The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1912-01-18
Personnel.

PERSONNEL
In my recent message to the con-
gress / urged consideration of the ne
cessiCy of placing in the classified serv-
ice all of the local officers under the
departments of the treasury, the in
terror. postoffice and commerce and la
Dor.
As yet little if any attempt has been
made by law to secure either for the
higher administrative positions in the
service at Washington or for local of
fees. the qualifications which the in
cumbents of these positions must have
If the business of the government Is
to be conducted in the most efficient
and economical manner. Furthermore.
in the case of many of the local Of
icers the law positively provides that
the term Of Office shall be of four
years duration.
Extension of Merit System.
The next step which must be taken
is to require of heads of bureaus in
the departments at Washington and
of most of the local officers under the
departments qualifications of capacity
similar to those now required of Ger.
tain heads of bureaus and of local of
ficers. The extension of the merit sys-
tenn TO these officers and a needed re-
adjustment of salaries will have i'm
portant effects in securing greater
economy and efficiency.
In the first place. the possession by
the incumbents of these positions of
the requisite qualifications must in it.
self promote efficiency.
In the second place, the removal of
local officers from the realm of pO-
Htical patronage in many cases would
reduce the payroll Of the field serv-
ices. At the present time the incum-
bents Of many of these positions leave
the actual performance of many of
their duties to deputies and assistants.
The government often pays two per-
sons for doing work that could easily
be done by one. What is the loss to
the government cannot be stated. but
that it is very large cannot be denied
when it is remembered how numerous
are the local officers in the postal. GUS
toms, internal revenue. public lands
and other field services Of the govern
ment
In the third place, so long as local
officers are within the sphere of po-
litical patronage it is difficult to con-
slider the question Of the establish
mont mr. diScopfipnonoo ~ loool off;ooS
apart from the effect upon local po-
litical situations
Finally the view that these various
offices are to be filed as a result of
political considerations has for its con-
sequ ence the necessity that the presi-
to matters of patronage time which
they should devote to questions of pol
icy and administration
Dangers of Fixed Term System.
The greatest economy and efficiency
and the benefits which may accrue
from the presidents devoting his time
to the work which is most worth while
may be assured only by treating all
the distinctly administrative officers in
the departments at Washington and in
the field in the same way as inferior
officers have been treated. The time
has come when all these officers should
be placed in the classified service. The
time has also come when those pro-
visions Of law which give to these off,
GERS fixed term of years should be re-
pealed- So long as a fixed term is pro-
vided by law the question of reappoint-
ment Of an officer, no matter how eff
cient,y he may have performed his du-
ties, will inevitably be raised period
ical1y. So long as appointments to
these offices must be confirmed by the
Senate and so long as appointments to
them must be made every four years
just so long will 1t be impossible to
provide a force of employees with a
reasonably permanent tenure who are
qualified by reason Of education and
training to do the best work.
Spperannuation.
l shall submit in the near future for
the consideration of the congress a
plan for the retirement Of aged en-
ployees in the civil service which will
safeguard the interests Of the govern
ment and at the same time make rea-
sonable provision for the needs Of
those who have given the best part of
their lives to the service Of the state
In every case where technical proc
esses have been studied it has been
demonstrated beyond question that
large economies may be effected. The
subjects first approached were those
which lie close to each administrator
viz. Office 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
correspondence. Evety Office in the
government has reported its methods
to the commission. These reports
brought to light the fact that present
methods were quite the reverse of uni
form Some Offices follow the practice
Of briefing all correspondence: some DO
not Some have fat fles; others fold
all papers before filing. Some use press
copies; others retain only carbon cop
les.
Cost Of Handling and Filing Core
spondence.
The reports also show not only
very wide range in the methods of
doing this comparatively simple part
Of the government business. but an ex-
traordinary range in cost For the