The Penn's Grove record., 1912-01-19
the coming in Of tils report, such offices
as may be found useless and can be abol-
ished will be 30 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. postoffce 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
the 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
pays two persons for doing work that
could easily be done by one. What is the
loss to the government cannot be stated,
but that 1t Is very large cannot be denied,
when 1t is remembered how numerous
are the local officers in the postal, Gus
toms, 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 1t is difficult to consider the
question of the establishment or discon-
tinuance of local offices apart from the
effect upon local political situations.
Finally, the view that these various
Offices are to be filled as a result of
political considerations has for its con-
sequence the necessity that the president
and members of congress devote to mat
tiers of patronage time which they should
devote to questions of policy and admin
istration.
Superannuatlon.
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 to-
ward the establishment of such q plan
shall be taken with caution. I 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
annuatton now exists and to the con-
sideration of the availability of the vari-
Gus plans which either have been pro-
posed for adoption in this country or have
actually been adopted in other countries. !
l shall submit. in the near future, for
the consideration Of the congress q plan
for the retirement of aged employees in
the civil service which will safeguard the j
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- t
cesses have been studied it has been dem I
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 posi- I
bilities within this field may be found in
the results of the inquiry into the meth l
DDS of handling and filing correspondence.
Every office in the government has re-
ported its methods to the commission. I
These reports brought to light the fact I
that present methods were quite in he
reverse of uniform. Some offices follow {
the practice Of briefng all correspon- {
dence; some do not. Some have flat /
files; others fold all papers before filing. {
Some use press copies; others retain only !
carbon copies. !
Need for Labor-Savlng Office Devices.
The use of labor-saving office devices in
the service has been made the subject of '
special inquiry. An impression prevails {
that the government Is not making use
~
labor to the same extent as are efficiently l
managed private enterprises. A study 4
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. I
The efforts Of the commission resulted /
also In the adoption by several bureaus or {
departments of improved methods of do 2
ing copying. The amount of copy work I
harnt0fn-a 1@-n Nv Io-l ~@-l l. A. s
many offices is estimated to aggregate I
several hundred thousand dollars. The 6
commission exhibited, at its offices, ap-
planes that were thought to be especial '
ly adapted to this kind of government /
work. Following these demonstrations c
methods of copying were introduced I
which have brought about q saving Of T
over rs per cent. in offices where used c
for six months. This change In one small
cross-section of office practice will more s
than offset the whole cost of my inquiry. I
Waste In the Distribution of Public :
Documents. q
Going outside the office, one of the
business processes which have been In
v~estigated is the distribution of depart S
ment documents. This Is a subject with &
which both the congress and admins
tration heads are familiar. The prevail 6
ing practice In handling departmental '
publications Is to have them manufac- !
tured at the government printing office; 9
each job when completed is delivered to I
the department.; here the books or PAM S
phlets are wrapped and addressed; then
are then sent to the postoffce; there they
are assorted and prepared for shipment
through the mails; from the postofhce 8
they are sent to the railroad station, G
which is only a few steps from the gov +
eminent printing office, when they r
started. The results of this laborious and r
circuitous method is to make the use of Il
the best mechanical equipment impractic- Q
able and to waste each year not less than
a quarter Of a million dollars of govern g
ment funds In useless handling, to say !
nothing of the indirect loss due to lack t
of proper coordination. 8
Wasteful Use of Properties and Equip =
ment. q
The use of equipment is a matter which s
also has been investigated. Up to the
present time this investigation has been \
in the main confined to the subject of t
electric lighting. The government pays f
over 100000 per year for electric current; S
1t has made large capital OUTLAWS for wir-
ing and fixtures. With the increasing de- t
mands in many buildings the present 5
equipment is taxed to its limit and II r
the present methods are continued much l
of this wiring must be done over; in Il
many places employees are working at a t
great physical disadvantage, due to in '
adequate and improper lighting, and i
thereby with reduced efficiency. In every I
place where the inquiry has been con- /
Quoted 1t appears that there is large
waste; that without the cost of rewir-
ing, simply by giving proper attention to r
location Of lights and the use of proper
lamps and reiectors, the light efficiency
at points where needed may be much in 1
creased and the cost of current reduced 9
from 30 to 60 per cent. Other Inquiries
into the use which is being made of prop !
critics and equipment are contemplated 8
which promise even larger results. t
Lack Of Specifications. =
The Importance of establishing and
maintaining standard specifications is