Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-25

manner that their discontinuance Is be-
yond the power Of the president or that
Of any executive officer.
The responsibility for the maintenance
Of these conditions must naturally be d.
vided between the congress and the IKE
cutive. But that the executive has per-
formed his duty when he has called the
attention OF tho congress to the matter
must also be admitted. Realizing my re-
sponsibllity in the premises. l have d.
rected the commission to prepare a re-
port setting forth the positions In the
local services of the government which
may b. discontinued with advantage. the
saving which would result from such ac-
ton and the changes In law which are
necessary to carry into effect changes in
organization found to be desirable. Or
the coming In of the report, such offices
as may be found useless and can be abol-
ished will be SO treated by executive or
der.
Classification Of Local Officers.
In my recent message to the congress
I urged consideration OF the necessity of
placing In the classified service all Of the
local officers under the departments Of
the treasury, the interior. postoffce and
and labor.
The next step which must Be taken 10
to require Of heads OF bureaus In the de-
partments at Washington, and OF most of
the local officers under the departments.
qualifications Of capacity similar to those
now required OF certain heads Of bureaus
and OF local officers. The extension of
the merit system to these officers and q
needed readjustment OF salaries will have
important effects In securing greater
economy and efficiency.
In the first place. the possession by the
incumbents Of these positions OF requisite
tlrns ,n,ta In ttaa1f nrppnta afA-
cheney.
In the second place. the removal OF To-
cal officers from the realm of political
patronage in many cases would reduce
the pay roll Of the field services. At the
Present time the incumbents of many Of
these positions leave the actual perform
ance Of many of their duties to deputies
and assistants. The government often
pays two persons for doing work that
could easily be lone by one. What Is the
loss to the government cannot be stated.
but that 1t Is very large cannot be denied.
when It Is remembered how numerous
are the local officers in the postal. Gus
toms, internal revenue public lands, and
other field services OF the government.
In the third place. 30 long as local Of
fcers are within the sphere OF political
patronage II Is difficult to consider the
question OF the establishment or disoon-
%tinuance OF local Offices apart from the
effect upon local political situations.
Finally, the view that these various
Offices are to be filled as n result of
political considerations has for It's con-
sequence the necessity that the president
and members Of congress devote to mat
tiers of patronage time which they should
devote to questions Of policy and admin
istratio1.
Superannuation.
Attention has been directed In recent
years to the need OF a suitable plan Of
retiring the s~uperannuated employees in
the executive civil service. In the be-
lief that II Is desirable that any steps to-
ward the establishment OF such a plan
shall be taken with caution, ] instructed
the commission to make An inquiry first
into the conditions at Washington. This
inquiry has been directed to tho ascer-
tainment of the extent to which super
annuation now exists and to the con-
sideration Of the availability Of the vari-
Gus plans which either have been pro-
posed for adoption In this country or have
actually been adopted In other countries.
Business Methods.
In every case where technical pro-
cesses rave been studied II has been dem-
onstrated beyond question that large eco
Monies may be effected. The subjects
first approached were those which Il.
close to each administrator, viz. office
practices. An Illustration of the posi-
bilities within this field may be found in
the results OF the inquiry into the meth
DDS of handling and filing correspondence.
Every office In the government has re-
ported Its methods to the commission.
These reports brought to light the fact
that present methods were quite in he
reverse OF uniform. Some offices follow
the practice of briefng all correspon-
dence; some do not. Some have fiat
files: others fold all papers before filing.
Some use press copies: others retain only
carbon copies.
Need for Labor.Savins Office Devices.
The use of labor-saving office devices In
the service has been made the subject OF
special inquiry. An impression prevails
that the government Is not making use
of mechanical devices for economizing
labor to the same extent as are efficiently
managed private enterprises. A study
has been made OF the extent to which
devices OF this character are now being
employed In the several branches of the
government and the opportunities that
exist for their more general use.
The efforts Of the commission resulted
also in the adoption by several bureaus or
departments OF improved methods OF do
ing copying. The amount OF copy work
heretofore done by hand each year In the
many offices Is estimated to aggregate
several hundred thousand dollars. The
commission exhibited. at us OInceS, APP
planes thai were thought to be especial
ly adapted to this kind OF government
work. Following these demonstrations
methods OF copying were introduced
which have brought about a saving of
over 70 per cent in offices where used
for six months. This change IN one small
cross-section Of office practice will more
than Offset the whole cost OF my inquiry.
Waste In the Distribution Of Public
Documents.
Going outside the office, one OF the
business processes which ave been in
v~estigated 10 the distribution of depart
ment documents. This Ii a subject with
which both the congress and admins