Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-31

and where Uniform and eentralized
financial and purchasing methods
are established. These latter result
in reducing overlapping and dupli-
cation, eliminating unnecessary
work md establishing closer reia-
tionship between services rendered.
and work done and the cost. The
charts Of the organization of the
commissions, boards and depart
ments previous to reorganization OF
the departmental organization ae-
cording to the administrative code
and the charts showing the maip
departments and direct lines of re-
sponsibility from the respective
secretaries Of the departments to the
governor, tell the story in an in
teresting way.
Reduction Of Boards.
It will be seen that the various
commissions and boards have been
consolidated from l8 separate
boards and commissions to six
main executive departments. At
the head of each of these is q sec
retary, who is responsible to the
governor for the organization, ex-
penditure and work of the several
bureaus and divisions within his
department. Under this plan, the
secretaries of the six departments
form the cabinet Of the governor,
with whom questions Of admins
trative policy are taken up, decided
upon and definitely assigned to the
respective departments having jur-
isdiction over the specific matters.
The functions of each of the depart
ments have been clearly defined.
Where there was duplication and
overlapping, it will be reduced to
the irredueible minimum, thereby re-
sulting in decreases in number Of
positions, or increases in the amount
of service without proportionate in
crease in expenditures.
Other Benefits of Reorganization.
A few of the other benefits and BY
products which are bound to come
with the reorganization of the de-
partments under the administrative
code consist in the establishment Of
centralized and uniform system OF
accounting control in the depart
ment of finance, the development of
definite budget methods of appro-
priating money and accounting for
State revenues and expenditures, uni
form system of reporting, the estab-
lishment of a plan providing equal
pay for equal work of state en-
ployes, the Capitalization OF pur-
chases of all supplies and materials,
and other fundamental improve
ments in departmental administra-
tive methods.
The reports ordinarily made by
governmental departments for public
consumption, unfortunately are too
voluminous or drawn up in such
manner as to make them uninviting
and uninteresting to the citizen for
whom such reports are primarily
made.
The value of brevity, clearness and
human interest in public report max
ing cannot be too strongly stressed.
With the reorganization of the state
departments, the governor plans to
establish a system of uniform re-
ports, which are to be made by each
of the departments. Through these:
the governor, as the executive. will
be able currently to visualize admin
istrative conditions and results, and
these will also be made the basis
for the annual reports to the legis-
lature and to the public.
Bonding of Employees.
The matter of giving proper pro-
lection to the state where execu-
tives and assistants are responsible
for orr are engaged in the handling
of financial stationery and state
funds has been given careful consid-
Grafton by the governor through the
bonding of these executives and as
sistants. Careful investigation is
made of the persons to be bonded
and the state is assured Of reim-
bursement in case of actual financial
loss. At the same time the investi-
CATION and bonding has an influence
on those bonded to maintain the
records and funds according to law.
The reorganization of the execu-
tive departments and the study of
the duties of the different positions
have brought out clearly the con-
fused conditions existing in respect
to the relationship of pay to work.
Hinder the salary standard;z afion