(Witness: Zappone.) is, if the chief of a bureau or of a division looks ahead and sees that the amount appropriated by Congress for some important project or experiment will not be enough for that purpose, he can take it up with the head of the Department, and if the head of the Department feels that it is important enough to create a deficiency he will authorize the chief of the bureau in writing to do so, with the view of later submitting it to Congress, as provided for in the law I have quoted. It is a penal offense for a chief of bureau to incur a deficiency in any other manner. Mr. SAMUEL. By the head of the Department you mean the Secretary? Mr. ZAPPONE. I mean the Secretary, always. In the latter part of June, 1905, the Secretary of Agriculture apportioned the amounts for use of the various bureaus and divisions in the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year 1906, the fiscal year now under discussion, as per statement herewith, which I would like to submit as an exhibit. This is the original statement over the Secretary's signature, and with permission of the committee I will have a copy made and submit the copy as an exhibit. [Exhibiting statement to the committee.] I will pass this to the chairman, so that he can see it. (Exhibit mentioned above follows.) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, June 24, 1905. As required by the law (33 Stat. L., 3679), I hereby authorize the following quarterly allotments of the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, for the use of the bureaus and divisions named. The liabilities incurred against the allotments must not exceed the amount authorized for any quarter, without my written waiver, unless there is a balance from the preceding quarter or quarters. In such cases the balances are added to the amount allotted by me for the next and succeeding quarters, and become available for use of the bureau or division controlling the appropriation. The full amount of letters of authorization and agreements must be charged as a liability against the allotment for the quarter in which issued. Leases may be charged in quarterly installments. JAMES WILSON, Secretary. $723.010.00 $180,752.50 $180,752,50 $180, 752.50 Amount fourth quarter. $180, 752.50 1,500.00 At the same time that these allotments are made by the Secretary he cautions the chiefs of the various bureaus and independent divisions, in writing, that they must not make recommendations for expenditures which will exceed the amounts allotted to them for each quarter, and must otherwise follow strictly the provisions of the law. In three of the large bureaus of the Department, namely, the Weather Bureau, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Soils, the Secretary, by a general letter of authorization issued by him on July 1, 1905, authorized the chiefs of those bureaus to expend the appropriations made for the use of their bureaus in accordance with these allotments, meaning expenditures for traveling and for the purchase of supplies and materials. This was done in view of the fact that · these three bureaus are located some distance from the main Department, and have a very large field force traveling around from place to place, or have a great many stations, as in the case of the Weather Bureau, necessitating much travel. It is absolutely necessary that the chiefs of those bureaus have a general letter of authority from the Secretary, which, as I stated, is issued by him on the 1st day of July each year, permitting them to make these changes when necessary, and also to issue such orders for the purchase of supplies and materials as may be necessary for use of their bureaus. This general authority that I speak of limits the amounts, however, that each chief of bureau may authorize, to $100. Anything over $100 must be submitted to the Secretary for his approval. In addition to the bureaus that I have named, the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Bureau of Statistics, and the Bureau of Chemistry were also authorized by the Secretary on July 1, 1905, to issue and approve orders for the purchase of supplies for amounts not exceeding $100. That was done on account of the very technical character of the supplies that these bureaus use, and the necessity of having a scientific man or man with special training negotiate for and purchase the supplies. The supplies are not under the annual contracts, as a rule, and are of such a character that they can not be procured by the chief of our supply division of the Department, because he has not that expert and skilled knowledge that is necessary. These requisitions are submitted, however, to the disbursing office, after having been approved by the chief of bureau and before mailing to the various contractors, to see that they are in strict conformity with the law and (Witness: Zappone.) with the fiscal regulations of the Department. The disbursing officer has also been instructed by the Secretary to bring to his attention any expenditure that may seem of an extravagant character. The bureaus that I have just named are all of the bureaus that are furnished by the Secretary with what we will call general authority for conducting the business of their bureaus. The balance of the Department we will class under another head. To give an illustrative case: When any other division or bureau of the Department requires some supplies in connection with the work of their office say, for instance, the purchase of 25,000 envelopes-the chief of that bureau will make request therefor, on printed form adopted for such purposes, asking that the supplies be purchased. This form is addressed to the chief clerk of the Department, who scrutinizes the request closely, and if he approves of the purchase, sends it to the chief of the supply division of the Department to make the purchase, if not in stock. For envelopes, as they would be under a contract made by the Postmaster-General, he would simply prepare an order