The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-07-28
Frederick Haskin's Letter


Washinstoa. d G. July H.-The
United States government Is the
biggest business Institution in the
word. It was big n the dayS when
Uncle Joe Cannon feplied to criti-
cism Of = -btllion dollar congress"
by stating that "this 10 . billion
dollar country" and then addAnG
that this country ID = hell Of =
success. It II much larger now.
1t has not grown % ordinary bus
mess establishments grow BY the
application Of strictly business
methods and principles, however.
II Is not q monument to efiiciency
rules and practices. AicDmmerciAl,
Industrial or financial institNtion
that had attained such proportions
would owe its success to astute and
careful management and would Be
30 organised that It would function
like a Swiss watch. Not 30 with
the United States government It
has grown to its present size sim
ply because nothing could stop or
retard its growth and in spite Of
unbusinesslike methods that would
have wrecked I private enterprise
before it got fairly started.
But now all this Ii being chang
ed. At last government has come
to be regarded as business and
an earnest effort is being made to
put the CONDUCT of public affairs
ON a basis comparable to that which
earns dividends in the every day
commercial world. Moreover, the
effort is getting results that can be
measured in dollars and cents.
Reorganization OF the admins.
trative branch Of the government
was promised and undertaken
months ago, but it has been de-
lAyed by controversies between de.
partment and bureau heads. This
would not seem to augur well for
the new order of things and has
discouraged some Of the ardent I'D.
vocates Of up-to-date business
methods in government. However
real progress has been made in
the desired direction through q sc.
ries Of executive orders requiring
coordination and cooperation amons
officials and between agencies thai
emily.
Just as previous to the instAlla.
ton of the budget system there was
no coordination in estimating and
very little in appropriating. there
was little or no coordination id ex.
pending public funds. AS an il
lustration the disposition made Of
surplus property may be cited
Each bureau or holding agency wa:
carrying on this work in it's owl
way and amazing as it may seen
: it is actually true that at one plac,
the government was selling at /;
sacrifice supplies that it was buy
ing at current market prices a
another.
i Chance for Sharp Practices.
Thus it was possible for thos
who engage in sharp practices t
buy something from one govern
mental agency at a price belo,
production cost and turn aroun
and sell 1t to another governmental
agency at a substantial profit
Again, instances have been know
in which 2one department wqpl
purchase desks and other offic
: furniture while another department
had a surplus supply Of the iden
teal equipment that was going
wreck and ruin In storage.
This sort of thing was stoppe
by the creation of a liquidatio
board to coordinate the sale of al
surplus property, to provide 70
transfers between various govern
mental agencies, to weld the sale
! activities of the several depart
ments into a federal business az
sociation and to install practica
business methods. A total of $50,
100000 was turned into the treas
ury during the fiscal year jus
closed from the sale of supple
and it is estimated that a sum al
, most as large will be realized dur
ing the current year.
But this is only part of the story
The lighthouse service of the de
partment of commerce was abou
to spend $1,500,000 for lighthous
tenders. Nine planters purchase
! during the war which were idle an
practically valueless were mac
/. over into tenders and the million
and half were saved. Dredges tina
; would have cost $349,5 were re
quired by the engineer branch c