tion is incident to, or necessary for, the performance of the duties for which the travel is ordered. The use of an extra room at a hotel, during the daytime, when found necessary for the proper transaction of official business; porterage, transferring baggage to and from rooms at hotels, or other place of abode, not in excess of 25 cents, at the time of arrival or departure. Necessary meals, en route, but for no other items of refreshment than the ordinary food provided for travelers. Charges for meals must be itemized by meals in every instance. A subvoucher for a single meal only is not required. Except where otherwise provided by law, hotel expenses as above defined shall not be allowed in excess of $5 a day; provided, however, that this limit may be exceeded in exceptional cases with the special authorization or approval of the Secretary of 11. Laundry. Reasonable expenses for laundry, when the travel continues a week or more, not to exceed $1.25 a week. Fractional portions over a week to be prorated at the rate of 20 cents a day. Charges for laundry must include all expenses incurred for that item during the period for which the account is rendered and not brought forward from a previous account. Subvouchers must be obtained when practicable. Charges incurred for laundry at official headquarters at the termination of a trip will be allowed if the proportionate amount for the week is not exceeded. Under no circumstances will an employee be reimbursed for expenses incurred for laundry at his official headquarters. Allowance for laundry and waiter's fees do not apply to employees receiving a per diem in lieu of subsistence. 12. Telegraph and telephone service.-Charges for telegrams must be accompanied by a copy of the telegram, which must be sent at Government rates. Reasonable charges for telephone service will be allowed, provided that in the case of long distance telephone calls an itemized statement is furnished as to places where, and persons to and from whom such calls are sent or received. The rate charged must be stated. 13. Pullman fares and stateroom accommodations.-Sleeping-car fare for one double berth, customary stateroom accommodations on steamers and other vessels and fare for one seat in parlor or chair car, for each person except those persons to whom allowance for sleeping or parlor cars is denied under the general regulations of the department. Where money is expended for parlor-car seat or berth it must be specified whether it was for seat or upper or lower berth. Pullman porter fees on sleeping cars not to exceed 25 cents per day for each 24 hours or fraction thereof. If one car is used for an extended period, a fee of 25 cents will be allowed for each 24 hours or fraction thereof. Porter fees on parlor cars or chair cars not exceeding 25 cents per day will be allowed. 14. Stenographic or typewriting service.-Except when otherwise provided by law or duly authorized, no expense for stenographic or typewriting service in connection with the preparation of reports will be allowed an employee while traveling on official business of the department. 15. Emergency expenditures.-Emergency expenditures not enumerated in any of the aforementioned classes, such, for instance, as the employment of guides when traveling in sparsely settled regions and of interpreters when necessary, the payment of extra fare on limited trains when delay would injuriously affect the public interests, etc. In each case, however, the nature of the exigency must be clearly set forth in writing, and bear the approval of the Secretary of or the chief of the bureau or office under whose supervision the travel is performed. Subvouchers required. Subvouchers are required for all expenditures in excess of $1.50, except in the case of payments made for railroad travel or Pullman car service. Subvouchers must invariably be taken for lodging, special transportation, personal services, and express transportation, irrespective of the amount charged. Receipted copies of telegrams will be accepted as subvouchers for telegrams sent, and must be furnished in all cases. Subvouchers for hotel expenses must state the beginning, the ending, and the full period of service, and the rate by the day or week. The "day" shall be considered as beginning with breakfast and ending with lodging, Separate meals charged for in vouchers must be specifically named. Receipted bills on the regular billheads of the hotel are acceptable as subvouchers provided they are properly made out to show the entire period and services rendered. Livery bills must describe the vehicles hired as "one horse and buggy," "two horses and wagon," "with driver," giving the names of the places between which the travel has been performed, the distance traveled, time employed, and rate by the day or hour. Subvouchers will not be required when the taking thereof would disclose the identity of the traveler and the disclosure would be detrimental to the public interest; provided specific authority for their omission is granted by the Secretary of or the chief of the bureau or office under whose supervision the travel is performed. TRANSPORTATION REQUESTS USED. Every voucher for reimbursement of traveling expenses must show therein what portion, if any, of the travel is performed on transportation requests, and what portion, if any, is performed by using mileage books. When a mileage book is used, the employee's account must show the dates of travel, the points between which the book was used, and the number of miles detached from said book for travel between the specified points. The use of transportation requests, when practicable, is strongly recommended for all travel upon department business. In case the agent of any railroad company refuses to accept a transportation request for a ticket, the fact should be reported to the bureau or office of the department in which the traveler is employed. Under no circumstances will an employee attempt to secure a refund from a transportation company for an unused portion of a ticket obtained in exchange for a transportation request; the unused portion of such ticket must be at once forwarded to the bureau or office of the department where the person is employed, with a full explanation. Verification of accounts. Hereafter in submitting accounts for traveling and other expenses incurred in the performance of duty, officers or employees of this department or any of its bureaus or offices will not be required to make affidavit as to the correctness of such accounts, except when required by law, but shall append to every such account a certificate in the following language, as nearly as practicable: I certify upon honor that the above account is correct and just; that the detail items charged within are taken and verified from a memorandum kept by me; that I have performed the journey under the order above referred to with all practicable dispatch, by the route usually traveled, in the customary reasonable manner; that I have not been furnished with transportation, or money in lieu thereof, for any part of the journey herein charged for; that any expenditures made from my own private funds were incident to authorized travel, or were caused by urgent public necessity while in the discharge of my official duties; that in all cases where properly itemized subvouchers are not attached hereto it was impracticable to secure them; and that the payment therefor has not been received. (Not to be signed in duplicate.) (Signature) Falsification of accounts. (Title) False or fraudulent representations in connection with the rendition of reimbursement and other accounts are unlawful, and the offender is liable to a heavy fine or imprisonment, under the act of Congress of March 4, 1911. (36 Stat., 1355.) NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 1, 