ECONOMY AND EFFICIENCY.

Reorganization of the Executive Departments and Improvement of Business Methods Therein.

After the election of Mr. Cleve'and a law was passed by the last Congress at its last session, at the instance of Hon. A. M. Dockery, a Representative from Missouri, creating a joint commission of Congress to improve the methods of business in the Executive Departments at Washington and to reduce expenditures therein.

The commission as constituted consisted of Representative A. M. Dockery, J. D. Richardson, and Nelson Dingley, Jr., on the part of the House of Representatives, and Senators F. M. Cockrell, J. K. Jones, and S. M. Cullom. They set about their labors immediately after their appointment and the inauguration of Mr. Cleveland. The first result of their work was the preparation, by competent persons, of a compilation of references to la vs creating the Executive Departments and the several Bureaus and offices thereof, and other Government establishments at the National Capital; the creation of all officers therein, and their salaries as fixed from time to time. This work was the first of its character ever attempted-it was printed both as a House and a Senate report of Congress, and has already proved of inestimable value.

Next followed from the commission a comprehensive census of all the officers and employees of the Government at Washington.

A general summary of this report discloses the fact that the Executive Departments and other establishments at the National Capital are divided into 136 offices or bureaus and 498 divisions; that there are 17,599 persons employed therein, 11,667 males and 5,637 females; that of this number employed in the Executive Departments, the Department of Labor, Civil Service Commission, and Fish Commission, which are under the civil service law, 8,027 are in the class subject to competitive civil service examination preliminary to appointment, and 3,265 of that number entered the service after such examination; the residue, 4,762, were employed in the departments at the time they were classified and placed under the civil service law by executive order; that the ages of those employed, stated in multiples of five years, range from 20 years to 90 years, and the length of service of all employees ranges from one year to sixty years each; and that of the whole number employed, 5,610 have from one to nine relatives each in the Government service at Washington.

One of the great evils which for years had attracted public attention was the costly errors occuring more or less at every session of Congress in the enrollment of bills, enacted by that boy; the system in vogue, of writing, by hand, every bill after final enactment had been handed down since the foundation of the Government. The commission corresponded with all of the leading foreign gov

ernments, and after a careful study of their several systems recommended and Congress adopted a method by which every act of Congress is required to be printed in clear type before presenting to the President for approval. This facilitates the careful examination of all acts and reduces to a minimum the possibility of making the mistakes which in the past have cost the country millions in revenue and expenditures.

The first of the seven laws enacted thus far on the recommendation of the commission was approved January 22, 1894. It regulates the methods of making returns of money deposited by postmasters, and will save at least a month in the hitherto slow process of settling postmasters' acccounts and holding them accountable for public fur.ds.

The next law enacted on the recommendation of the commission prescribes a uniform method of advertising for and purchasing supplies for the Government service in Washington. Under the old system each department purchased in its own way, according to its needs, and without reference to prices paid for, or quality of articles procured by other departments. Under the new law each department will be advised of the prices and quality of all articles offered to the others, and business men are afforded an opportunity of making at one time offers for supplying articles for all of the departments instead of to only one as heretofore. Already the first letting of contracts under the new law shows large reductions on all supplies, and the indications are that the saving to the Government will amount to at least $100,000 during the year.

On the 27th of January, 1894, another law was passed at the instance of the cominission to improve the methods of accounting in the Post Office Department. It makes a direct annual reduction of $52,515.00 in expenditures, abo ishes the postal note, established a new money order ystem, and reduces the cost of money orders to the people from 2 to 15 cents on each order above $15 00.

This law also provides for turning into the Treasury the amount of all unpaid money orders and postal notes more than one year old. This provision of the law will cover into the Treasury for use as current revenue possibly $2,500,000, now lying idly in the sub-treasury at New York.

On March 29, 1894, another bill prepared by the commission became a law abolishing a useless report required from the Treasurer costing annually not less than $8,500.

