tion all of the work of the Government having to do with the protection of life and property at sea. This will result not only in greatly increased efficiency, but in a large saving. The Lighthouse Establishment is compelled by the nature of the work to maintain and operate a large fleet of vessels and supplementary administrative divisions, depots, inspection services, etc., to attend to matters pertaining to their business management. It is thus fully prepared to take over and operate the additional vessels that may be assigned to it and to perform the additional duties with which it may be intrusted at an added expense that will be small in comparison with that now entailed in maintaining an independent service on a military basis.

A further benefit of no little importance that will also be secured will be that of relieving the Department of the Treasury of duties which are in no ways germane to the primary function of that department.

THE CONSOLIDATION OF AUDITING OFFICES.

The report upon the organization and methods of work of the accounting offices of the Treasury (Appendix No. 4) recommends that the offices of the six auditors be consolidated under one auditor, and that the auditors of customs accounts located at the principal ports, and known as naval officers, be made assistants to the auditors. An increase in the efficiency of the Treasury audit will be one result of the carrying out of these recommendations, and the saving of expense when the consolidation has been fully completed will amount to at least $200,000 a year, based upon current appropriations. The present organization, under which six independent auditors are engaged in the one work of final audit of the Government accounts, is certainly one that can produce only diversity of practice and procedure, inefficient use of personnel and equipment, and delay and uncertainty of requirements from which the public as well as officers of the Government must suffer.

In my opinion a change in law to carry into effect these recommendations of the commission, which have my approval, will be in the interest of the public service.

THE RETURNS OFFICE.

The report upon the "Returns Office" of the Department of the Interior (Appendix No. 5) recommends the abolition of that office and that provision for public inspection of Government contracts be made through the office of the auditors of the Treasury, in which offices the originals of all contracts are filed. It also recommends the substitution of a certificate for the affidavit required to be attached

to the contracts of the Departments of War, the Navy, and the Interior, and an amendment of the statute which now requires all the contracts of those departments to be in writing. I transmit letters from the secretaries of the departments referred to, concurring in the conclusions and recommendations of the commission. I approve the report and commend it to the favorable consideration of the Congress.

GOVERNMENT EXPENSES FOR TRAVEL.

The report upon "Travel expenditures" of officers and employees of the Government (Appendix No. 6) presents a view of existing conditions that can lead to but one conclusion-that under the existing laws, and regulations and practices pursuant thereto, the allowances for travel are as varied as there are executive departments. The same classes of officers and employees are receiving different rates of allowances, depending only upon the department or bureau in which they are employed. Under similar conditions there should be uniformity. The report recommends that all allowances in the form of mileage be discontinued and that actual cost of transportation be paid; that in lieu of payment of actual cost of other expenses, commonly known as subsistence, which would include lodging, a scale of per diem allowances be established by the President for the several classes of officers and employees. It is also recommended by the commission that all accounts for reimbursement of traveling expenses shall be certified as to correctness in lieu of the requirement of law in many cases that the verification be by affidavit. The latter procedure is troublesome and expensive, and the penalty for a false certification is fully as valuable in its deterrent effect as the penalty for making a false affidavit.

With the report are the comments of the War and the Navy Departments, made at my request. The report of the commission has my approval, and the suggestions therein for a change in the law on the subject are submitted with a request for action in accordance therewith.

HANDLING AND FILING OF CORRESPONDENCE.

The handling and filing of correspondence constitutes one of the business processes of the Government to which, as pointed out in my message of January 17, the commission has paid especial attention. The investigations of existing conditions have brought our clearly that, in many cases, present methods are inefficient and entail large, unnecessary costs. The features of present practices which stand out most prominently as entailing large, unnecessary labor and expense pertain to the briefing, press copying, and recording and indexing of communications. A statement has been prepared giving the results

of an investigation of the salary cost entailed in performing these operations in the several departments at Washington. It is the opinion of the commission that the operations of briefing and presscopying letters can be entirely eliminated, and that the recording and indexing of incoming and outgoing letters can be reduced at least 50 per cent.

