The Washington times., 1921-05-23

that this destruction of capital was
responsible for the reaction ana de-
precision which are now felt uni
versally. In this process the burdens
of government were immensely IN
creased. and II II for US now to nnd
means of tightening these burdens
OBLIG AT1ONs OF q. 8.
Government, to . greater extent
now than ever before, 10 under
oblieation to give the greatest serv-
ice for the lowest possible cost
Rut Il In for certain obvious reasons
difYicult to do this because govern
ment is not under the necessity TO
earn profits, nor to obey laws which
regulate competition. These are
the prime guarantees OF efficiency
and fair dealing In private business.
Government should be placed. as
far as possible. under q strict sway
of the methods which are applied
to private business to secure these
ends. Government should be broad.
conscientious and Intelligent
enough to subject itself TO these
rules: despite that it's quality OF
sovereignty would place 1t beyond
them II It chose to assume that
position. Every principle and de-
vice which promotes efficiency IN
private business should be adapted
and applied in government anair@
] will trust the public official VINO
decides his public problem a.
though II were bis very own
FACES DIFFICULT TASK.
To bring economy and efficiency
into government 10 task second
to none in difficulty. Few people,
in or out of the government, nave
any conception Of the growth or
government business In the last
decades before the world war; still
fewer at all realize the pace 10
which that growth has been speeded
up since the war started. The null
tiplication of departments, bureaus.
divisions, functions, has resulted IN
a sort Of geometrical increase In
the tasks which confront the heads
of executive departments when
they face reconstruction problems.
They find that with their time al
ready mortgaged in favor OF tasks
which demand more hours than the
day provides, they must devise
means for doing yet more work.
with less money.
PROSPECT NOT HOPELESS.
Fortunately, the prospect is not
20 hopeless as might appear, De-
cause the present organization is
not 40 bad, but that the insistent
application of few established
principles Of sound business or
Ranization will result In immediate
economies and provide a margin or
available means to meet new DE-
mands. The party in power Is
pledged to economy and emciency.
and you may be assured that every
energy Is being directed to redeem
that pledge to the last degree and
with all promptness
At the beginning of his admin
istration President Taft secured
from the Congress the establish
ment of an economy and emciency
commission. 1t made a comprehen-
stve survey OF activities, organiza-
tion and personnel of the whole
government establishment The re-
port on that survey was never
printed. But II is available. and
can be consulted to determine
where wastages and overlapping
of function are. That commission
further presented particular sug-
gestions as to how specific econo-
mics could be effected, efficiency es-
tablished and much money saved.
PROBLEM Is COMPLICATED.
The problem has been vastly
complicated and increased as a re-
suit of the war. The present Con-
gress has already provided for .
joint committee on the reorgan-
ization of the administrs4ive
branch of the Government. A
representative of the executive
will serve with this committee.
SO that there is now in progress
a thorough study of the whole
problem. The task will require
some time. and ultimate results