Norwich bulletin., 1912-04-05

filed. It also recommends the substi- | tuition of 8 certificate for the affidavit l required to be attached to the contracts of the departments of war, the navy | and the interior and an amendment | of the statute which now requires all | the contracts of those departments to | be fin writing. I transmit letters from the secretaries of the departments re- ferred to, concurring in the conclusions | and recommendations of the commits l sion. I approve the report and com mend it to the favorable consideration of the congress.
 Government Expenses For Travel.
 The report upon travel expendi- lures" of officers and employees of the government (appendix No. 8 presents view of existing conditions that can lead to but one conclusion-that under the existing laws and regulations and practices pursuant thereto the allow ances for travel are as varied as there are executive departments. The same classes of officers and employees are receiving different rates of allow ances, depending only upon the depart ment or bureau in which they are em- ployed. Under similar conditions there should be uniformity. The report rec ommends that all allowances fin the form of mileage be discontinued and that actual cost of transportation be d.. V,aA s,,I s,4 of ao{T1u cost of other expenses, commonly known as subsistence, which would include lodging, a scale Of per diem allowances be established by the presi- dent for the several classes of officers and employees. It is also recommend ed by the commission that all ac- counts for reimbursement of travel ing expenses shall bs certified as to correctness in lieu of the requirement of law in many cases that the veriica- tion be by affidavit The latter pro- eedure is troublesome and expensive, and the penalty for a false certihca- don is fully as valuable in its deter rent effect ss the penalty for making a false affidavit.
 With the report are the comments of the war and the navy departments, made at my request. The report of the commission has my approval, and the suggestions therein for change in the law on the subject are submitted with a request for action in accordance | herewith.
 Handling and Filing of Correspondents.
 The handling and filing of core spondence constitute one of the busi- ness processes of the government to which, as pointed out in my message 1 of Jan. 1T, the commission has paid | especial attention. The investigations of existing conditions have brought out clearly that in many cases present methods are inefficient and entail large, unnecessary costs. The features of present practices which stand out most prominently as entailng large, unnec- essary labor and expense pertain to the briefng, press copying and record i ing and indexing of communications. | A statement has been prepared giving 1 the results of an investigation of the salary cost entailed in performing these operations in the several depart ments at Washington. It Is the opin- ion of the commission that the opera tions of briefng and press copying letters can be entirely eliminated and that the recording and iDdexing of in coming and outgoing letters can be re- duced at least 50 per cent.
 Though the commission is making independent investigations of methods followed in handling and filing core spondence in certain bureaus and serV- ices, the results of which will be en- bodied in reports describing such methods, pointing out wherein they are defective and recommending changes to make them conform to the most approved practices, the general policy pursued is that of working in close cooperation with the depart ments and services through the means of joint committees. To the end that these committees might all work as nearly as possible along uniform lines and that the departments and estab- lishments might have before them the conclusions reached by the commis- sion relative to fundamental princi- ples and the best practices in respect to the performance of this class of work, the commission has prepared and I have sent to the heads of de- partments 6 memorandum setting forth the principles which should gov ern in the matter of handling and fll- ing of correspondence. This memoran- dun also contains suggestions for the use of labor saving devices in prepar- ing and mailing letters. I am trans- hitting herewith a copy of this mem- orandum (appendix No. ?.
 On the basis of this memorandum ac- tive efforts are now being made in all of the departments for the improve ment of the methods of handling and filing of correspondence, These efforts have resulted in radical changes in ex- isting methods and the effecting of large economies, The fiat filing sys- tenn has been substituted for the old cumbrous folded and indorsement sys- tenn. Carbon copies of letters have been substituted for press copies, The brief ing of documents has been entirely discontinued in a number of services, and in others the maintenance of book records of meaning and outgoing com. munications has been discontinued. The effort is being made to make cor respondence files self indexing and thus avoid the necessity for making and using secondary filing devices.