The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-05-22
GOVERNOR AND CABINET
FIRST FORMAL MEETING
GOVERNOR SAYS SYSTEM MARKS
EPOCH IN GOVERNMENT
OF THE STATE.

Governor Davis and his cabine
held the first formal meeting las
Saturday, when reports were receive,
from the various departments. Thi
change in the form of state govern
ment is the result of an act of tn,
last legislature upon the urgent de
mand Of Governor Davis as a mean!
of centralizing government authority
and in an address to his cabinet h,
expressed great satisfaction with tn,
working Of the system so far. TIL,
governor has worked untiringly to.
wards installation of an efficient bus,
mess execution of the states affairs
and the cabinet is more than a mere
commission, such as has Illinois, blu,
instead a consolidation Of the business
interests of the state through central.
ization of governmental departments
Boards Eliminated.
Nine men and their respective STATS
have not been added to the admins
tration as a further burden upon tax
met has enabled elimination of many
boards, hitherto regarded as nds-
pensable in state administration
whose purposes and responsibilities
Lave been absorbed by the present
commissions.
The following commissioners were
present: Robert o. Jones, commits
sioner of law enforcement Charles A.
Elmer, commissioner of public in
vestment: Miles Cannon, commission
err of agriculture; w. G. Swendson,
commissioner of reclamation; Jay
Gibson, commissioner of commerce
and industry; William J. Hall, COM
missioner of public works; Guy Bow
erman, commissioner Of finance; O..
Fl. Barber, commissioner of immigra-
ton, labor and statistics; J. X. White,
commissioner of public welfare.
Governors Address.
In opening the conference Govern
or Davis spoke optimistically for the
future and predicted an administra-
ton conducted strictly along business
lines and execution of state affairs
with minimum of expense. The
governors opening remarks follow:
Il have called you gentlemen to-
gether today for what l believe will
be the initial meeting of an epoch
making era in state government. For
the first time in the history of Idaho,
and | believe in the United States
state government has the opportunity
to be placed on a thoroughly efficient
business basis with the elimination of
red tape and the Capitalization and
consolidation of executive authority
in such a way that l am of the earn
est belief that the death knell of UNI
necessary overlapping of duties and
it's consequent loss of efficiency has
been sounded.
For the last two years the atten-
ton of the people has been focused
or winning the war-a most import
ant thing for our country, but we al
so find another vital condition in the
problems arising from the reconstruc-
ton necessarily following the war.
People Impatient.
"The people of this country have
become impatient over the results OBJ
tanned by the ordinary type of state
government. Political oppositions
have been such as to arouse the
thinking citizens of our country, and
| want to show the people of Idaho
and of the United States that we are
going to give them such business
administration as they are entitled to.
ut is my desire that each one of
you keep in mind that the keynote OF
this administration is to be that the
business of Idaho should be run in the
same efficient manner as we would
run a private business.
TN asking you for your reports on
what you have done so far, have,
as you remember, specifically stated,
/ had in mind the request that you
are to make a report Of accomplish
ment. This, Of course, is the import
ant thing. We will talk over what
we expect to do, but that is second
ary We place accomplishments first.
Economy Apparent.
"As a concrete example OF the type
of efficiency which believe 1t can
be safely predicted will follow the
record of the two-year period, let me
saw that every single department OF
state government is today within 1ts
appropriation, and I am proud to say
that a number of them have SHOWN
money saving under the amount
TIT, 49,, ora ollowad to spend"