The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-14

Washington, u c., July IL
The American governments FIRST
! great move for economy in admin
istration, already under way IN the
Inauguration of the budget sys-
TEN, is to be aided materially by
the reorganization of the executive
departments of the government
For some time the congressional
joint committee on reorganization
has been quietly at work 1t is COM
posed of three senators, three rep
resentatiyes and Walter T. Brown
of Toledo, Ohio. chairman.
Mr.. Brown is devoting all OF his
time to the business of mapping
out a new working plan for the gov
eminent departments which will
enable the executive branches of
the government to operate more
smoothly and effectively, and at the
same time at a considerable saving
in money. Mr.. Browns talk is
nothing more nor less than to put
the greatest piece OF business ma
chinery in the world, the govern
ment Of the United States, on an
economical footing.
1t is no secret that government
machinery now is anything but the
smooth running organization that
such big corporations as the Unit
ed States Steel company and the
Standard Oil companies have built
up. 1t is old-fashioaed and clogged
with dead wood, hampered by
countless Implications of effort on
the part of the many branches of
the executive end of government,
bound down with red tape, loaded
with useless papers and records,
and hide-bound in many instances
by out-worn traditions.
Mr.. Brown is not going at the
task like the ordinary efficiency ex-
pert. He is not figuring out some
way in which clerk can rubber
stamp 80 additional letters each day
by adopting some curious twist of
the wrist in using the stamp. He
is going at it along very broad and
general lines. He aims to save
hundreds of millions of dollars.
1t is fully realized by the mem
bers of the joint committee that my
Rad elements must be considered
in their task. and that great harm
instead of the hoped for great good
might easily come out OF their eff
forts unless they are guided by real
wisdom. 1t is realized that the
system in vogue now has grown up
with the nation for nearly a cen
fury and half, and that the whole
machine cannot be taken apart
boldly and put together again hap
hazard with any expectation that it
would run easily and economically.
Method Employed.
Broadly, the committee has laid
out the executive work of the gov
eminent along % distinct branches.
These branches are fiscal affairs.
criminal investigations, administra-
tive service, national defense, de-
Tense and prosecution of suits, ter
ritorial and colonial affairs, com
munications, including the postal
service, commerce regulation, fer
eign relations, regulation of bank
ing, assistance to navigation, trade
promotion, industry promotion, ag-
rlcultural development, public edu-
cation, public health, public works,
conservation of natural resources,
labor problems, administration of
the public domain, primary Stats
tics, rehabilitation of war veter-
ans, and immigration, including
naturalization.
Charts have been made for each
of these subjects. Then investiga-
ton has been made to see how
many departments, bureaus and
commissions of the government
have been duplicating each others
work. The result of this has been
the discovery of scores and scores
of overlapping efforts, evidence
that widely separated departments
have been spending valuable time
and effort doing the same work and
getting the same results, duplicat-
ing not only the work, but its cost
as we'll.
The joint committee has as its
goal rebuilding the govern
-