Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-04
Consolidation Of Auditing Offices.

ConSol1oaC1on OF Aud1C1ng OmceS.
The report upon the organization and
methods of work of the accounting Of
fees of the Treasury recommends that
the Offices OF the six auditors be CONSOLE
dated under one auditor, and that the
auditors OF customs accounts located at
the principal ports. and known as naval
officers. be made assistants to the audit
ors. An increase in the efficiency of the
Treasury audit will be one result Of the
carrying out Of these recommendations.
and the saving of expense when the con-
solidation has been fully completed will
amount to at least 100000 a year. based
upon current appropria tons. The pres
emit organization. under which six indie
pendent auditors are engaged in the one
work of final audit of the government &C.
counts. is certainly one that can produce
only diversity of practice and procedure,
inefficient use Of personnel and equip
ment, and delay and uncertainty of re-
quirements from which the public as well
as officers of the government must suffer.
into effect these recommendations of the
commission. which have my APPROVAL. will
be in the interest of the public service.
The Returns Office.
The report upon the returns office" of
the Department of the Interior recon-
mends the abolition of that Office and
that provision for public inspection of
government contracts be made through
the Office of the auditors Of the Treasury,
in which offices the originals of all con-
tracts are filed. 1t also recommends the
substitution of a certificate for the aft
davit required to be attached to the con-
tracts of the Departments of War, the
Navy and the Interior. and an amend
ment of the statute which now requires
all the contracts of those departments to
be in writing. transmit letters from the
Secretaries of the departments referred
to, concurring in the conclusions and
recommendations of the commission. l
approve the report and commend 1t to
the favorable consideration of the Con-
gress.
Government Expenses for Travel.
The report upon Gravel expenditures"
of officers and employees of the govern
ment presents view of existing con-
ditions that can lead to but one conclu-
| sion-that under the existing laws and
regulations and practices pursuant
thereto, the allowances for travel are as
varied as there are executive depart
ments. The same classes of officers ard
employees receiving different rates rt
allowances. depending only upon the de-
partment or bureau in which they are
employed. Under similar conditions there
| should be uniformity. The report recon-
! mends that all allowances in the form
| of mileage he discontinued and that
actual cost of transportation be paid;
| that in lieu of payment of actual cost of
other expenses, commonly known a. SUBJ
| sistence, which would include lodging.
| scale of per diem allowances be estab-
! Iished by the President for the several
| classes of officers and employees. 1t Is
1 also recommended by the commission
| that all accounts for reimbursement of
| travelling expenses shall be certified as to
| correctness in lieu of the requ rement of
| law In many cases that the Verifcation
| be by affidavit. The latter procedure is
| troublesome and expensive. and the PEN
| atty for "A false certification is fully as
| valuable i'm it's deterrent effect as 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 commits
| tons therein for a change in the law on
| the subject are submitted with a request
for action In accordance Herewith.
Handling Correspondence.
The handling and fling Of corre-
spondence constitutes one of the business
processes of the government to which, as
pointed out in my message of January
II. the commission has paid especial at
tention. The Investigations of existing
conditions have brought out clearly that,
in many cases. present methods are In
efficient and entail large, unnecessary
costs The features of present practices
which stand out most prominently as en-
pense pertain to the briefing, press-copy-
ing and recording and indexing of COM
munications. statement has been pre-
pared giving the results of an investiga-
forming these operations in the several