The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-02-14

CHANGE TO FIND CUT
lust now Il beiuied effort is under
way to lind out some Of the facts
a.,uul government business and gov
gIlauant employment. The Bureau of
the Budget has been organized and
is in operation under the direction OF
Charles &. Dawes.
Both houses Of congress are work
ing ca The problem of recIassttication
Of government positions and salaries.
Tie Veterans bureau has been or
.auiZed and has taken over the bureau
OF war risk insurance, that part Of
the public health service which had
10 do with veterans, and all Of tie
work OF the federal board for yoca-
tionaI education except that pat
which had to do with the Treatment of
persons injured in the industries.
There is also the inquiry being made
by the joint committee Oh HE re
organization Of the administrative
branch Of the government of the lWo
houSe Of congress. of which / have
spoken. Waiter (. Brown of Oil" Is
chairman If this committee, represents
ing President Harding, THE members
of the committee are, on the part 9.
the senate, Senators Smoot Of Titan,
Harrison of Mississippi and WadN-
worth Of New York. The members on
gae part of the house are Repre-
sentartyeS Re%vis Of Nebraska. Temple
Of Pennsylvania and Moore If Nir&i Ai".
The job OF this joint committee Is
to make a survey Of the administers
tive services of the government fer the
purpose OF securing all pertinent facts
REGARDING their powers and duties,
heir distribution among the several
executive departments and the over
tapping and duplication of authority.
In reporting the resolution from tie
judiciary committee to the house the
members were told:
Il is a matter of common knOWied&e
hat millions Of dollars are wasted 10y
iht. government by The almost endless
duplication of activities. There has been
no fundamental change in the adEinis-
tratiVe activities since the organization
was devised by Alexander Hamilton, anG
the result is that activities entirely on
OF harmony with the functions Of depart
merits lavS grown with the passing years
uutH the government Of the United States
has become not only the biggest business
IN the world. but the world $ worst man
AGED business
The u4rpGse Of tne resolution is to
ascertain so far as possible the extent
Of the overlapping and duplication of ac-
ttvittes with the view that numerous
commissions and bureaus may be clint
mated and u great saving effected in the
governmental expenditures. The commit
tee feels that no more constructive legis
lation is possible under existing cord
tons than the legislation proposed b
the resolution. With the present conGt-
ton of the nations finances and the bur
dens the people suffer because of excess
sive taxation, any legislative measure
looking to real economy should commend
itself to the sympathetic attention of the
house and We feel that the passage Of
this resolution and the work of the COM
uittee which will be done under It's au-
tholity will result in the saving OF mil
lions annually
1t can be predicted with considerable
assurance that nothing will come Of
this proposed voyage of discovery un-
less we. the shareholders in the enter
prise, maintain an active, lively, sus-
tanned interest in it. One thing is al
ways true of the house of repre-
sentatives-it is representative. If
we breathe warmly upon it, it CLOVIS
If we are Indifferent it becomes cold.
This isn't the first time that a plan
has been set in motion to find out
something about how the governments
business is conducted.
The earliest inquiry into the adj
mlniSrative methods Of the executive
departments was made by the Cockrell
commission in 1887. Six years later,
in 1898, a joint commission, of which
Representative DOckery was chairman,
was appointed to examine the status
of the laws organizing the depart
mentS President Roosevelt in 1903
named an interdepartmental committee,
Of which c. II. Keep, assistant secre-
tary of the treasury, was chairman, to
consider department methods. Presi-
dent Taft in turn, in 1910, named a
commission on economy and efficiency
of which Frederick Cleveland was
chairman.
Broadly and generally speaking,
nothing came Of these enterprises.
You and commonly and vaguely
known as the publiC-were not in
terested, and neither was congress.
That ended it.
But just now. at this moment. we
have the best chance we ever had to
find out about our common business
and how to improve it and lessen its
cost to us. The burden of supporting
it IS heavier than ever before.
You will perhaps notice all through
these articles that the information
supplied me about the general facts
Of government employment and govern
ment business are in terms of
estimates and approximations This
is one Of the defects Of government
organization. 1t is so large and SO
formless. and its parts so unrelated.
thqt exact and precise information
about the whole IS virtually unob-
taInabIe
It is of the greatest urgency and
need that the people shall know
about their government, but they will
find it difficult to learn until the gov
eminent knows about itself.