The Washington herald., 1918-06-13
TOGIVE
THE PRESIDENT
DAILY REPORTS
Accurate Status of War
Work In Departments
to Be Shown.
BARUCH WILL DIRECT
Overman Law Gives Au.
thority for Organization
Contemplated.

A new bureau which will give the
President accurate Information re-
garding the work of every depart
ment Of the government Is being Or
ganized with the Presidents sanction.
1t will supply him daily with the
status of war work in each depart
ment and will enable him to know
whether the work Is being done well
or badly. whether reorganization of
a department is necessary or whether
inefficients should be supplanted by
men Of larger capacity.
The new bureau will be under the
direction Of the War Industries
Board of which Bernard NJ. Baruch
Is chairman, 1t is understood. It will
have authority to inspect the records
and workings Of every department of
the government and to weigh the re-
ports Of officials to determine wheth-
er they are accurate or misleading.
Overman Law Permits.
The organization is being perfected
under the authority given to the
President by the Overman law. 1t
will suplant the Creel committee as
an official purveyor of information 10
officials charged with important war
work. 1t will also mark the passing
Of the ''fiamboyant" statements.
which, in the past, have misled Off
cials as well as the public. Accurate
knowledge as to kow well the several
departments of the government are
doing their share of the war work will
be gathered by the bureau and laid
daily before the President
Congress learned of the new organi-
zation in a speech delivered in the
House by Representative Swagar
Sherley, of Kentucky. chairman of
the Appropriations Committee. In
opening the debate on the sundry
civil bill. Sherley said the bureau will
be in operation soon. and that 1t will
enable the President to get accurate
information instead of the misleading
and exaggerated statements which
have been furnished him in the past
Members Of the House exhibited
great interest in Mr.. Sherley's expla-
nation Of the new organization. Mad
den, of Illinois, said he believed 1t
would be a good thing, but thought
the same Information ought to be
given to all members Of Congress.
Sherley objected to this, saying that
the information which will be sup
piled to the Pr" ,ident will he so
confidential in = Iracter that it would
not be sa'. trust 1t to other eyes.
Statistics To Tell Story.
Then having got the story by
virtue of statistics, the summary OF
1t can be made very briefly for the
consideration of the President in
connection with those conferences
that are being held from day to
day with the chiefs of govern
mental activity. and when a state
ment is made by the head Of a par
ticular department that things in
his bureau are running well, or that
they have been out OF Joint but will
run well. test could be made If
need be. of the accuracy of his judg-
ment as to the department by the
facts. Some other man, looking at
1t from an outside view might con-
clude that the reason why the things
were not well was other than what
the man in charge thought; or he
might ascertain that instead of their
running well, they were running
badly: and in the last analysis, un-
less the President can get thai sort
Of Information in a sense .dissociat
CONTINUED ON PAGE SIX.