The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-08
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
; Information Bureau
frederic ,. HAsKnN. Dlreceor.
Washington. d. O
GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
ANATXZED

| cent publication Dy Ine institute Luz
Government Research entitled 1.-The
National Park Service has brought
to the attention of congressman and
I departmental executives in Washing
ton an important activity now going
on in their midst. The executive
branch of the government for the
first time is being analysed, inven-
toried. and put down on paper. In a
few months or years. at most. TINS
great organization which we call the
government which employs directly
the services of 100000 persons, and
which is so vast, and intricate that
even those best acquainted with 1t
are continually being surprised by its
activities, will be an open book 10
those who take the trouble to read
this admirable series of bulletins.
The Institute for Government Re
search IS an Outgrowth and further
development of President Tafts COM
mission on efficiency and economy. 1t
is, however, no longer an official or
ganization, but is supported wholly by
now consists of a body of trained po-
1itical scientists who as volunteer
agents for the public are studying the
government with the view eventually
of making it more efficient The di-
rector of this work, is W. F. Willough-
by, who was a member of the Taft
commission. The chairman Of the in
stitute is DR.. Robert S. Brookings,
who during the war welded enormous
power Nas chairman of the price fix
ing committee of the war industries
board.
The object of the institute is. as
stated, to bring about greater eff
cheney in the operation of the gov
eminent departments; but before re-
orga nizing an executive mechanism it
is necessary to know what that
mechanism is doing. Away back in
President Taft's administration the
commission on efficiency and economy
discovered that no one knew what the
government was doing. The work was
too great and too ramified to be COM
passed by any one mind Work was
being duplicated and Implicated in
numerous instances because one,
branch Of the government was I'M
aware that some other branch was
engaged in the same line of research.
Because of the size of the government
and because of the way in which the
various departments had been built
up, it was impossible for any one di-
recting head to know the details of
what was going on
Consequently, it was decided that
the first step in reform must be an
inventory of all government activities
This job the Institute for Government
Research tackled soon after it was
organized in 1916. 1t adopted the
simple plan of going into the various
bureaus one by one and showing the
work each was doing. When all have
been analysed in this way. the dupli-
cations of effort will show up auto
matically. Two buPeaus-the recla-
nation service and the geological sur
vey-were investigated in 1915 and
1917. Then the war came along and
stopped the work for two years or 81.
Great Work Already, Done.
When the institute once more or
ganized its staff it took up the task
again with vigor. Twenty-three mon
ographs, each one dealing with the
work of a separate executive division
of the government, now either have
been published or are nearing
publication. About forty. other in
vestigationS are planned at press
ent, and some of them are being
made, and it is possible that the
monographs will be close to 100 in
number before the whole government
is analyzed. Besides the monographs
gical survey, those now published in
clude studies of the bureau of mines,
Alaskan engineering commission, fed
eral board or vocational education,
federal trade commission, tariff COM
mission, steamboat inspection service,
employees compensation commission,
weather bureau, bureau of education,
women'S bureau, children,s bureau
and the national park service.
While the monographs primarily are
not intended for popular consump-
ton, but are written for the guidance |
of legislators and administrators, they
them are Of broad general interest. |
The new one on the national park
service sketches the history of the
national parks and monuments from |
the year 1906, when Lewis and Clark |
missed discovering the Yellowstone by |
about fifty miles, to the creation of |
the national park service in 1915. |
and the addition of the latest of the |
national parks-Hot Springs-only |
last year.
Oldest National Park.
Incidentally, the monograph settles
the old dispute of whether Hot
Springs or the Yellowstone is the old |
est of the national parks. Hot |
Springs was set aside as reservation |
in 1882, and 1t was forty years later |
that the Yellowstone National park |
was created by act of congress. Yet
the latter was the first true national |
park in the sense that it was to be a |
region developed for the pleasure of |
the public. Hot Springs was merely |
reserved to prevent the medicinal wa
ters from being exploited by private |
ownership. |
The establishing OF Yellowstone Ma |
tiOnal park was a romantic episode. |
The marvels of that region were dis |
covered in 1907 by John Golfer, a /
hunter who had been attached to the |
Lewis and Clark expedition. 1t was /
the fate of Golfer and the other white |
men who went into the YELLOWSTONE |
district during the next half century /
to be disbelieved when they told their |
stories of the spouting water and mud |
from the geysers. In fact, the region /
was at first derisively called Col
ter's He'll"
In 1869 a reliable expedition of
Montanans explored the Yellowstone, |
verified the preceding reports of it, /
and published the discoveries. This /
was followed tho next year by the 4
exploration made by the Washburn-
Doane expedition. which took in a |
military escort detailed by the war de-
partment. This expedition brought /
about the creation of the park, and /
gave birth to the national park idea /
which has since worked out in the /
national park system as we know it |
TODAY