The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-17


 AS yet little if my attempt has been made by lav to secure. either for the higher administrative positions in the service at Washington or for local of hC es. the qualifications which the in. cunbents of these positions must have if the business of the government is to be conducted ir the most efficient and economical manner. Furthermore. in the case of many of the local of ncers the law positively provides that the term of office shall be of four years duration.
 Extension of Merit System.
 The next step which must be taken is to require of heads of bureaus in the departments at Washington and of most of the local officers under the departments qualifications of capacity similar to those now required of cer tain heads of bureaus and of local of ficers. The extension of the merit sys- tenn to these officers and q needed re adjustment of salaries will have i'm portant effects in securing greater economy and efficiency.
 Tn the first place. the possession by the incumbents of these positions of the requisite qualifications must in it. self promote efficiency.
 Tn the second place. the removal of local officers from the realm of po- htical patronage in many cases would reduce the payroll of the field serv- ices. At the present time the incum- bents of many of these positions leave the actual performance of many of their duties to deputies and assistants. The government often pays two per sons for doing work that could easily be done by one. What is the loss to the government cannot be stated. but that it IS very large cannot be denied when 1t Is remembered how numerous are the local officers in the postal, cu- toms. internal revenue. public lands and other field services of the govern ment
 Tn the third place. so long as local onhcers are within the sphere of po- litical patronage it is dif1cult to con sider the question of the establish ment or discontinuance of local ohaces apart from the effect upon local po- htical situations.
 Finally the view that these various ofaces are to be filled as result of political considerations has for it's con- sequence the necessity that the presi- dent and members of congress devote to matters Of patronage time which they should devote to questions of pol icy and administrators.
 Dansers Of Fixed Term System. >
 The greatest economy and efficiency and the benefits which may accrue from the presidents devotinz his time to the work which is most worth while may be assured only by treating all the distinctly administrative officers in the departments at Washington and in the field in the same way as inferior officers have been treated. The time has come when all these officers should be placed in the classified service. The time has also come when those pro- visions of law which give to these of6- cefs fixed term of years should be re- pealed- So long as fixed term h pro- vfded by law the question of reappoint- ,ment of an ofncer. 10 matter how efn- ciently he may have performed his du- ties. will inevitably be raised period tcally So long as appointments to these o6ices must be confirmed by the senate and SO long as appointments to them must be made every four years just 80 long will 1t be impossible to provide force of employees with a reasonably permanent tenure who are qualified by reason of education and training to do the best work
 supsrannuatien.
 shall submit in the near future for the consideration of the congress a plan for the retirement of aged em- ployees in the civil service which will safeguard the interests of the govern ment and at the same time make req sonable provision for the needs of those who have given the best part of their lives to the service of the state.
 In every case where technical proc esses have been studied it has been demonstrated beyond question that large economies mny be effected. The subjects first approached were those which lie close to each administrator viz. office practices. An illustration of the possibilities within this field may be found in the results of the inquiry into the methods of handling and filing Every of1ce in the government has reported its methods to the commission. These reports brought to light the fact that present methods were quite the reverse of uni form. Some offces follow the practice of bEtedng all correspondence: some do not. Some have fiat fles: others foid all papers before filing. Some use press copies; others retain only carbon cop les.
 Cost ef Handling and Filing cerrs-
 spondenes.
 The reports also show not only a very wide range in the methods of doing this comparatively simple part of the government business. but an ex- range in cost For the of incoming mail the aver ages of cost by departments vary from s5.S4 to $s4.4o per 1000. For the han ding of outgoing mall the averages by vary from $5.94 to $6o.S9 per 1000. This does not include the cost of preparation. but is confined merely to the physical side of the work The variation between indf- viduaI offices is many times greater