Evening journal., 1919-03-13
xperfs Survey Suggest New System of Government for State

lmelhods into The purchase Of supple
and materials.
Recommendation as TO Reconstruction
] "The outstanding features Of the Stat
survey was the discovery Of III Offices
boards. and commissions engaged II
/ rendering services 90 The people OF th'
State. 10 was learned that these agen
cies had sprung up during the pas
200 years or more without reference
TO any unified plan or purpose.
! Whenever any considerable body o
citizens has felt a public need it ha
gone to the Legislature and secured
4 the enactment OF a law meeting tina
lneed and providing officers for the en-
forcement OF the law i'm question. Citi
zens Interested In public health obtair
public health legislation or in lab0l
conditions make a drive for labor legis
latiOn aud create agencies TO carry oui
their plans; and so on through the en-.
tire list Of governmental activities. As
result the administrative branch OF
the state government Of Delaware EN-
braces more than 100 separate and i'm
dependent offices, boards, commissions
and departments. The government OF
the counties Is not quite so broken ur
or widely scattered among offices
boards aud other agencies, but still II
Is so complicated as 10 make the To-
cation Of responsibility 30 the citizens
for work done well-night impossible
especially in Kent and New Castle
counties.
After making a careful study OF the
legislation. vcstlng innumerable duties
in the Offices. boards, and other agsn-
ces and after visiting nearly all Of the
important officers ard securing their
personal views, The survey staff found
That The activities undertaken by The
government Of the State readily fell into
nine great classes. In other words
they discovered that there were nine
kinds Of work undertaken by the State
or Delaware aud That these nine classes
of work divided mp among more than
100 agencies working Independently and
without consultation with one another
and often at cross purpose The nine
kinds OF work done by the State gov
ernment OF Delaware fall under the fol-
lowing heads:
Collection and disbursement OF reve.
nues and funds Preparation Of the bud
get and accounting control over expen-
ditures authorized by the Legislature
Labor and industry.
Health.
Charities and correction.
Agriculture
Highways and drainage
"EducaiiOu
Law enforcement
aAf.arr.afalH 1.frrl "a b..
secretary OF statel
Having found the number Of differ
ent classes OF work undertaken by the
State, the survey staff applied The com
nonsense conclusion that all work Of
a similar character should be brought
together in q single department. No
one would think OF dividing up educa-
ton between the health, charities and
highway departments. Then why
should other work all Of one kind, be
broken up among numerous depart
ments2 Accordingly the survey stan
recommends that nine great depart-
ments OF government shall be created
in the state administration each in
charge Of all the work which falls
within It's field The heads Of these de-
partments, it is suggested, should be
appointed by the governor preferably
without the ratification Of the Senate)
because the governor stands in the
public eye as the man responsible for
the enforcement Of the law In the State.
The work Of the county is mainly
administrative rather than law making,
and the survey stan proposes TO ap-
ply 10 the form Of county government
The simple and direct organization sug-
gested for the STATE 10 recommends,
in The FIRST place. that the simpli1ed
form OF levy court which has been
tried out in Sussex county shall be
adopted, with perhaps some enlarge
ment in New Castle county, for all OF
the counties. In the second place, it
although il does not insist
upon making the government Of the
county a miniature state government by
installing a county manager who would
occupy about the same administrative
relation to the various county officers,
which The government occupies in re-
alton to the heads Of departments. In
.he third place. it recommends the con
,Olidatlon Of many different county Of
Ices and agencies into four great de-
larlments or branches Of county gov
.rnment, each under the head OF an Of
lcer responsible to the county man
lger, il there Is one, or to the levy
'ourt If the manager system is re-
ected
1t has looked over the work OF the
county and finds four main classes OF
.clivities. namely 1) the keeping of
ccords and documents, embracing all
outline clerical work, (2) financial man
cement including assessment and col
cction OF taxes. the custody OF public