Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-07
President Recommends Leasing of Coal Lands Domains

tenn under that law for promotion ought TO
be devised but, given the selected empioye.
there remains still the question or promot-
ing his efficiency and his usei iasz1
to the government and that can be b ought
about only by a careful comparison G. un,t
work done by the Individual and appoint4ng
out of the necessity for improvement n this
regard where improvement lB impossible,
Economy and Efficiency
The increase In the activities and In ths
annual expenditures OF the federal govern
ment has been rapid and so great thst
the time has come to check tho expansion
of government activities in new directions
until we have tested the economy and 81
hclenoy with which the government OF to-
day Is being carried on. The responsi-
bllity rests upon the head Of the admins
tration. He is held accountable by the pub
lie and properly so. Despite the unsoElsh
and patriotic efforts Of the heads o. de-
partments and others charged with rsspon-
sibnity of government there has grown
UP in this country a conviction that the
expenses of government are too great ThQ
fundamental reason for tho existence un-
detected of waste. duplication and bad man
agement is the lack Of prompt, accurate
information. The president Of a private
corporation doing so vast q business ~
the government transacts would, through
competent specialists, maintain the closest
scrutiny on the comparative efficiency ane
the comparative cost in each division O.
department of the business. He would know
precisely what the duties and the ecti7-
tiles Of each bureau or division are in order
to prevent overlapping. No adequate ma"
chinery at present exists for supplying tho
president of tho United States with suoh N
formation respecting the business for WhEeh
he Is responsible,
For the first time in the history Of tna
- Fna fNT.N NHa.
piled this need and made an appropriation 70
enable the president to inquire Into the econ
omy and efficiency OF the executive depart
ments and I am now assembling an organ
izatlon for the purpose.
At the outset find comparison between the
departments and bureaus impossible, for the
reason that in no two departments are the
estimates and expenditures displayed and
classified aliks. The first step Is 70 reduces
all to q common standard for classification
and judgment and this work Is being done.
When 1t Is completed the foundation will Be
laid for a businesslke national budget, and
for such just comparison Of the econ
omy and efficiency with which the several
divisions are conducted as would enable the
president and the heads Of departments 70
detect waste, eliminate duplication, encour-
age the Intelligent and effective civil servants
whose efforts too often go unnotioed, and
secure the public service at the lowest pos-
sible cost.
The committees on appropriations of con-
gress have diligently worked to reduce tha
expenses of government and have found their
efforts often blocked by lack of accurate In
formation containing a proper analysis OF
requirements and OF actual and reasonable
costs The result of this inquiry should an
able the executive in his communications to
congress to give information to which con-
gress is entitled, and which will enable It 10
promote economy.
have requested the head Of each ds-
partment to appoint committees economy
and efficiency in order to secure full CO
operation in the movement by the employees
of the government themselves.
1 urge the continuance Of the approprfe~
tion of 800, 600 requested for the fiscal year
1912.
My experience leads me to believe that
while government methods are much criti-
cised, the bad results-if we do have bad
resuits--are not due to lack Of zeal
willingness on the part Of the civil servants.
| On the contrary, 1 believe that g fine
| spirit of willingness to work exists In the
| personnel. which II properly encouraged will
| produce results equal to those secured IN the
| best managed private enterprises. In hand
ling government expenditure the aim Is not
proft--ths aim is the maximum public ser
vice at the minimum Of cost. We wish TO
reduce the expenditures OF the government.
into some of the beneficial projects which
we are debsrred from taking up now because
we ought not to increase expenditures.
Civil Service Retirement
1t is impossible to proceed far in such EN-
investigation without perceiving the need u
eliminating from the service the superapnue
ated. This can be done in one of two ways
either by straight civil pension or by
form of contrbutory pension and the expert
ence Of England and other countries with
pension plans, and says:
1.-The simplest and most independent soiu-
tion of the problem for both employe and tina
government is a compulsory savings arrange
ment, the employe to set aside from his SAL
ary a sum siffcient with the help of lib
eral amount of interest from the government
CONTINUED Page Eight)
= u -