Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1920-04-08
GOVERNMENTAL "EFFIcIENCY"

GOVERNMENTAL EFFICIENCY"
The return of the railroads to
their owners, after loss to the tax
payers variously reckoned at from
$3.50, 100000 to $1,000, 000, 900, has
probably cured the nation of any
laundering it may have had for gov
eminent ownership. We do not
suppose that more than small min
ority ever inclined to such system.
But that minority was vociferous
and persistent. and at times sue
ceeded in making it appear that
government ownership was a timely,
persistent, and practical issue. II
now it is not wholly silenced, it is
so discredited that its utterances will
command only derisive attention.
Not again in this generation will
government ownership be serious
issue.
The reason is patent. We may
waive for the moment the question
whether it is desirable for any gov
eminent thus to own and to conduct
the business of the country. The
present point is that our government
is not fitted for such an enterprise,
and it is not fitted for it not merely
because 1t was not originally intend
ed for such work. There is no
hint of it in the constitution. There
is nothing in the expressed purposes
for which the constitution was made
as set forth in its preamble, which
can plausibly be twisted into a pro-
vision for government ownership
or operation of industries. There
is nothing elsewhere in the instru-
ment, in its definition of the func-
tions of congress of the executive or
of the judiciary, or of the rights OF
states and citizens, or in the amend
ments, so much as looking toward it.
There was no thought in the minds
of the men who drafted and adopted
the constitution. The thing is abb
solutely foreign to our form of gov
eminent and to the intent with
which our government was founded.
In this railroad business, therefore,
we have been setting the government
at something which it was not in
tended to do and therefore was not
prepared nor fitted to do. In such
circumstances, no wonder that 1t
made a disastrous muddle of it.
The case inevitably raises the
question, however, whether the gov
eminent is cerditably efficient in
the transaction of the business with
which 1t is charged by the eonsti-
tuition; question which is empha
sized by observation of existing con-
ditions. Perhaps we should omit
consideration OF the shipping board,
as belonging to the same category
as the railroads, outside of the in
tended functions of the government.
But the constitution provides prac-
tically for war department to have
charge of equipping the army. Was
that work performed with the eff
cheney and economy that we should
expect from great private concern
1t was legitimate for the government
to undertake the task of caring for
disabled soldiers Has its admins
tration Of vocational education DEM
onstrated a satisfactory degree OF eff
ficiency? The constitution provides
for postal service. Is that bedev-
lied department being conducted
with as much efficiency as might
reasonably be expected from third
rate private corporation Or, to
take the government as whole: Is
1t conceivable that any great private
concern would undertake operations
of such magnitude. or even 1.-THE of
them, without budget system?
/ Before the government under
takes again any business which It
was not intended to do, II would bet
ter make sure that II is transacting
satisfactorily those comparatively
accustomed business operations
which are assigned to 1t by the con-
stitution. According to present indi-
cations, that should be sufficient to
monopolize its best attention for
some time to come.