1912. MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: The report of the Commission on Economy and Efficiency on "Travel expenditures," referred to in your letter of December 27, 1911, is returned herewith. The commission makes six recommendations. The first recommendation is that all laws allowing mileage and transportation in excess of the amount actually paid be repealed; the second recommendation is that a law be passed making it the duty of the President to prescribe a per diem allowance in lieu of all traveling expenses except the cost of transportation and sleeping-car and parlor-car fares. During the fiscal year 1911, the expenditures of the Department of the Navy for travel on a mileage basis were approximately equal to the expenditures for travel on an actual expense basis, the latter being somewhat greater. The larger part-about 56 per cent of the total expenditures for mileage was paid to enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps for constructive travel from the place of discharge to the place of enlistment. All of the men now in the Navy and in the Marine Corps have been enlisted under existing law which provides for this mileage. This is a valuable inducement to enlistment and reenlistment. The good faith of the Government is involved if this compensation to men now in the service is reduced. The change in law, if made, should affect new enlistments only. Only about 43 per cent of the total expenditures for mileage was paid to officers of the Navy and of the Marine Corps. This formed a comparatively small proportion-about one-fifth of the total expenditures of this department for travel of all kinds. The greater part of the mileage paid to officers is due to actual change of station and habitat. The mileage received in some cases may exceed the actual expenses of personal transportation but seldom equals the total expenses to which an officer is subjected, including the expense of packing up, transportation of furniture, and occasion ally losses on the lease of his residence. If mileage laws are to be repealed, some reimbursement of expenses incidental to change of station and habitat should be provided. If this is done, it is doubtful if any saving would result. For travel in foreign countries and for repeated travel between places in the same vicinity in the United States officers are now reimbursed for actual expenses up to a certain limit. If the officer's expenses in one locality are below this limit, the Government gains the difference. If the expenses in another locality are greater than the limit the officer loses the difference. An average of the expenses, though within the limit, is not allowed. This department has a central detail office which considers requests for travel before submission to the Secretary, by whom they must be approved. By this method, the reason for the travel must be shown before the necessary orders are issued. Under the conditions existing in this department, as outlined above, the temptation to travel by appealing to the self interest of the traveler is not apparent. There is little probability that the amount of travel or the expenditures involved would be reduced by the changes proposed by the commission. The advantages of a mileage basis in a military organization are the facility with which orders may be executed promptly on short notice, its simplicity, economy of accounting, and prompt reimbursement without vouchers or certificates of expenditures, other than that the travel has been performed. A change from mileage to actual expense basis was tried some years ago, as cited in the report of the commission. The experience with the change was not favorable and a mileage law was reenacted. The department is constrained to report that it does not concur with the commission in its first and second recommendations. The third recommendation of the commission is that existing law be so changed that every account for reimbursement of traveling expenses shall be certified as to its correctness by the person by whom the travel is performed, and that no verification by affidavit shall be required. The department concurs in this recommendation. The fourth recommendation of the commission is that uniform regulations governing travel expenditures be adopted by all executive departments and other Government establishments until legislation can be obtained amending existing law on the subject. The proposed regulations submitted by the commission in Exhibit 3 E are not approved in their present form. They require substantiating vouchers in certain cases which are not required now and which are not desirable, and they would unnecessarily complicate accounting. Their adoption would result in loss to officers of the higher ranks. Uniformity is desirable, however, and it is recommended that the proposed regulations be further considered in detail by the commission and representatives of the departments affected. After such conference, a revised draft of the proposed regulations should be submitted to the various departments for consideration before being promulgated. The last two recommendations of the commission are that the President direct that inquiries be made on the subjects of obtaining interchangeable mileage books for the official use of any Government official or employee, and securing special discounts or special rates by hotels for the entertainment of officers and employees of the Government traveling on official business. This department concurs in the commission's recommendations on these two subjects. Should the result of these inquiries indicate that economies can be realized, the detailed regulations on these subjects should be submitted to the departments affected for consideration before being promulgated. There would be strong objections, for instance, to reimbursement for hotel expenses being dependent on patronizing a certain hotel, regardless of its character. Faithfully yours, The PRESIDENT, The White House. G. v. L. MEYER. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 30, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to hand you herewith the report of the War Department Board on Business Methods concerning the report of the Commission on Economy and Efficiency, dated December, 1911, on the subject of travel expenditures. The board states that it does not concur in the recommendation of the commission that only actual traveling expenses shall be allowed persons holding employment in Government establishments, and gives in detail its reasons for its opinion. The board finds support for its conclusion in the statistics gathered in 1874 and 1875 when the system of "actual expenses" was given a trial, in the opinion of the Paymaster General of the Army at the time this trial was made, and in the opinion of the present Paymaster General of the Army. The board concurs in all other recommendations of the commission except as they may be slightly modified by its nonconcurrence in the recommendation to substitute actual expenses for mileage. The board has invited attention to the fact that "with the exception of paymasters' clerks and the expert accountant of the Inspector General's Department, all civilian employees of the War Department are now paid actual expenses in travel," but makes no recommendation concerning the advisability of continuing to pay "actual expenses" to such civilian employees. I have brought this to the attention of the board and have called upon it for a report in the matter. This report will be forwarded to you at an early date. Very respectfully, The PRESIDENT, The White House. REPORT No. 17. H. L. STIMSON, The SECRETARY OF WAR. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 19, 1912. SIR: The report to the President on traveling expenditures, submitted by the Commission on Economy and Efficiency in December, |