On the same day another of their bills was enacted into law regulating the making of property returns by Government officers at an annual saving of $15,000.

On the Post Office appropriation act, a provision was enacted on the recommendation of the commission for the disposition of old money orders, and will save to the country annually in expenses of storage and handling $10,000.

On the great salary appropriation act of the Government for the next fiscal year, approved July 31, 1894, there is enacted provisions of law, recommended by the commission, completely reorganizing the methods of accounting in the Treasury Department. This new law brings to the service of the Government the best devices and methods known to the modern business world, for the protection of its interests in the settlement each year of accounts for the hundreds of millions of its revenue and disbursements. The new system provided by this law will be operated with 185 less officials and clerks and at an annual reduction of cost of $235,000 under the old methods.

On the recommendation of the commission new regulations have been adopted

in the Treasury Department changing the old form of the Treasury warrant which will result in an annual saving of $6,000.

The Treasury and Post Office Departments have also taken action, at the request of the commission, discontinuing certain useless statistics relating to international money orders that will save annually $10,000.

The work already accomplished by the commission, to say nothing of that which it has under advisement and in course of preparation for presentation at the next session of Congress for legislative action, will save annually to the Government not less than $437,015.00.

SAVING IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

Under the business methods adopted by the Secretary of War the number of clerks in that department has been reduced from 1,348 to 965. The aggregate of the salaries of the clerks whose services were dispensed with was $452,800. This reduction in the clerical force permitted reductions in other items of expenditure directly connected with the business of the department. A reduction of nearly 10 per cent in the number of commissioned officers of the Army on duty in Washington a year ago has been made.

It is safe to say that the total savings in this department alone from the reform inaugurated will exceed a half million of dollars.

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS.

The Foreign Policies of Republican and Democratic Administrations Compared.

The administration of our foreign relations during Mr. Harrison's incumbency forms a record in which no true American can take a just pride. From the earliest days of our history as a nation the policy of non-entangling alliances and non-interference with the affair of foreign powers has been accepted by all parties as essential, not only to the preservation of our system of Government, but, as an example to other nations of the lofty principles which should animate and control the civilized people of the world in their relations towar is each other.

To the maintenance of this principle and the fidelity with which it has been adhered to, in the face of great temptation, we are largely indebted for the preservation, the growth and the grandeur of our institutions, and it will be a sad day for the American people when they abandon it for the "jingoism" which characterized the acts of the last Republican administration.

SAMOAN ISLANDS.

The treaty entered into by our Government with Germany and Great Britain in 1889 relative to the government of the Samoan Islands was such a palpable departure from the accepted policies that should control our relations with foreign powers as to merit the severest rebuke from all parties.

In a recent report to the Senate (see Ex. doc. 93) Mr. Gresham, Secretary of State, in discussing the provisions of this treaty, said:

A period of almost five years having elapsed since the conclusion of the general act of Berlin, the present occasion is not inappropriate for a review of its results. Such a review, however, would hardly be intelligible without some consideration of the events that preceded the treaty. In order that the subject may be fully comprehended, it will be necessary to present a general survey of our relations to Samoa, both before and since the conclusion of the general act, and to exhibit the policy we have pursued toward the islands, both in respect of its character and its ́ results.

This duty is especially important, since it is in our relations to Samoa that we have made the first departure from our traditional and well-established policy of avoiding entangling a liances with foreign powers in relation to objects remote from this hemisphere. Like all other human transactions, the wisdom of that departure must be tested by its fruits. If the departure was justified there must be some evidence of detriment suffered before its adoption, or of advantage since gained, to demonstrate the fat. If no such evidence can be found we are confronted with the serious responsibility of having without sufficient grounds, imperiled a policy which is not only coeval with our Government, but to which may, in great measure, be ascribed the peace, the prosperity, and the moral influence of the United States. Every nation, and especially every strong nation, must sometimes be conscious of an impulse to rush into difficult es that do not concern it, except in a highly imaginary way. To restrain the indulgence of such a propensity is not only the