Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-27
RoosEvELT's REFORM

welt will be memorable in the an
II nails of the United States because
of a great and daring feat it has per-
formed, an achievement of such mag
nitude and Importance that all others
We will not ask you to guess what
it is, because you could never guess.
The answer is so easy and so near
home that you would overlook it. Nor
will we keep you in suspense. Owing
to the personal influence of the presi-
dent, strenuously and effectively di-
rected, the government of the United
States for the first time in many years,
perhaps. indeed, for the first time in
history, is conducted with businesslike
precision accuracy and punctuality.
The rigid methods of big business
Sam. Perhaps you have confidingly
believed this has always been the case.
In that case we can only say your ig-
norance has been blissful, if you are
nationally as well as personally con-
scientious. Some men are and some
liANI dlG iiON. NOiiiC men ok SNi upu-
lously precise in everything but poll
tics, and as they imagine government
is more or less a matter of politics,
they do not trouble their heads over
governmental methods of accounting,
taxing, billing, collecting, paying, en-
ploying, salarying, discharging. re-
ceiving. disbursing. That the govern
ment does not become chaotic quad
rennialy, at a change or quasi change
of administrations, is because few
changes are made in the real machin- |
cry. The incomers no doubt, would |
like to turn out the perpetual govern
ment, but when confronted by the ap-
palling mass of detail which would be |
left for them to tackle, any vital break |
in the continuity of responsible office |
holders is speedily discouraged, wheth-
er officials are protected by civil serv-
the days of civil service the wheel |
horses of government were seldom |
changed when the brilliant, showy |
leaders" were unhitched to be re-
placed. The wheel horses remained |
until they were worn out or for per-
sonal reasons wished to be retired.
The committee on departmental |
methods appointed by President |
Roosevelt found the national govern
ment, as a business institution, so far
behind the times that its methods were
puzzling to modern business experts.
Even that important center OF finan-
cial interest. the treasury. was being
conducted In a manner which would
have been scorned by the average
bank in the backwoods. 1t
was deplorably out of date. 1t had
weird, primitive style of bookkeeping.
a tradition of the earlier days of the
republic. Once year 1t balanced its
books, at great expenditure of time
and trouble and with corresponding
risk of error. At last it has a double
entry system of bookkeeping, and
to strike true balance at
the end of each days work. To be
sure, the workers in the department
are deprived of the pleasurable excite
ment of a monumental annual de-
bauch of figuring, but no complaints
have been heard. Life is as sweet to
the treasury staff as 1t was in the dear
old days when, once a year, they were
confronted by a sum in arithmetic
which would have paralyzed the youth
full prodigy or the lightning calcu-
lator. Moreover. Uncle Sam can now
give inquirers accurate information
treasury books. In the
days of not long ago if you asked for
ahead of the annual bal
ancing you had to wait. Some of the
clerks might obligingly give you ap-
proximate figures. but they were not
to be official.
The account of the disbursing officer
task. Now, with modern methods, 1t
Is completed in two weeks. In
branch of the government where the
financial transactions were large and
officials were in the habit of
taking ninety days to render an ac
this daily. A disbursing officer who
makes his last payment at 10 q, m. can
give a complete account at noon. The
task is as satisfactorily performed in
three hours as it was in three months.
The most preposterous anomaly which
has been done away with under the
business regime is the habit of the
auditor of the treasury of disbursing 1
officers accounts largely on faith. Now
he has all the checks and vouchers
before him with which to verify them.
has to great extent re- ,
formed the departmental service. And /
with all the reform he has accom-
plished, and for which he is entitled
to credit. much yet remains to be done.
EDUCATIONAL ECONOMICS