The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-05-16
An Appeal To Reorganize
Business Management
of Vermont

VI V SI IllOI1G IT,.
The full text of the letter by Gov
ernor Hartness to the budget committee
asking a conference TO consider a re-
organization of executive management of
the state of Vermont follows:
Montpelier, Vermont,
..-. May 4, 1922.
Members of the Budget Committee:
'As a result of our conference at Mont
pelier, Thursday, April 81, you will re
ceive a call for a meeting at which we
will consider ways and means of improy-
ing methods Of management of the state
business, with a view of ultimately pre-
pairing recommendations in keeping Win
the purpose set forth by the statute re
lating to this committee. The exact
status of the meeting can be determined
when we meet.
AT the conference, you will recall, L
stated in general terms that our methodS
of conducting our business, both IN othce
and in the work, are about % per cent
efficient; in other words, that the tax
payers pay twice as much as Is necessary
to gain a certain result; or, to state 1t in
still another way, for the present tax we
should. receive twice the value we are
now receiving.
'tFhis statement is not carelessly made.
You will recall that l indicated to YOU
that one way by which you could arrive
at this conclusion would be to compare
our methods with methods of business
conducted by highly developed corpora
tiOns in lines of work of similar nature.
By alternately observing the functiOning
of government offices and offices of we'll
managed private institutions, | believe
you viii readily come to the same CON
clusiOn-that the estimate of 30 per cent
efficiency for the government work is rat
ing it high rather than low.
f''These are general statements, but
should constitute one of the outstanding
conditions that we must recognize and
for which we should try to provide a
remedy. ..-t-.--.-
People Deserve Better Results.
The people of the state are entitled to
a much better use of the states money.
The money that is paid in taxes by the
people is taken from the funds needed IN
the home The sacrifices of family com
forts are made to gain better roads, bet
ter educational facilities, better general
conditions for living and working in Yer
mont. The voting for and payment of
high tax clearly indicates the readiness
of our people to contribute most gener-
ously for progress, particularly for prog
ress for the children and for the batter
ment of home conditions. 1t is an evil
dence of thrift. frugality and hard work
in the homes and in the field. 1t does
not, however, Indicate their approval of
extravaganza, wasteful and inefficient
methods of expenditure.
i believe it is necessary for the mem
bers of the committee to individually
visit and observe methods of private cor
porations in order to make a direct com
parisOn with our own methods.
ssAfter having recognized the gravity OF
the situation, our next move must be to
cOurageously indicate the necessary
fnr- ,ft ~
condition.
Up-tO-Date Recommendations.
Il believe our recommendations should
be in strictest conformity with an up-tO
date political economy. We should MAKE
our definition of political economy broad
enough to include the science that treat,
of methods that make the best use o.
human energies as well as the science o.
production and preservation of materia
wealth. With suchNa broad yet definite
purpose we should search for conditions
under which we as a people viii Obtain
the greatest progress. We viii find tina
one of the essentials of progress is a higl
spirit of interest and industry in GU
Offices and all branches of state work.
One of the most important ways o
determining the efficiency of an organiza
ton is to observe the nature of the spiri
of the group. The appearance of TIN
work differs radically from the appear
ance of the typical government type.
While we have a fine personnel in on
office as heads of departments, chiefs c
divisions, secretaries accountants an
other highly developed specialists, Their
is a lamentable lack of this spirit. Nc
that it applies to every Office or ever
individual, for the contrary is happil
true, that notwithstanding the woefr
handicap in certain divisions, we sti
have individuals and offices in which tn
work is being done with fairly high d.
gree of efficiency, but the painful fac
still remains that the spirit of our stat