The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-04-20
BY EDWARD G.LOwRY
Copyright. Western Newspaper Union
MI.
OUR COSTLY NEGLIGENCE

Coordination" is tired, haggard
nervous wreck of word that was
nearly worked to death at Washington
during the early days of the war. 1t
was the first of the dollar-a-year words
to come forward to do war work, and
1t was worn to frazzle. l hate to
drag the poor wan thing out from the
quiet retreat in my dictionary where
1t has been resting and recuperating,
but l must say that this lack of co
ordination, lack of organization, du-
plication, inefficiency, waste, and hap
hazard hodge-podge structure of the
national governmental machine is no
secret to those at Washington, who
run and manage it for us, and who are
even more directly responsible than
we are for the condition into which
1t has fallen.
/ submit pleas of avoidance and
confession from both Democrats and
Republicans. 1t Is not matter of
politics. 1t is matter of proved and
confessed negligence on the part of
the men we have hired to run the ma
chine. and have kept year after year
In places of trust and power and re-
sponsibility. They haven't kept up
the plant. The form of organization
is grotesquely inadequate. The NOR
ale of the working force is badly i'm
paired, as | have set forth at length
in previous articles. We have paid
the price for this, grossly and hugely,
in money and in poor service. This
has been costly negligence on our part.
1 said had confessions. Here they
are, Reed Smoot, Republican and
senator from Utah. speaking:
The administrative branches of the
government have undergone no funda-
mental change since the organization was
devised by Alexander Hamilton
No other government in the world
could have gone on as ours has done, and
paid the bills involved in our wasteful
methods OF administration. We have been
able to do 1t because this country has
had resources and wealth unparalleled
But the war has brought us at last TO
realize that these will not last always
We need complete survey of the whole
situation de novo by committee of men
willing to recognize that it is a task OF
day and night for a year. and very likely,
two years. "
There is endless duplication of work
among different departments. and even
in the same department II Is
the same through all the government
functions and now. when the burden of
carrying our enormous debt is weighing
on the people we can no longer neglect
to give 1t consideration.
When he said these things, Mr.. |
Smoot was urging concrete proposal |
to bring about the reformation so bad
ly needed.
And now Franklin d. Roosevelt, for
seven years assistant secretary of the
navy and recently the Democratic can
didate for vice president:
The entire system of relationship which
exists between congress and the execu-
tive departments is fundamentally wrong. |
Let me Illustrate: / made offer one |
spring to the appropriations committees |
of both house and senate, telling them |
that would tomorrow discharge Is per |
cent of the employees of the Navy de- |
partment II they, the committees. would |
give me complete authority to take one
half of the salaries of the employees so
discharged and add 1t to the salaries of
the other So per cent of the employees
still left in the department.. -. OF
course, however. under the present sys-
tenn congress would not think of giving
executive discretion of this kind.
Congress, for various reasons, has SO
tied the hands of the executive officers
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