The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-08-17

49,. 20 AAl.- . t---- -
OUR COSTLY NEGLIGENCE

wv
Coordination" Is q tired, haggard,
nervous. wreck Of q word that was
nearly worked to death at, Washington
during the early days, OF the war. 1t
was the first Of the doIlar-a-year words
to come forward to do war work, and
It was worn to a fragile. I hats to
drag the poor wan thing out from the
quiet retreat in my dictionary wherts
1t has been resting and recuperating,
but I must say that this lack Of CO
ordination, lack OF organization, du-
plication, inefieiency, waste, and hap
hazard hodge-podge structure of the
national governmental machine 10 no
secret to those at Washington, who
run and manage 1t for us, and who are
ever more directly responsible than
we are for the condition into which
1t has fallen. ,er
I submit pleas of avoidance and
confession from both Democrats and
Republicans. It is not a matter Of
politics. 1t Is a matter of proved and
confessed negligence o 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 ana =
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 I 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.
! said j had confessions. Here they
are, Reed Smoot, Republican and q
senator from Utah, speaking:
The administrative branches Of the
government nave undergone no funda-.
mental change since the organizations was
devised by Alexander Hamilton. s% !.
No other government In h world
could q " gone on as ours q done, and
paid the bills involved In our wasteful
methods OF administration. We have been
able to do ii because this country has
had resources and wealth unparalleled.
But the war has brought us at last to
realize that these win not last always.
situation de ovo by q committee of man
willing to recognize that It III = task OF
day and night for . year. and very HksIy,
two years %%Ss *%sS*$
There ID endless duplication OF work
among different departments. and evsn
In the same department. It ID
the same through all the government
functions, and now, when the burden Of
carrying our enormous debt II weighing
on the people. we can nd longer neglect
to give II consideration.
#5Fvryr.1r L. rS.sS az ~.
Smoot was urging q 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 Qf relationship which
exists between c6nxfess ana the execn~
tive departments ~ Fundamentally wrong.
spring to- the appropriations committees
"a both house and senate, teIltnG t1em
that i would tomorroW discharge Il Dor
cent of the employees of the Navy 10
spArtrnent lie they. the romnaittoes. would
rive nae complete authority to- take one
half sof b salaries Of the employees no
discharged and odd Il 10 d salaries of
Il other - per cent Of the Amployoes
still left in the department. Or
course. however, under the present sys-
ten congress would not think at gtvine
executive discretion of this kind.
Congress, for various reasons, has 70
tiod the banda OF the executive of1cara
of thu 9cvernment thAt they hav III dls-s
crstion in fundAMsntAl questions III
s1nplcyment. Ay.lown wandsr =