Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1912-01-19


as may be found useless and can be abol-
ished will be no treated by executive or
der
Classification Of Local Officers.
In my recent message to the congress
I urged consideration OF the necessity of
placing In the classified service all of the
local officers under the departments of
the treasury, the interior. postoflce and
commerce and labor.
The next step which must be taken Is
to require of heads OF bureaus in the de-
partments at Washington, and of most of
the local officers under the departments,
qualifications of capacity similar to those
now required of certain heads of bureaus
and of. local officers. The extension of
tho merit system to these officers and a
needed readjustment Of salaries will have
important effects in securing greater
economy and efficiency.
In the first place, the possession by the
incumbents of these positions of requisite
qualifications must in itself prmote eff
cheney.
In the second place, the removal of To-
cal officers from the realm of political
patronage In many cases would reduce
the pay roll OF the field services. At the
present time the incumbents OF many of
these positions leave the actual perform
ance of many of their duties to deputies
and assistants The government often
could easily be done by one. What Is the
loss to the government cannot be stated,
but that II Is very large cannot be denied,
when 1t is remembered how numerous
are the local officers in the postal, Gus
TONG, internal revenue, public lands, and
other field services of the government.
In the third place, so long as local Of
fcers are within the sphere of political
patronage It is difficult to consider the
question of the establishment or discon-
unuance of local Offices apart from the
effect upon local political situations.
Finally, the view that these various
offices are to be filled as result of
political considerations has for It's con-
sequence the necessity that the president
and members OF congress devote to mat
ters of patronage time which they should
devote to questions of policy and admin
iBtration.
Superannuatlon.
Attention has been directed In recent
years to the need Of suitable plan of
retiring the superannuated employees in
the executive civil service. In the be-
lief that 1t is desirable that any steps to-
ward 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 ascer-
tainment of the extent to which super
sideration of the availability of the vari-
GUS plans which either have been pro-
posed for adoption in this coun,.y or have
actually been adopted in other countries.
/ shall submit, in the near future, for
the consideration Of the congress a plan
for the retirement of aged employees in
the civil service which will safeguard the
interests of the government and at the
same time make reasonable provision for
the needs of those who have given the
best part OF their lives to the service OF
the state.
Business Methods.
In every case where technical pro-
cesses have been studied It has been dem
/ onstrated beyond question that large eco
Monies may be effected The subjects
first approached were those which lie
close to each administrator, viz, office
practices. An illustration of the possi-
bilities within this field may be found in
| the results of the inquiry into the meth
| DDS of handling and filing correspondence.
Every office in the government has re-
| ported its methods to the commission.
| These reports brought to light the fact
| that present methods were quite In he
| reverse of uniform. Some offices follow
| the practice of brefing all correspon-
| dence: some do not. Some have fiat
| files; others fold all papers before filing.
| Some use press copies; others retain only
| copies.
Need for Labor-Saving Office Devices
The use of labor-sav office devices in
| the service has been made the subject of
| special inquiry. An impression prevails
| that the government is not making use
| of mechanical devices for economizing
| labor to the same extent as are efficiently
managed private enterprises. A study
| has been made of the extent to which
| devices of this character are now being
employed in the several branches of the
| government and the opportunities that
exist for their more general use.
The efforts of the commission resulted
also in the adoption by several bureaus OF
| departments of improved methods of do
ing copying. The amount of copy work
heretofore done by hand each year In the
many offices is estimated to aggregate
several hundred thousand dollars. The
| commission exhibited, at its offices, ep-
| ly adapted to this kind of government
work. Following these demonstrations
methods of copying were introduced
which have brought about saving OF
over 75 per cent. in offices where used
for six months. This change in one small
oss-secton of office practice will more
than Offset the whole cost Of my inquiry
Waste In the Distribution of Public
Documents.
Going outside the ofnce, one OF tht
business processes which have been In
vestigated is the distribution of depart
ment documents This is a subject witt
which both the congress and admins
tration heads are familiar The prevail
ing practice In handling departments
publications is to have them manufac
tured at the government printing office
each Job when completed is delivered Il
the department.: here the books or pam
phlets are wrapped and addressed; thel
are then sent to the postoffice; there the!
are assorted and prepared for shipmen
through the mails: from the postofflc
they are sent to the railroad station
which is only few steps from the gov
ernment printing office, when the.
started. The results of this laborious ant
circuitous method is to make the use o
the best mechanical equipment impractic
able and to waste each year not less thai
a quarter of million dollars of govern
ment funds in useless handling, to sa,
nothing of the indirect loss due to lacl
of proper coordination.
Wasteful Use of Properties and EqulF
ment.
The use of equipment is a matter whic