments and bureaus impOs sible for the reason that in no two de partments are the estimates and eX- penditres displayed and classified alike. The first step Is to reduce all to a common standard for classified. ton and Judgment, and this work Is now being done. When it Is completed the foundation will be laid for bust nesslike national budget and for such a just comparison of the economy and efficiency with which the several bu- reaus and divisions are conducted as will enable the president and the heads of departments to detect waste, elimi- nate duplication. encourage the intelli- gent and effective civil servants whose efforts too often go unnoticed and se- cure the public service at the lowest possible cost.
 Economy and Efficiency.
 The committees on appropria lions ot congress have diligently worked to re- duce the expenses of government and have found their efforts often blocked by lack of accurate information con- tatning a proper analysis of require ments and of actual and reasonable costs. The result of this inquiry should enable the executive in his com munications to congress to give infor- nation to which congress is entitled and which will enable 1t to promote economy.
 I have requested the head of each department to appointment commit tees on economy and efficiency in or der to secure full co-opexation in the movement by the employees of the government themselvs.
 I urge the continuance of the ap- propriation of $1OOOOO requested for the fiscal year 1912.
 My experience leads me to believe .hat. while government methods are much criticised, the bad results-if we do have bad results-are not due to a lack of zeal or willingness on the part of the civil servants. On the contrary. I believe that fine spirit of willing ness to work exists in the personnel, which, If properly encouraged, will produce results equal to those secured in the best managed private enter prises.
 In handling government expenditure the aim is not prodt-the aim is the maximum of public service at the minimum of cost. We wish to reduce the expenditures of the government, and we wish to save money to enable the government to go into some of the beneficial projects which we are de- barred from taking up now because we ought not to increase our expendi- lures.
 At later date shall send to con- gress special message on this gen. eral subject.
 Civil Service Retirement.
 It Is impossible to proceed far in such an Investigation without perceiv- Ing the need of a suitable means of eliminating from the service the super annuated. This can be done in one of two ways-either by straight civil pen- sion or by some form of contributory plan.
 Careful study of experiments made by foreign governments shows that three serious objections to the civil pension payable out of the public treas ury may be brought against 1t by the taxpayer, the administrative officer and the civil employee. respectively.
 A civil pension is bound to become an enormous, continuous and increas- Ing tax on the public exchequer. It is demoraliZing to the service. since 1t makes difficult the dismissal of incom- petent employees after they have part ty earned their pension. and 1t is dis advantageous to the main body of en- p'oyees themselves, since it is always taken into account in fixing salaries, and only the few who survive and re- main in the service until questionable age receive the value of their deferred pay.
 For this reason, after half century of experience under a most liberal pen sion system. the civil servants of Eng land succeeded about a year ago in having the system so modified as to make it virtually a contributory plan with provision for refund of their the oretical contributions.
 The experience of England and oth- CT countries shows that neither can contributory plan be successful. hu- man nature being what 1t is. which does not make provision for the return of contributions. with interest. in case of death CT resignation before tension able age. Followed to it's logical con- clusion. this means that the simplest and most independent solution of the problem for both employee and the government is compulsory savings arrangement the employee to set aside from his salary a sum sufficient. with the help of a liberal rate of interest from the government, to purchase an adequate annuity for him on retire ment, this accumula tion to be inalien- ably his and claimable if he leaves the