Evening star., 1913-02-26

| dering efficient service, but who, by rea-
son of the nOn-partisan character Of the
| appointment, receive not more than halt
| the amount of salary: 1t tends to destroy
| the esprit de corps. especially with sub
| ordinates; it carries with it expenditures
/ that in many instances are unwisely mace.
| Altogether, in the opinion OF those who
are best acquainted with the service. the
indirect saving to the government amounts
to more than the direct saving indicated
| with respect to the other employees In
| the service, their salaries are either what
are known as statutory that is. speci-
| fled in the acts of appropriations or non
statutory Ohe designation given to sal
\ aries paid out of lump-sum approprla-
tions) With respect to these. my recon-
mendation is that the total appropriations
for salaries be established at an amount
sufficient to cover the pay roll require
ments of the present fiscal year, but that
authority be given to make compiete
executive reclassification of civil service
employees. to become effective by executive
| order. Such provision would reduce the
! estimates for current expenses not less
than $2OO0.O0O. and. in my opinion, would
result benefcially to employees as well as
to the government.
'sIn other words. L am of the opinion
| that annual salary roll of $2.oOOOoo
less than the estimates for salaries Tor
the year 1914. If properly distributed,
| would adequately provide for the person
mel necessary to do the governments pres
ent work
Difference in Salaries.
I'm the present situation many men at
the bottom are receiving larger salaries
than would be obtained for similar work
in outside employment. whereas men in
higher positions carrying great response
bility. and the success of whose per
formance depends on training and long
experience. are inadequately paid. The
government suffers from both cOndi-
tions.
''From the viewpoint of the rank and
file there is little hope of reward for
merit Instead Of establishing a we'll
considered classification of positions and
salary grades which will admit of pro-
motions and increased compensation with
added experience and ability to render
valuable service, instead of holding out
to the emplOye a career. premium Is
placed on getting into the service, after
which little inducement is offered to ef-
fort There is little incentive to increas-
ing efficiency, because as a rule initial
salaries are placed too high and terminal
salaries too low. The operation OF such
salary scheme is to encourage appl1ca-
ton for appointment from persons who
have already assumed large social or
other responsibilities. and VINO are out
of employment; at the same time by pro-
viding low terminal salaries the service
is to this extent made unattractive to
those who have spent years in prepara-
ton or who after long experience have
become expert in the handling OF the
many technical problems involved in the
economical and effic1ent TRANSACTION Oh
public business.
Waste in Documents.
The estimates for appropriations Tor
the next fiscal year for printing and bind
Ing at the government printing office
amount to nearly $6.Oo,OO0, besides the
printing and binding that is done else
where. OF this amount a considerable
part is for publications that are distrib- |
uted TO the public AS at present dis
tributed it is known that relatively
small part of such publications get into
the hands of persons who are really IN
terested in them, and such persons
could well afford to pay cost price
for them. The other documents are
sent simply as reminder that there
is some one in Washington who mas the
recipients names on the list. The adop- |
ton of such a principle as is recommend |
ed would. in my opinion. change the en- |
tire character of the publication activities |
of the government.
AT the present time many valuable |
documents of the government are not OBJ |
tainable at any price. since the issue Is |
exhausted very shortly after publication. |
The practice is that such number of
documents is printed as is necessary TO |
sulpIv the public libraries and furnish |
the copies which under the law, go to |
members of Congress Unless provision
is made for distribution to the pub c, |
any one interested in particular pub |
lication may be fortunate to receive |
the one or more copies that may be |
allowed the representative of the con- |
gressional district in which he lives. Fur |
ther than this, he must depend largely |
upon exchange of courtesies between rep |
adf hot nraI
for public distribution, being given away, |
are soon exhausted.
Plan Partly in Vogue.
In order to make a supply available |
to persons who may not have the facili- |
ties for obtaining a desired volume or |
volumes at the time of the issue, it is nec-
essary TO have publication authorization
that-wll place a stock in the hands of |
the superintendent of documents for sale. |
With respect to certain publications this |
principle of sale already has been adopt |
ed. 1t is urged that it be made general |
in its operation. thereby enabling Con- |
gress to reduce the estimate for printing |
and binding by the amount which it is |
thought will be realized from the copies |
distributed to the public.
THE estimated cost Of maintaining the |
independent assay Offices carried in the
estimates for the legislative, executive, |
and judicial bill is s3O5. 74O This is not
the whole cost. as Ii does not include
such as Is carried in estimates for pub |
lie buildings. The Secretary of the
Treasury has recommended their discon-
tinuance. BY such action 1t Is thought
that the saving would be at least as
much as the amount shown above.
In this relation l wish to raise the
question for the consideration Of Con-
gress as to whether it would not still
further add to the economy with which
the public business may be done, and
at the same time increase efficiency. if
the five government mints, located at
Carson, Denver, New Orleans. Philadei-
phia and San Francisco. were consolidat-
ed. The cost of plant is very large.
The added cost due to scattered work
is also an element to be considered
Cites Possible Saving.
The estimates for operating the mints
amount to more than $915,OOO Besides
this there are large items of cost con-
tanned in the estimates for public build