Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-31

ulIeCl DeueIlL. But you uU llUl iettl-
ize what would be the fatigue and
the WEAKNESS of working through
the whole year without any such
change.
ton of the budget system there was
no coordination In estimating and
very little in appropriating, there
was little or no coordination in ex-
pending public funds. As an illus
tration the disposition made of sur
Plus property may be cited. Each
bureau or holding agency was car
rying on this work in it's own way
and amazing as it may seem it is
actually true that at one place the
government was selling at q sacri-
flee supplies that it was buying at
current market prices at another.
Chance for Sharp Practices.
Thus 1t was possible for those
who engage in sharp practices to
buy something from one govern
mental agency at price below pro-
duction cost and turn around and
sell 1t to another governmental
agency at substantial profit. Again
instances have been known in which
one department would purchase
desks and other office furniture
while another department had
surplus supply of the identical
equipment that was going to wreck
and ruin in storage.
This sort of thing was stopped
by the creation of a liquidation
board to coordinate the sale of all
surplus property, to provide for
transfers between various govern
mental agencies, to weld the sales
activities of the several depart
ments into a federal business as
ISOLATION and to install practical
business methods. A total of $780,
100000 was turned into the treas
ury during the fiscal year Just
closed from the sale of supplies and
1t is estimated that sum almost
as large will be realized during the
current year.
But this is only part of the story.
The lighthouse service of the de-
partment of commerce was about to
|spend S1,500,0C0 for lighthouse,
tenders. Mine planters purchased
during the war which were idle
and practically valueless were made
over into tenders and the million
and a half was saved. Dredges
that would have cost $349,500 were
required by the engineer branch OF
the army. Surplus vessels were
transferred from the quartermaster
corps. There are numerous other
examples of similar economies that
come under the head of combon-
sense business and the aggregate
saving to Uncle Sam runs into large
figures Even more important
perhaps, is the moral effect on Of
ficials and employees who are see
ing that slipshod, hit or miss
methods are no longer in vogue in
the federal service.
In the matter Of government
purchasing the work of co-ordina-
ton has been likewise effective.
Twenty-six separate and distinct
department are being consolidated
and organized on an efficiency basis
and the same thing has already
been done with eighteen such
agencies in the department of ag-
riculture. In fact, there was need
for reform in this line in all the de-
partments except the navy where
the buying has been done in d
thoroughly co-ordinated way for
some years.
Real Estate Listed.
Still another field for the appli-
cation of business methods has
been found in dealing with the real
estate and rental problem. Neces-
sarily the government owns a vast
amount of realty, wharves, ware
houses, storage buildings, ETC., but
up to the present time there has
such property. One of the results
of this deficiency, which is now
being remedied, has been that in
the same cities one government
agency had property that was not
being utilized while another rented
less desirable and less suitable
space.
For example, army depots in
Brooklyn and Boston afforded
storage space that was not being
used, while the government was
paying $275,000 annually for places
| in which to store seized liquor in
those cities. A bit of coordination
and that snug little rental item
was saved. Again, in Chicago it
was found possible to cancel leases
costing 100000 every year by
making available government
owned property that was standing
idle, and substantial savings are be-
ing accomplished in almost every
other large city in the country. This
| is just what the real estate depart
ment of any large corporation
would be doing and there Is moth
| ing new or startling about 1t ex-
cept that the government hasn't
been doing for the last forty or
fifty years.
other co-ordinating activities
now under way include federal
board of hospitlization, a federal
specifications board, the restric-
ton and control of government
printing plants and printing, the or
ganization of telephone and cable
operations and federal traffic
board.
The latter agency is especially inn
portant in view of the fact that the
government pays an annual trans