on the proper contractor for the goods in question which, when received, he would send to the bureau concerned. These orders for supplies, after being prepared by the chief of the supply division, are also sent to the disbursing officer to see that they are in conformity with the law and the fiscal regulations of the Department. The disbursing officer also stamps the appropriation on them indicating the appropriation properly chargeable with the expense and then sends them to the Secretary for his approval, so that the Secretary of Agriculture approves the orders for purchase of supplies for the entire Departments, except the large bureaus which I have named, and to which he has extended a general authority. I wish to call the attention of the committee to the manner in which traveling expenses are authorized in the Department of Agriculture. When travel becomes necessary, the chief of a bureau or a division, to which no general letter of authority has been issued, makes request in writing to the Secretary and states in specific terms why the travel is necessary. The Secretary then has issued what is known as a letter of authorization directing the employee in question, through the chief of his bureau, to perform the journey. These letters of authorization at the end of each quarter are bound and sent to the accounting officers of the Treasury for the purpose of auditing the accounts. I would like to have inserted here, as an exhibit, regulation No. 12 of the fiscal regulations of the Department of Agriculture in regard to traveling expenses. REG. 12. Before incurring any expense for traveling upon the business of the Department an officer or employee must be furnished with specific written authority to perform the particular journey, or journeys, to which such expenses relate, which authority must be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture (except in the case of employees of the Weather Bureau, who will receive letters of authorization from the Chief of that Bureau). In the absence of such authority no claim for reimbursement of traveling expenses will be allowed, except in cases of actual and extreme emergency. All travel performed upon Department business must be by the shortest practicable routes and without any unusual or unnecessary delays. Proper and legitimate traveling expenses are those usual and essential to the comfort of travelers. * (Witness: Zappone.) I also submit as an exhibit regulation No. 16, for telegraphing, that is the use of the telegraph by employees of the Department, to show that they have been properly cautioned in regard to the indiscriminate use of the telegraph. REG. 16. The telegraph must be used sparingly, and only when the delay in using the mail would be injurious to the public interests. Care should be taken to omit all unnecessary words. In a message from one official or employee to another titles should not be used, and in a great many cases the names of the parties in both address and signature may be limited to single words. Numbers should be expressed in words, not in figures. I think it also proper to invite the attention of the committee at this time to the following clause which appears on the last page of the appropriation act of this Department for 1906: And the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to make such appointments, promotions, and changes in salaries, to be paid out of the lump funds of the several bureaus, divisions and offices of the Department as may be for the best interests of the service: Provided, That the maximum salary of any classified scientific investigator in the city of Washington, or other employee engaged in scientific work, shall not exceed three thousand dollars per annum. And the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized and directed to pay the salary of each employee from the roll of the bureau, independent division, or office in which the employee is working, and no other: Provided, however, That details may be made from the office of the Secretary when necessary and the services of the person whom it is proposed to detail are not required in that office; and he is further authorized and directed to submit to Congress each year a statement covering all appointments, promotions, or other changes made in the salaries paid from lump funds, giving in each case the title, salary, and amount of such change or changes, together with reasons therefor. That law, you will notice, limits the salary of scientists in the city of Washington payable from lump-sum appropriations. In the summary of the report that has been prepared for the use of the committee a statement will be found of the amount paid under lump-sum appropriations for salaries in and out of Washington. It aggregates nearly $3.500.000. It not only makes proper provision for such salaries, but it also limits the amounts that any scientist in the city of Washington may receive; that is, it provides that the highest salary for scientific work in the city of Washington shall not exceed $3,000 per annum in any case. As a result the Department loses many of its best men. The maximum salary should be increased. I mention this now, as the salary paid to some scientist from the lump funds may be touched upon in this discussion. You will also find in the summary in the back part of the report an item for rent of office quarters. In making up the groups for the report we did not differentiate between rents in the District of Columbia and rents outside of the District of Columbia. The CHAIRMAN. You refer now to the item on page 293, of $124,729? Mr. ZAPPONE. One hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars; yes, sir; that is it. That refers to rents in the District of Columbia and outside of the District of Columbia. For the information of the committee I would like to have inserted here as an exhibit, the amount paid for rent in the District of Columbia during the past fiscal year--1906. The total amount was $46,588.96. |