The Washington times., 1912-01-17

ably be raised periodically. So long as
confirmed by the senate, and so long as
appointments to them must be made
every io,ir years Just 80 long will 1t be
to provide a. force Of enl-
tenure who are qualified by reason Of
education and training to do the best
work.
Superannuation.
Attention has been directed In recent
years to the need of a suitable plan Of
retiring the superannuated employees In
the executive civil service. In the be-
lief that 1t Is desirable that any steps
toward the establishment of such a plan
shall be taken with caution. / instructed
the commission to make an inquiry first
into the conditions at Washington.
This inquiry has been directed to the
ascertainment OF the extent to which
approximation now exists and to the
various plans which either have been
proposed for adoption in this country
or have actually been adopted in other
countries. l shall submit, in the near
future, future for the the consideration Of the
aged employees in the civil service which
will safeguard the interests Of the Gov
ernment, and at the same time make
reasonable provision for the needs Of
those who have given the best part of
their lives to the services or the State.
Efficiency of Personnel.
have caused inquiry to be made into
the character of the appointees from
the point of view Of efficiency and COM
petence which has resulted from present
methods of appointment; .nto the pres
ent relation of compensation to the
character of work done; into the exist
ing methods OF promotion and the keep
ing OF efficiency records In the various
department; and into the conditions of
work in Government offices This in
quiry will help to determine to what
extent conditions OF work are uniform
far uniformity in sucn conditions will
tend to improve the service. I have felt
that satisfaction with the conditions in
t,;,,t which they worked i,v was necessary pre-,
that satisfaction was not to be eX-
pected where conditions In one depart
ment were less favorable than in an
This inquiry has not been completed.
When 1t has been ascertained that evils
which can be remedied through the ex-
ercise OF the powers now vested in the
hose evs where tSa not the
/ shall present for the consideration OF
the Congress plans which, I believe,
will be followed by great Improvement
In the service.
Business Methods.
In every case where technical pro-
cesses have been studied 1t has been
demonstrated beyond question that large
economies may be effected. The sub
jects first approached were those which
lie close to each administrator. viz. Of
fce practices. An illustration of the
possibilities within this field may be
found in the results OF the inquiry into
the methods of handling and filing cor
respondence. Every office In the Gov
ernment has reported Its methods to
the commission. These reports brought
were quite the reverse OF uniform. Some
offices follow the practice OF briefing all
correspondence; some do not. Some
have nat files: others fold all papers
before fling. Some use press copies:
others retain only carbon copies.
The reports also show not only q very
wide rarge in the methods Of doing
this comparatively simple part Of the
governmental business, but an extra
ding OF incoming mail the averages OF
cost by departments vary from ?6M TO
ss440 per LOO For the handling OF
n"sons varg ~a ahs ssss per-
This does not include the cost Of prepa-
ration, but Is confined merely to the
physical side OF the work. The varia-
tions between individual offices Is many
times greater than that shown for aver
ages by departments.
1t is at once evident either that II Is
costing some Of the offices too little or
that others are being run at an un-
warranted expense. Nor are these
variations explained by differences in
character of work. For example, there
are two departments which handle praC-
tically the same kind of business and
in very large volume. The average cost
of harding incoming mail to one was
found to be over six times as great as
the cost of handling incoming mail to
the other. Excluding the cost Of prepa-
| ration. the average cost per 1000 for
outgoing mail to one was nearly go per
cent greater than that for the other.
1t has been found that differences of
average cost by departments closely
follow differences in method and that
the greatest cost is found In the depart
ment where the method is most in
volved. Another fact Is of interest, Wig,
that in the two departments above ro-
ferred to, which show the lowest aver
ages, orders have been issued which
will lesd to large saving without im.-