Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-01-19
Classification OF Local Officers.

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 fncumbents 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
| 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 government
In the third place, so long as local Of
| f1cers are within the sphere of political
| patronage it 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 it is desirable that any steps to-
| ward the establishment of such a plan
| shall be taken with caution, l instructed
| the commission to make an inquiry first
J into the conditions at Washington. This
| inquiry has been directed to the ascer
| tainment OF the extent to which super
| annuation 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 county or have
| actually been adopted in other countries.
| I 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
| 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 1t 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-
biities 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 it's 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 briefing all correspon-
dence; some do not. Some have fiat
files; others fold all papers before filing.
| Some use press copies; others retain only
| carbon copies.
Need for Labor-Saving Office Devices.
The use of labor-savng 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. 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 or
| 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, ap-
| planes that were thought to be especial
| ly adapted to this kind of government
work. Following these demonstrations
| methods of copying were introduced
which have brought about a saving OF
| over Is per cent. in Offices where used
for six months. This change in one small
cross-section Of office practice will more
than offset the whole cost of my inquiry.
Waste in the Distribution of Public
| Documents.
Going outside the office, one of the
| business processes which have been in
| vestigated is the distribution of depart
| ment documents. This is a subject with
| which both the congress and admins
| tration heads are familiar. The prevail
| ing practice in handling departmental
| publications is to have them manufac-
| tured at the government printing office;
| each job when completed is delivered to
| the department.; here the books or pam
| phlets are wrapped and addressed; then
are then sent to the postofffce; there they
| are assorted and prepared for shipment
through the nails from the postofffce
| they are sent to the railroad station,
which is only few steps from the gov
| eminent printing office, when they
| started. The results Of this laborious and
| circuitous method is to make the use Of
| the best mechanical equipment impractic
| able and to waste each year not less than
| a quarter of a million dollars of govern
| ment funds in useless handling, to say
| nothing Of the indirect loss due to lack
| of proper coordination.
Wastefui Use of Properties and Equip
| ment.
| The use of equipment is a matter which
| also has been investigated. Up to the
| present time this investigation has been
| in the main confined to the subject of
electric lighting The government pays
| o1n tVyo ~nrot