Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-06
Former Gov. Dockery Tells of
Work Accomplished by
His Commission.
MANY LOST THEIR JOBS,
!. BUT GOVERNMENT SAVED
Political Considerations Barred and
Commission Had the Confidence
of Congress.

Ex+Gsov. A NJ. Dockery. a former mem
Der of. Congress. upon whose head all the
grievances against the so-called Dockery
commission OF years ago have been
heaped and who is now third assistant
postmaster general. has made public two
congratulatory communications received
by him recently from the two sole sur
vfving government officials in the depart
ment when the law drafted by the COM
mission went into effect.
Wednesday was the nineteenth sunivef-
sary Of the so-cailed Docksry act. which
reorganized the accounting system Of the
Treasury. Assistant Secretary Charles 8.
Hamlin Of the Treasury and Auditor w.
10. Andrews both took occasion to con-
gratulate Gov. Dockery. and Mr.. An
drews. who is the auditor for the Treas
ury Department. added to his congratula-
tons the statement 1.-THE work of the
Dockery commission under your leader
ship has resulted in great Improvement
of the business affairs of our national
government
No Politics in Work.
That" said Gov. Dockery, ''was be-
cause the so-called Dockery commits
sion was in every sense a non-parti-
san body. and its first act upon assem-
bling was to agree unanimously that any
thing which came before 1t that might be
objected to by any member Of the COM
mission should be laid aside. The result
was that what we did was done by
unanimous consent, and as a result moth
ing that We ever recommended was re-
jected either by the House of Represen-
tatives or the Senate. Many Of the laws
enacted through our recommendation are
still unchanged on the statute books Of to-
day.
Senators Cockerill of Missouri. Jones Of
Arkansas and Cullom of Illinois, and
Representatives Dingley of Maine.
James d. Richardson of Tennessee, and
the full confidence of both the House
and the Senate we had the confidence
and the strong support OF President
Cleveland and his entire cabinet.
The entire cost of the commission to
the government during its two years
labors was $41. 264.03, and the annual
saving by the reduction Of governmental
expenditures accomplished amounted to
S6OI,5S1 This, Of course. represented q
reduction of force, but 1t was of force
dispensed with, not because OF inefficiency
or fault OF Its own, but simply because
IL was employed to carry out volumi.
nous mass of red tape which. we cut
away.
Overhauled Business Methods.
THE commission was created to over
haul business methods OF the departments
and the government. One Of its accom-
plishments was the Establishments Of the
practice OF writing all engrossed and
enrolled bills in long hand and substi-
fitting the printing process for IL. BY
correspondence with the State Depart
ment We learned that England. as far
back as 1870. had changed from the
handwriting to the printing of that class
OF bills. and We drafted q law to the
same effect. which has been preserved
In the statutes ever since. Errors under
the old system were of frequent occur
renee None has occurred rnder the
present system. l recall that Congress
by the act of June 20. 1872, sought to put
fruit-plants (and 1t is spelled with a
hypheD on the free list. The enrolled
bill In long hand. however, read fruit
tcomma) plants with the result that
the government lost half million dollars
before the error could be corrected.
I'VE did great many other things. But
the most notable perhaps of q number OF
reforms created by laws now on the
statute books was the new accounting
system; OF the Treasury. which was au-
thorized July 81, 1894. to be effective
October ]. 1894. 1t has been approved by
the Secretary of the Treasury and by all
Treasury officials then and since II went
into effect.
Then there was first controller, Sec
ond controller and commissioner OF Gus
toms. all OF them law officers OF the
Treasury accounting system and all more
or less pulling in different directions be-
cause In their sphere they were indie
pendent each of the others. We abolished
these and created the controller OK the
Treasury and the assistant controller
with a provision that the controllers de-
cisions were supreme unless set aside by
the Court of Claims, and there has been
no trouble on that score since. We also
provided that disbursing officers in doubt
as TO payments might ask advance opin-
Ions OF the controller, and that removed
the necessity of having Congress each
year. appropriate money to relieve dis
bursting officers who had paid claims hon.
estly. but contrary to the law, as IL was
afterward declared.
Settlements Required.
We found any number of accounts OF
disbursing officers that had been running
along unsettled for years. We remedied
that by requiring disbursing officer to
account for what he had already had be-
fore new advance was made to him
Auditors under the so-ca!led Dockery act
cannot make an original construction of
the law nor overturn an established com
struction without mrs. ascertaining from
the controller OF the Treasury what the
law Is. They too Wpfl ty,a ~, 10