The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-18

lnatlOn or 5lfeSluent or the Cnlted States of America by the democratic party and hereby do call upon every true and good democrat in the state and county to do all in their power to secure his nomina- ton
 tnct fields. effective supervision and con- trol is impossible. As long as the same department embraces services so diverse in character as those of life saving and the management of public finances, stand ardization of accounting methods and of other business practices is exceedingly difficult Of attainment
 So dependent are other reforms upon the proper grouping of services that l have instructed the commission to indl- cate in it's report the changes which should be made in the existing organiza- ton and to proceed in the same way as would farseeing architects or engineers in planning for the improvement and devel- opment Of a great city. My desire is to secure and to furnish to the Congress a scheme of organization that can be used as a basis of discussion and action for years to come.
 Tn the past services have been created one by one as exigencies have seemed to demand, with little or no reference to any scheme of organization of the govern ment as a whole. I am convinced that the time has come when the government should take stock of all it's activities and agencies and formulate a comprehensive plan with reference to which future changes may be made. The report of the commission is being prepared with this idea in mind. When completed 1t will he transmitted to the Congress. The recom- mendations will be of such a character that they can be acted upan- one by -one if they commend themselves to the Congfess and as faction in regard 10 any one of them is deemed to be urgent.
 Reports on Particular Services
 The second and third series of repor,- deal, respectively, with the organization and activities of particular services, ana the form of organization for the perform ance Of particular business operations.
 One of the reports of the second series is upon the revenue cutter service, which costs the government over two and half million dollars each year. In the opinion of the commission it's varied activities can be performed with equal, or greater, ad- vantage by other services. The commis- sion therefore. recommends that 1t be abolished It is estimated that by so doing a saving of not less than Sl,0O000O a year can be made.
 Another report Illustrating the second series recommends that the lighthouse and life saving services be administered by single bureau instead of as at present by two bureaus located in different depart ments. These services have much in com mon. Geographically, they are similarly located admnistratively, they have many of/ the same problems If is esti- mated that consolidation would result in a saving of not less than $1o0,O0D annually
 In a third report the commission has recommended the abolition of the revenue office of the Department of the Interior. ...flI r... loss in service to the public and will re- suit in a direct saving of not less than s25OOO a year in addition to a large in- direct economy in the reduction Of work to be performed in the several offices.
 Tn another report the commission has recommended the consolidation of the six auditing offices of the treasury and the inclusion in the auditing system of the seven naval officers who now audit cus- toms accounts at the principal ports. The changes recommended will improve in many ways the auditing of public ac- counts and will result in an immediate saving of at least s135.oe9 annually.
 General Technical Services
 third series of reports is being pre- pared on those branches of the organi- zation which are technical in character and which exist for the service of the government as whole--branches which have to do with such matters as public printing heating. lighting. the making of repairs. the providing of transportation, and the compilation of statistics where mechanical equipment is essential.
 Abolition of Local Offices
 Perhaps the part of the organization m which the greatest economy in public ex- nenditure is possible is to be found in the numerous local offices of the government. In some instances the establishment and the discontinuance of these local offices are matters of administrative discretion. In other instances they are established by permanent law in such manner that their discontinuance is beyond the power of the President or that of any executive officer. In number or services these laws were passed nearly a century ago Changes in economic conditions have