The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-04
IAFI'S MESSAGE ON EFFICIENCY
 AND EC0N0.iY
P!esidenA ASenjs a Second Stats. ment to Congress on the Work of Special
 Commission

Expresses His Approval of the Changes
 Recommended and Suggests She Stat
 utory Amendments Necessary to
 Carry Them Out-Sees increased Ef-
 fieisney and Saving of Many MiIIions
 of Dollars of Public Funds-Ur.es
 Further Appropriation to Carry on the
 commissien's Work.
 To the Senate and House of Repre-
 sentatives:
 On the 17th of January last sent a message to. the congress describing the work of the commission appointed by me under authority of the acts of June 25. 1910, and March 3. 1911. granting appropriations to enable me to inquire into the methods of transacting the public business of the various execu- tive departments and other govern mental establishments and to make re- port as to improved efficiency and greater economy to be obtained in the expenditure of money for the mainte- nance of the government By way of illustrating the utility of the commis- sion and the work which they were engaged upon referred to a number of reports whicA+hey had filed, recom- mending changes in organization of the departments and bureaus of the government. the avoidance of duplica- tion of functions and services and the installation of labor saving devices and improved office methods. All of the recommendations looked to savings of considerable amounts. With the mes- sage of Feb. 5. 1912, I transmitted to the congress the reports on the central ixation of distribution of government documents, on the use of window en- graphic process for copying records.
 A number of the reports of the com mission had not then been commented on by the heads of the departments that would be affected by the changes recommended, and therefore 1 did not feel justified at that time in recom- mending 10 the congress the statutory amendments necessary to carry out the recommendations of the commission. Since then. however. I have received the recommendations of the heads of departments, and transmit this mes sage for the purpose of expressing my approval of the changes recommended by the commission and of laying be- fore the congress the reports prepared by the commission --s -s,@
 Local Offices Should Bs In the CIassi- fled Service-Postoffices.
 I have several times called attention to the advantages to be derived from placing in the classified service the To- cal, officers under the departments of the treasury, of the postodice. of jus tice, of the interior and of commerce and labor. In my message submitted to the congress on Jan. IT I referred to the loss occasioned to the govern ment because of the fact that in many cases two persons are paid for doing work that could easily be done by one. Tn the meantime l have caused an in- Quiry to be made as to the amount in money of this loss. The results of this inquiry are that the loss amounts to at least S1O.OO0O0O annually. For exam pie, it appears that a very substantial economg' would result from putting ex- perienced and trained officers in charge of the first and second class postofficss instead of selecting the postmasters in
 k1n mt AS the annual operating expenses of the first and second class offices aggre- gate the enormous sum of more than $Su.OOO.OOO, undoubtedly if the post masters of these offices were embraced fin the classified service and required to devote all their time to the public serv- ice the annual savings would eventu- ally represent many millions of dollars. The saving in salaries alone, not taking into account any saving due to increas- ed efficiency of operation, would amount to about $4.500.O00. At the present time the salaries of postmas- ters of the first and second class amount to S6O76.9OO. while the salaries of assistant postmasters of the same classes amount to S2.S2O.OOO. If the position of postmaster were placed in the classified service and those officers were given salaries equal to 20 per cent more than the salaries now given to the assistant postmasters, the latter position being no longer required. there would be saving in salaries to the government of $4.512.9 900. In the case of postmasters at offices of the third class a large annual saving could be made.
 Pension Agencies.
 An annual saving of nearly S62OOO could be made if the position of pen sion agent were placed in the classified service. since the work now done by a pension agent at salary of S4OOO and a chief clerk at a salary ranging between S1 400 and s2.25O could easily be done by one person in the perma- nent classified service at salary vary ing from S2.1O0 to S3.O0O. Greater economy and efficiency would result from the abolition of the pension agen- eies and from the adoption of plan in accordance with which pensions would be paid by the pension office iu Washington.
 District Land Offices.
 What is true in the matter of pay. ment of pensions is also true in the service under the general land office