Though the commission is making independent investigations of methods followed in handling and filing correspondence in certain bureaus and services, the results of which will be embodied in reports describing such methods, pointing out wherein they are defective, and recommending changes to make them conform to the most approved practices, the general policy pursued is that of working in close cooperation with the departments and services through the means of joint committees. To the end that these committees might all work as nearly as possible along uniform lines, and that the departments and establishments might have before them the conclusions reached by the commission relative to fundamental principles and the best practices in respect to the performance of this class of work, the commission has prepared, and I have sent to the heads of departments a memorandum setting forth the principles which should govern in the matter of handling and filing of correspondence. This memorandum also contains suggestions for the use of labor-saving devices in preparing and mailing letters. I am transmitting herewith a copy of this memorandum (Appendix No. 7).

On the basis of this memorandum active efforts are now being made in all of the departments for the improvement of the methods of handling and filing of correspondence. These efforts have resulted in radical changes in existing methods and the effecting of large economies. The flat filing system has been substituted for the old cumbrous folded and indorsement system. Carbon copies of letters have been substituted for press copies. The briefing of documents has been entirely discontinued in a number of services, and in others the maintenance of book records of incoming and outgoing communications has been discontinued. The effort is being made to make correspondence files self-indexing, and thus avoid the necessity for making and using secondary finding devices. This work can only be intelligently prosecuted as the result of painstaking and detail investigation of the special conditions to be met in each particular service. Many months will, therefore, be required to carry out this work throughout the entire Government. It is of the utmost importance that the work should be prosecuted under a general supervision or direction such as is furnished by the present commission.

DISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS.

Attention is called to the report of the commission transmitted to the Congress with my message of February 5, and to the supplementary statement sent herewith (Appendix No. 8) on the centralization of distribution of Government publications. By adopting this recommendation it is conservatively estimated that $242,000 annually can be saved. This is exclusive of the saving which could be made by handling the congressional documents in the same manner. An account kept for 31 days with the volume of this business of handling congressional documents showed an average of 21 tons per day. These documents were first taken from the Printing Office to the Capitol, then from the Capitol to the post office, then hauled back to the Union Station, the latter being but a short distance from the Printing Office. An up-to-date plant at the Printing Office which could handle all this would entail an increased capital outlay for permanent equipment of only about $75,000. The recommendation for centralizing the distribution of documents from the departments, if acted on, will affect the appropriation of seven departments, five independent establishments, and the Washington post office.

I may say in connection with this report and recommendation that the House of Representatives, in passing the Agricultural appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1913, instead of reducing the cost of distributing Government publications in the Department of Agriculture by $137,000, has increased to the extent of $13,260 the amount appropriated for salaries for the Division of Publications over the appropriation for the current year.

OUTLINES OF ORGANIZATION.

The outlines of organization of the Government, which were transmitted with the message of January 17, have been sent to each of the departments, with a request that orders issue which will require that the outline be kept up to date (Appendix No. 9). This will not only make available at all times the information needed by Congress or the administration when called for, and assist materially in the preparation of estimates of appropriations, but will make unnecessary the publication of the Official Register, thereby saving approximately $45,000 for each issue.

CONCLUSION.

In submitting these reports with recommendations, I will state that in my opinion each of the foregoing recommendations, if acted

on, will contribute largely to increase efficiency. Directly and indirectly the changes proposed will result in the saving of many millions of dollars of public funds. This will leave the Congress free to determine whether the amount thus saved shall be utilized to reduce taxation or to provide funds with which to extend activities already carried on and to enter on beneficial projects which otherwise could not be undertaken for lack of funds.

Again I urge upon the Congress the desirability of providing whatever funds can be used effectively to carry forward with all possible vigor the work now well begun. The $200,000 required for the prosecution of the inquiry during the ensuing year and the $50,000 estimated for the publication of results are inconsiderable in comparison with the economies which can be realized.

THE WHITE HOUSE, April 4, 1912.

WM. H. TAFT.