The Washington herald., 1913-12-21

qualifications to carry forward a study
of the best methods in business, and Or
ganized into assistant committees under
the leadership of Overton w. Price, Sec
retary of the commission. These assist
ant committees, all of whose members
were still carrying on their regular work,
made their reports during the last half
of 1906. The committee informed itself
fully regarding the business methods Of
practically every individual branch OF
the business of the government, and ef-
fected a marked Improvement in general
efficiency throughout the service.
The coutiuct Of the routine business of
the government had never been thoroughly
Overhauled before, and this examination
of it resulted in the PRONUNCIATION of a
set Of working principles for the transac-
ton of public business which are as
sound today as they were when the COM
mittee finished its work. The somewhat
elaborate and costly Investigations of
government business methods since made
have served merely to confirm the nnd-
ings of the Committee on Departmental
Methods, which were achieved without
costing the government a dollar. The
actual saving in the conduct of the bust
ness OF the government through the bet
ter methods thus introduced amounted
yearly 10 many hundreds Of thousands of
dollars; but a far more important gain
was due to the remarka BILE success of the
commission in establishing a new point
of view in public servants toward their
work.
BeIated Stove.
The need for improvement in the gov
ernmental methods of transacting busi-
ness may be illustrated by an actual case.
An officer in charge of an Indian agency
made requisition in the autumn for a
stove costing 81, certifying at the same
time that II was needed to keep the in
tirmary warm during the winter, he
cause the old stove was worn out There
upon the customary papers went through
the customary routine, without unusual
delay at any point. The transaction
moved like a glacier with dignity to its
appointed end, and the stove reached the
infirmary in good order in time for the
Indian agent to acknowledge its arrival
in these words: The stove is here. So
is spring.
Civil Service and ONCE Seeking.
The Civil Service Commission, under
men like John McIlhenny and Garfield
rendered service without which the gov
ernment could have been conducted with
neither efficiency nor honesty. The poll
ticians were not the only persons at
fault; almost as much improper pres
sure for appointments is due TO mere
misplaced sympathy, and to the spirit
less inefticiency with which seeks a gov
ernment office as a haven for the in
competent. An amusing feature of Of
flee seeking is that each man desiring
an office is apt to look down on all
others with the same object, as form
ing an Objectionable class with which
he has nothing in common. At the
time Of the eruption of Mount Pelee,
when among others the American con-
sui was killed, a man who had lorg
been seeking an appointment promptly
applied for the vacancy. He was a good
man, of persistent nature, who felt that
had been somewhat blind to his merits
The morning after the catastrophe he
wrote, saying that as the consul was
dead he would like his place, and i could
surely give ii TO him; because even the
office seekers could not have applied for
il YETI
other Commissions.
The method OF public service involved
in the appointment and the work Of the
two commissions just described was ap-