New-York tribune., 1919-01-28

Radical Surgery on War Risk Bureau
is Prescribed BY Columbia Expert
removal OF inefficency Essential if Public Support Is
10 BE Gained, Says Dr. Devine; Secretary of Treas
ury Blamed, but the Task Was Gigantic. He Adds

Alleged failure of the allotment anc
allowance system instituted by the
government at the beginning of the
war to care for dependents of men II
the field is dealt with at length BY
DR.. Edward T. Devine, professor O.
social economy at Columbia University
IN supplement to the current issue
of "Thc Survey
Every one agrees that the allotments
and allowances section of the Bureau Of
war Risk Insurance has broken down
This is the statement with which DR.
Devinc begins his exposition on the
faulty workings of the system. In the
pages that follow, he charges
"The main official responsibility
for the breakdown lies with the Sec
rotary of the Treasury;
"lnelficiency and confusion in the
administration Of the allotments and
allowances section were response
Bile in large part for the failure;
Clerks in Bureau Overworked
"Workers in the section were over
worked without proper Office organi-
zatlon and poorly housed;
About 10 per cent of the depend
ents OF men in the service have suf-
fered greatly because of the poor
administration of the system;
OF the appeals made to the Red
Cross Home Service by relatives of
soldiers and sailors 60 per cent were
due to the fact that allotments had
not been received;
Half of the trouble that Red Cross
workers abroad were called upon to
adjust for the men in the field was
related to the allotment question;
Behind the inetficiency of the al
lotments and allowances section lies,
as d basic cause, the ineffciency of
all our governmental, social and eco
nomlc institutions.
DR.. Devine asserts, in the beginning
of his digest of the situation, that he
aims at constructive as we'll as de
structivc criticism. The work of the
must continue for some time, although
from now on it Will be more and more
concerned with compensation and in
surancc.
Public Confidence Sought
RdnlI ltS fallureS and to make
sure that any inetficiency which the
pressure Of the first year of the wal
has revealed will not be continued il
nent features Of the way risk insurance
Will be the best way to insure support
and public confidence" ne says
1T is highly important that before
this section of the bureau closes its
doors everything possible shall be
done to clear up all Misunderstanding
and to do at least a tardy justice
Otherwise a brief and hectic expert
encc in this field is likely to stand
for years to the discredit of Federal
administrative capacity"
DR.. Devine then says: "The most
fertile imagination could not have in
vented all the different kinds of mis-
takes that have been made; the most
philosophical and long-suffering de-
pendent family would have exhausted
its stock of patience and forbearance
before some Of the snarls had been
untangled."
Red Cross Experience Cited
Grievances that the Red Cross work
ers in Europe found most prevalent
among the men in the field we're, ac-
cordlng to Dr. Devinc, delay in the
mail; misplacement of service records
and allotment troubles.
About half of the cases that were
brought to the Red Cross by the men
in the hope that they could help get
thirgs Strengthened out were about
allotments and allowances which were
not getting to the loved ones at home,'
he says.
"Probably," he continues, "more than
half of the applications to the Red
Cross Home Service in America from
the families of tho soldiers and sailors
have been made because of difficulties
III connection with allotments and
allowances. An estimate of 60 per cent
is made by one executive who is in .
osition to know about more than 20
600 applications, and there is no reason