The sun., 1919-08-03
ENGLISH HoRTICULTuRIsTs
COMPLAIN OF INEFFTCIENCY
OF BUREAUCRACY.

Bureaucracy in England, It seems,
was quite as unsuccessful az In Amer-
lea during the war. The following,
from an English horticultural trade
Journal. shows the weakness ana folly
Of the system, r. .;
sIfl the Auditor account
Of the war expenditure for, bills
some characteristic instances Of In!
competency and Acknowledgement are
revealed--instances that, justify to tho
hilt the average traders doubt and
distrust Of the ability of Govern
ment department to manage its own
affairs. let alone those Of the nation.
Take the purchase OF Dutch pota-
toes. 1t will be recalled that these
were bought with a view to supple-
menting the home supplies, but for
some inscrutable reason they res
NAMED for ages on the quay at Rot
terdam awaiting shipment. When
they did arrive in England the market
was gone, and they had to be sold, OF
otherwise disposed of, at "a sacrifice. .
Exactly what that word means will
be understood when Il is shown that
the consignment cost $337,165 for
freight and distribution alone, against
which only $255.335 was realized from
the sale. As the figures of the prime
cost Of the stock are not shown It is
impossible to state exactly how much
this transaction cost the country. y.
another little venture of the de-
partment. prompted no doubt by one
Of those food faddists who are ever
lastingly prattng about calories and
the simple life, was'the setting up of q
vegetable drying plant to provide the
army with dried vegetables. Theoret-
ically the scheme was no doubt Ideal,
but practically II was as dud as a rot
ten potato, for the simple reason that
! no ,attempt was made to ascertain, II a
demand for the article existed, and
when the supply came along it was
found that II did not exist The army
would not have the dried vegetables
at any price, ana the business was
consequently scrapped. Cost, $s5,
But the biggest stunt Of all was the
tractor ploughing scheme. This cost
the poor taxpayer the tribe Of $4,1se,-
$50. It was originally intended to re-
cover the cost Of this adventure from
the farmer, but the British farmer
eiANtA Aioo 70 bAi0 bdlt ~ large dI0O
of work was done that was not Raid
for. In connection with this work
six thousand tractors were ordered
from America. and $500 Of these were
| eventually resold TO the agents a,
| $1,000, who Immediately disposed OF
them at s1.25o each TO the farmers. In
I reply TO the Auditor Generals request
to be Informed why the department
did not itself cell direct to the farm
ers, II was stated that It had no or
ganization whereby 1t could obtain
orders from farmers" This, In view
OF the fact that the department haG
had thousands OF transactions with in
dividual farmers in connection with
the use OF tractors 10 about one OF the
himsiest excuses that could be offered
1t really 10 not worthy of a depart.
ment that is capable Of losing money
in the grand and lordIy way these
facts disclose.
| THE Food Departments deal in seed
potatoes in the spring of 1917 resulted
In net loss TO the country Of S2s, sos.
The difference between the purchase
price and the selling price Of Scotch
seed was $3.50. but there was a mar
! gin Of profit on the sale OF Irish sup
/ plies, SO that the net loss at the end
or the transaction stood at the figure