In partial fulfilment of the declaration that his policy was to bring
about legislation for the benefit of the whole country, President Taft
in his message to Congress, December, 1911, asked that the appointment
of local federal officers throughout the country should be placed under
the classified service. "I wish," he wrote, "to renew again my
recommendation that all the local officers throughout the country,
including collectors of internal revenue, collectors of customs,
postmasters of all four classes, immigration commissioners, and marshals
should be by law carried into the classified service, the necessity for
confirmation by the Senate be removed, and the President and the others,