Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-04-05

| that under the existing laws, and
regulations and practices pursuant
thereto. the allowances for travel are
as varied as there are executive de-
| partments The same classes of of :
| fieers and employees are receiving diff
| ferent rates of allowances, depending
| only upon the department or bureau
In which they are employed Under
similar conditions there should be
| uniformity. The report recommends
that all allowances in the form of
mileage he discontinued and that ae-
| tual cost of transportation be paid :;
| that in lieu of payment of actual cost
| of other expenses, commonly known as
| subsistence. which would include lodg-
| ing, a scale of per diem allowances
| be established by the President for
the several classes of officers and
employees. 1t is also recommended
by the commission that all accounts
for reimbursement of travelling ex
penses shan be certified az To correct
ness in lien of the requirement of law
in many eases that the verifieation be
by affidavit. The latter procedure III
troublesome and expensive, and the
penalty for a false certificatien is
fully as valuable in its deterrent eff
feet as the penalty for making false
affidavit
With the report are the comments 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 sub
mitted with request for action in
accordance Herewith
HsndIine and Filing of CORRESPONDENCE
The handling and filing of cor
respondence constitutes one of the
business processes of the Government
to which. as pointed out in my mes
sage of January II. the commission
has paid especial attention. The in
vestigations of existing conditions have
brought out clearly that, in many
cases, present methods are inef-
ficient and entail large, unnecessary
costs. The features of present prac-
tees which stand out most promi-
nently as entailing large. unnecessary
labor and expense pertain to the
briefins. press-e copying. and recording
and indexing of communications. y
statement has been prepared giving
the results of an investigation of the
salary cost entailed in perfofmin
these operations in the several depart
mentS at Washington 1t is the
opinion of the commission that the
operations of briefing aud press-eo copy
ing letters can be entirely eliminated
and that the recording and indexins OF
incoming and outgoing letters can be
reduced at least so per cent.
Though the commission is making
independent investigations of methods
followed in handling and filing cor
respondence in certain bureaus and
services. the results of which will be
embodied 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-
lishments might have before them the
conclusions reached by the commits
sion relative to fundamental princi-
plies and the best practices In respect
to the performance of this class OF
work, the commission has prepared
and | have sent to the heads of de
partments memorandum setting
forth the principles which SHOULD gov
ern in the matter of handling and fill
Ing of correspondence. This men,
orandum also contains suggestions for
the use of labor saving devices ia
preparing and mailing letters. l am
transmitting herewith a copy of this
memorandum (Appendix No. -
on the basis of this memorandum ac-
tive efforts are now being made in all of
the departments for the Improvement CT
the methods of handling and filing OF
correspondence. These efforts have re-
suited in radical changes in existing
methods and the effecting of large econ-
omies. The hat-filing system has been
substituted for the old cumbrous folded
and Endorsement system. Carbon copies
of letters have been substituted for
press copies. The briefing of documents
has been entirely discontinued in num-
tenance of book records of incoming and
outgoing communications has been dis
continued. The effort is being made to
make correspondence files self-indexing
and thus avoid the necessity for making
and using secondary finding devices
This work can only be intelligently pros
ecuted as the result of painstaking and
detail investigation of the special condi-
tons to be met in each particular SER
vice. Many months will, therefore, be
required to carry out this work through
out the entire Government. 1t is of the
utmost Importance that the work should
be prosecuted under n general supervis-
ion or direction such as is furnished by
the present commission
Distribution of Government Docu.
ments.
Attention is called to the report of the
commission, transmitted to the Congress
with my message of February s, and 20
the supplementary statement sent here.
.IA