Evening journal., 1919-07-19

was not acted upon by TIE legislature.
Another one Of the early studies or
STATE administrative crEanizaiion was
that Of the Joint committee on re-
trenchment and reform in the state
n Iowa in 1913 As IN the case or
Minnesota this committee recommended
a great reduction IN the number Of at
ministrative asenGles. briefly II was
proposed 10 reduce inc number from
something over one huHdrcd TO nine
msior departments.
In New York the movement for sim
plifed and responsible state govern
ment eliminated in 1919 In that year
constitutional conveu'i0=- assembled
and a new constitution was drafted and
submitted 10 the people. The cOnsti-
tutional convention perceived the ne
cessiiy Of centralized and responsible
administration. and adopted a. plan
which would have reduced the number
of executive departments - seventeen.
but This scheme was Lost when The
constitution was defeated b. the people
at the polls.
The FIRST real ach evament In tho
sihls state administration was IN Ill-
nois in 1911 The Illinois efficiency
and economy commission appointed in
1913 reported 70 the Legislature IN 1915
recommending a schems of 'dministra
tion which would redrcs ihc number
~ administrative sgenc'cs 20 fen major
departments responsible n the COVER
nor This report was not acted upon
by the LEGISLATURE in The 1918 session.
In the 1916 campaign llr. Lowden made
political issue of ihs question Of
State administrative organization ard
was elected as governor on that issue.
He Immediately began u urge upon the
Legislature a scheme for complete re-
organization OF the Sia,1 1dministra-
tive system and the legislature re-
spOnded 10 his appeal. In The 1877 ses-
sion Of the Illinois Legislature there
was enacted what is knowl az the civil
administrative. code. which reduces the
number ~ State adm nistratiye agen-
cies Or nine great departments eXclu-
sive Of a few constitutional Offices
which were beyond The reach Of the
Legislature Al the head Of each de-
partment Is a director who is appointed
by tho governor and is Immediately re-
sponsible 10 him. This scheme results
in an almost complete Capitalization of
responsibility for the administrative
work OF the state. and the results
achieved under II leave no doubt that
10 is a vast Improvement over the old
system of administration
The two most recent advances in
the direction Of centralized state ad-
ministration have been I'm the states Of
Idaho and Nebraska where In the pres
ent year. schemes Of reorganization
similar 10 that adopted in Illinois have
been put into effect In all Of these
cases, namely, Illinois, Idaho and Ne
brsska. the reorganization has not been
complete because the Legislature has
been unable 10 touch certain constltu-
tional offices
IN Massachusetts, a similar Develop
ment IS IN progress. In the elections Of
November. 1918. a constitutional amend
ment was adopted by the people which
provides that on or before January 4.
1920 the administrative agencies Of the
State government must be rearranged
into not more than twenty major de-
psrtments and Legislature Is now under
cOnsluefauon for euectuatinG the man
da;e of this constitutional amendment.
Other States have the problem be-
fore them. In oregon a report was
recently made to the Legislature by a
committee appointed to study the ques-
tion Of reorganization and this report
advised the reduction OF the number OF !
departments 10 ten. 4 movement is on
foot in California fostered by the State |
Taxpayers Association. 10 secure legis- |
lation IN that State similar 10 the civil |
code In Illinois.
This brings me to the Delaware re- /
port. Last autumn the Bureau of Mu- |
nicipal Research was invited by the /
Delaware state Council OF Defense 10 |
make a study OF the administrative orr
Of the state Of Delaware and /