The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-03-13
FOR A BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

1t is possible to save the taxpayers
of the state of Washington a mil
lion dollars in the expenses OF run
ming the state government, if the
people are willing to stand for bus
mess administration that will accom-
plsh this, are the assertions made By
six years member of the Public
Service Commission, ana now a can
didate before the people for the nom
ination for governor on the republican
ticket
The question of economy and eff
iciency in the public service of the
state is raised by the assertions that
Mr. Lawrence is using in his cam
vass of the state. The business af-
fairs of the state are in the hands
Of expensive commissions The as
sertion is made and can be easily
verified that ninety-tWo per cent of
the administrative business of the
state is now handled by commissions
appointed by the chief executive of
the state which form the integral
part of the great administrative po-
litical machine and not always run
in the interests of the people
Mr. Lawrence IA Uses the question
that some of these commissions have
little or nothing to do, that the con-
structive work for which they were
organized has now been accomplished
and that they ought to be eliminated
and the expense of maintaining these
of the state
Mr. Lawrence makes the further
assertion that an administration or
ganized on purely business basis,
having only in mind efficient and eco
nomical service could save the peo-
pie of the state a million dollars a
year, that the work of the present
commissions could he done by two
commissions and the high priced COM
missioners and the long retinue of
clerks and stenographers dispensed
with, and on such an issue he is cam
paigning for the nomination for gov
ernor
Such assertions coming from a man
who by experience and capabilities
proven and tested in the service of
the people are worthy of the most
careful consideration on the part of
the voters of the state who are short
ly to be charged with the selection of
a candidate to administer the af-
fairs of the state and who are fully
imbued with the idea that a business
want, and that the man who can con-
duet in the most economical and eff
fcent manner is the man who is GER
tain to be the choice OF the people.
Whether or not a million dollars
might be saved or any part Of it might
be saved, it is well for the voters to
consider that the expenses of admins
tration have grown enormously within
the past six years. They have jumped
from $3.0OO,0OO to $11,000,000 and
out Of all proportion to the compare
tive growth Of the state of Washing
ton with her sister states in the north
west Such a tendency demands a
remedy, and the remedy is in the
hands of the people and lies along the
line of argument suggested by Mr..
Lawrence, reorganization Of the state
commissions on business basis, in
the cutting out and elimination of I'M
necessary expenses and in giving the
people value received in the way of
public service.
Mr.. Lawrence is certainly on the
right track. He has raised a vital
question. If he does nothing more in
this campaign than to put a check on
the rapidly growing expense account
of the state administration he will
have accomplished a great and a last
ing good for the taxpayers Of the
state His doctrine of economy and
efficiency in public service is one to
which any thoughtful man must sub
scribe.