Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-10-27
noting the efficiency with which Its
work 10 done.

1 noting the emclency Win WHICH Ats
work IL done.
Some OF these recommendations
are such as to require legislative &C
ton and these will not be announced
until the committee makes Its report
to the Governor in January. Others
are of such nature as to require only
the approval Of the Governor. who
can then put them into effect by
executive order This latter class
will be disclosed as rapidly as il
, appears expedient to do SO, and IN
fact one has already been made and
will be Immediately adopted.
This has to do with the handling
of mail matter sent out from the
State House. The volume Of letters
and circulars originating there dur
ing the course of a year has attained
surprising proportions and the COM
mittee was astonished to find tina,
the total annual postal bill for the
State in the State House alone IN
1921 was no less than thirty-four
thousand dollars-$34,345.S3 to be
exact. Inquiry as to methods dis
closed the fact that each depart
ment had been buying its own
stamps. distributing Them without
/ an accounting system and applying
them without stamping machines by
which a check might have been
maintained on their use. Also there
was no guaranty that too much post
! age would not be affixed to any piece
! of mail of a given class or that sec
I ond or third class matter would not
be mailed as first class with COR
respondingly higher rates. Further
! inquiry elected the information that
in one department where an account
ing system had been voluntarily
adopted the expenditures for stamps
were cut down to about one-third
what it had previously been.
! Central Mailing Office
/ The committee thereupon recon-
mended to the Governor that a CEN
| trail mailing office for the whole
state House be established, prefer.
ably under the direction OF the su-
perintendent Of Public Buildings, To
this Office is to be sent all the out
bound mail from each department.
and here 1t will be sorted into the
proper classifcations. stamped, ana
transmitted to the post Office. This
will obviate the necessity Of any de-
partment purchasing stamps and
! will make 1t absolutely certain that
there shall be no loss in handling
t thcm-losses that may be as small
as two cents in any particular in
CT hI1f into f1n1JSo n c
/ of dollars in the aggregate for a
year.
1t is not to be expected that the
percentage of saving will run as high
for the whole account as it was in
! the case of the department men,
! toned. but the committee confid cnt-
4 ly believes that it will result in cut
ting at least ten thousand dollars
! from he postage bill of the State.
| Other recommendations of SINH
/ lar nature, worked out from the in
vcstigations thus far completed are
| under consideration by the Commit
tee and will be announced later. The
! Committee has also made many min
! or recommendations to department
heads which the latter have cheer
I fully put into effect and that have
i. resulted in better work at less cost
Gasoline Tax
An interesting development of the
Committees work was the decision
! it arrived at Wednesday night after
4 going over the Highway Depart
ments receipts and expenditures to
recommend to the next Legislature
(; the passage of an Act placing a tax
| OF one cent gallon on gasoline, the
! proceeds, estimated at approximately
! Tour hundred thousand dollars, to be
! used IN part for road maintenance
! on the theory that in this way the
| man who uses the highways most
! VIII pay the most toward their up
keep, plan that will afford some
revenue from out of State trucks
ana touring cars as well as from
residents of Maine. The Committee
| cmphatlcally recommends that a large
part of the proceeds of this tax be
! devoted to the construction of State
Ala roads in rural districts. 1t be-
| icNeS TINS tax to be an urgent nee
! csslty, in view of the fact that the
| funds otherwise available for MAIN
tenance and State Aid road con-
struction are altogether Inadequate.
| In this connection the Committee
| points out that it has found after a
thorough investigation that the State
tax in the last ten years has in
creased sixty four per cent while
/ that of the county has increased
/ seventy five per cent ard that of
the municipalities one hundred and
| fifty seven per cent.
The Committee has been holding
regular sessions and will meet fire.
! quently until the Legislature con-
venes. 1t includes Senators Earring
ton and Emery, and Representatives
Cole (Chairman), Holley and Buzzell
| Ernest L. Thornton of Re1fa st ia its