The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-04

cedure is troublesome and expensive. and the penalty for a false certifica- tion is fully as valuable in it's deter rent effect as the penalty for making a false affidavit.
 of the war and the navy departments. made at my request. The report of the commission has my approval. and the suggestions therein for a change in the law on the subject are submitted with a request for action in accordance herewith.
 Handling and Filling of Correspondence.
 The handling and filing of core spOndence constitute one of the busi- ness proc esses of the government to which, as pointed out in my message of Jan. 11. 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 entailing large, unnec- essary labor and expense pertain to the briefng. press copying and record ing and indeXing of communications. A statement has been rrcpared giving 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 briefing and press copying letters can be entirely eliminated and that the recording and indexiug 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 em- 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- Iishments 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 a memorandum setting forth the principles which should gov ern in the matter of handling and fl- ing of correspondence. This memoran- dunn also contains suggestions for the use of labor saving devices in prepar- ling and mailing letters. l am trans hitting herewith copy of this mem orandum (appendix No. D.
 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 or correspondence. These efforts have resulted in radical changes in ex- isting methods and the effecting of large economies. The flat 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 incoming and outgoing com muuications 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. This work can only be intelligently prosecuted as the result of painstaking and detail investigation of the special conditions to be met in each particu lar service. Many months will there fore be required to carry out this work throughout the entire government. It is of the utmost importance that the work should be prosecuted under general supervision or direction suci' as is furnished by the present commis- sion.
 Distribution of Government Documents.
 Attention is called to the report of the commission transmitted to the con- greSS with my message of Feb. , and to the supplementary statement sent herewith (appendix No. 8 on the cen traliZatiOn of. distribution of govern ment publications. By adopting this recommendation it is conservatively estimated that $242.OOO can be saved. This is exclusive of the saving which could be made by handling the con gressional documents in the same man. ner. An account kept for thirty-one days wic1 the volume of this business of handling congressional documents showed an average of twenty-one tons per day. These documents were first taken from the printing office to the capitol, then from the capitol to the postofIlce, then hauled back to the Union station, the latter being but a short distance from the printing office. An up to date plant at the printing office which could handle all this would entail an increased capital outlay for permanent equipment of only about $75,OOO. The recommendation for cen tralizing the distribution of documents from the departments. if acted on. will affect the appropriations of seven de- partments, five independent establish ments and the Washington postotice.
 l may say in connection with this ropo,.t and recommendation that fho