Evening star., 1923-08-05
NEW BUREAU TO HELP
PRESIDENT PROPOSED
Would Take All Routine Business Off
Shoulders of Chief Executive,
Relieving Strain.

are working in harmony with each
other, of settling such disputes as
may arise between them In respect to
their several jurisdictions and, gen
orally. of doing those things which
will insure smooth working of the
several parts of the administrative
machine
Source of Inform alton.
If the President is to perform
these duties. it is evident that means
must be provided by which he can
currently keep in touch with the
operation of the departments and
their several needs. Information of
this kind is to be secured only by the
organization of a system of records
and accounts and the requirements
of periodical reports of operations
and financial transactions that will
enable him from day to day, week to
week. or month to month, to deter
mine how administrative affairs are
being conducted and obligations are
being met In addition, he must have
the means by which he can make
such special investigation or inquiries
into the organization and operations
of particular services as circum-
stances may require.
1T is imperative, therefore. that he
shall be provided with technical as
sistance that will enable him to do
this work, This assistance should
take the form of the creation of a
special service, to be known as the
bureau of general administration.
which should be attached directly to
the office of the President and be the
agency through which he may dis
charge his duties as general manager.
1T should be made perfectly clear
that the bureau as such should sbe
given no powers of it's own All
grant of powers in respect to the
control of the administrative services
should be made to the chief executive.
The bureau should be made merely
the executive agency of the chief ex-
ecutive through which the latter
exercises these powers. Everything
that it does will. therefore, be done in
pursuance of orders or authorizations
given to it by the chief executive.
Bureau Not Executive.
1T should be made equally clear
that the bureau has no responsible
ties from the executive standpoint.
Its function. acting on behalf of the
chief executive, should be solely those
of formulating the general rules and
regulations governing administrative
matters which the chief executive is
authorized to issue, and of seeing that
these rules and regulations are put
into effect. and of examining and
compiling the data called for in order
that the chief executive may, with a
minimum of labor, and maximum of
knowledge, take the action which the
information SO secured calls for
IF the President is given bureau
of general administration. such as is
here outlined, he will have two sub
ordinate services to assist him in the
performance of his duties-the Office
of his present secretary. which will
attend to all his duties of general
and political character, and the new
bureau of general administration.
which will attend to his duties of
purely administrative character
Since the budget and accounting
act has gone into effect w. F. Will
loughby, director of the institute, has
emphasized that while the bureau of
the budget is made bureau of the
Treasury Department. the law pro-
vides that the President shall pre-
scribe in general terms the regula-
tions under which the bureau shall
operate. Throughout the law the
bureau is recognized as the direct
agency of the President in all matters
connected with the estimates for the
support of the government. Even
appointments are made and the COM
pensation of employees fixed by the
director of the bureau.
Result Of Compromise.
This rather anomalous situation of
bureau in an executive depa rtment
acting directly as the agent of the
President is the result of a compro-
mise between the House and the Sen
ate. The bill as it passed the House
provided that the. bureau should be
attached to the executive office; the
Senate amended it to make the bureau
an integral part of the Treasury De-
partment. While the Secretary of the
Treasury is given no direct control
over the operations of the bureau of
the budget. the mere fact that it is
institutionally a part of his. depart
ment gives him a certain amount of
influence over it's activities. While
it is not vital to the operation of the
bureau of the budget that it be placed
directly under the President, it is be-
lieved that better results will be
achieved if the Treasury Department
has no administrative connection with
this organization. There is certainly
no danger of a loss in efficiency, and
it is not unlikely that under many
circumstances better results will fol-
low" says DR.. Willoughby, speaking
for the Institute for Government Re-
search