The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-05-17

The full text of Governor James
Hardness communication to the bud.
get committee of which a brief syn.
opsis appeared in Mondays Banner,
is as follows
Montpelier, Vermont
May a, 1922
Members of the Budget Committee
"As result of our conference at
Montpelier, Thursday, April q, you
will receive a call for a meeting at
which we will consider ways an&
means Of improving methods Of man
agement of the states business, with
a view Of ultimately preparing recon-
mendations in keeping with the pur.
pose set forth by the statute relating
to this committee. The exact status
of the meeting can be determined
when we meet
"At the conference, you win recall
! stated. in general terms that our
methods Of conducting our business.
both in Office and in the work, are
about fifty 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 it in still
another way, for the present tax we
should receive twice the value we are
now receiving.
This statement is not carelessly
made You will recall that ! indicat-
ed to you that one way by which you
could arrive at this conclusion would
be to compare our methods with meth
DDS Of business conducted by highly
developed corporations in lines of
work of similar nature. BY alternate.
ly observing the functioning of gov.
eminent offices and Offices of well
managed private institutions, believe
you will readily come to the same
conclusion-that the estimate of fifty
per cent efficiency for the government
work is rating It high rather than low.
These are general statements, but
should constitute one of the outstand.
ing conditions that we must recognize
and for which we should try to provide
a remedy.
The people of the state are entitled
TO much better use Of th6NState's
money The money that is paid in
taxes By the people is taken from the
funds needed in the home The sacri-
fees of family comforts are made to
gain better roads letter educational
facilities, better general conditions for
living and working IN Vermont The
voting for and payment OF high tax
clearly indicates the readiness of our
people to contribute most generously
for progress, particularly for progress
for the children and TO- the better
ment Of the home conditions II is an
evidence Of thrift, frugalty and hard
work in the homes and in the field.
It does not. however, indicate their
approval of extravagant, wastefu and
inefficient methods of expenditure
u believe it is necessary for the
M mbers OF the comm ttee to individ
uaily visit and observe methods of
private corporations in order TO make
a direct comparison with our own
methods
After having recognized the gray
ity OF the situation, our next move
must be to eourageously indicate the
necessary means for correction OF this
unfortunate condition
Il believe our recommendations
should be in strictest Uniformity with
an up-todate political economy We
should make our definition of political
economy broad enough to include the
science that treats of methods that
make the best use Of human energies
as well as the science OF ~~oduction
and preservation OF material wealth,
With such a broad, yet definite, pur
pose we should search for cond lions
under which we as people will OBJ
tain the greatest progress We will
find that one Of the essentials Of pro-
gress is a high spirit OF interest and
industry in our Offices and all branch
es of state work
zone of the most important ways
Of determining the efficiency of an
organization is to observe the nature
of the spirit Of the group. The appear.
ance OF the spirit of industry and in
terest In the work differs radically
from the appearance of the typical
government type,
while we have a fine personnel in
our Office as heads of departments,
chiefs~of divisions, secretaries, &C.
eountants and other highly developed
specialists, there is a lamentable lack
Of this spirit. Not that 1t applies to
every office or every individual, for
the contrary is happily true, that not
withstandng the woeful handicap IN
certain divisions, we still have indi-
yiduals and Offices in which the work
is being done with a fairly high de-
gree of efficiency, but the painful fact
still remains that the spirit of our
state work Lays so far behind the
spirit of properly developed organi2a-
tions of. similar magnitude, that the
time has come for us to make what
ever recommendation may he neccs-
sary to get rid of this handicap II Is
a condition that is found in nearly
all governmental Offices. On one hand
it furnishes fuel for anarchy and ON
the other hand an opportunity for Us
70 make recommendations the effect
Of which will he felt in every home,
thereby lesean.ng the state tax bur.
den fifty per cent, or by doubling the
advantages that come from the expen
ture of our state tax money,
I'VE must recognize that a change
in an organiZat on a complicated as
one that deals with our states bust
ness can only be ACCOMPLISHED by the