Evening star., 1937-01-12

Government, even as the legislative
power Of the National Congress and
the judicial in the Supreme Court.
What I am placing before you is
not the request for more power, but
for the tools of management and the
authority to distribute the work so
that the President can effectively dis
charge those powers which the Con-
stitution now places upon him. Un-
less we are prepared to abandon this
important part OF the Constitution,
we must equip the presidency with
authority commensurate with his re-
sponsibilities under the Constitution.
The Committee on Administrative
Management, after a careful examina-
ton Of recent attempts to reorganize
the Government and OF State reorgani-
Zation carried out so ably by Gov.
Frank o. Lowden in Illinois, Gov.
Alfred E. Smith in New York, Gov.
Harry F. Byrd in Virginia, Gov. Will
liam Tudor Gardiner in Maine, and
by other Governors. accepts the view
held by my distinguished predecessors
that the detailed work of reorgani-
cation Is, as President Theodore
Roosevelt said over 30 years ago, "es-
sentially executive in its nature" The
committee accordingly recommends
that reorganization should be a con-
tinuing duty and authority of the
Chief Executive on the basis Of stand
ards set by the Congress. To make
this safe, the committee insists, how
ever, that the Congress keep watch
full eye upon reorganization both
through the annual budget and
through the maintenance Of strict
executive accountability to the Con-
gress under the independent audit OF
all financial transactions by an
auditor general. Under the proposed
plan the Congress must by law estab-
lish the major departments and de-
termine in advance the general prln-
ciples which shall guide the President
in distributing the work Of the Gov
ernment among these departments
and in this work of the Government
among these departments, and in this
task the President is to act on the
basis of careful research by the
Bureau of the Budget and after con-
ference with those primarily affected.
Reorganization is not mechanical
task, but a human task, because gov
ernment is not a machine, but living
organism. With these clear safe
guards, and in view of our past mud
ding with reorganization. one can
not but accept the logic ana wisdom
of the recommendations.
Important Step
In U. S. History.
Iwould not have you adopt this FIVE
point program. however, without real
izing that this represents an important
step in American history. If We do
this, We reduce from over 100 down to
a dozen the operating executive agen-
cies of the Government, and we bring
many little bureaucracies under broad.
co-ordinated democratic authority.
But in so doing we shall know that
we are going back to the Constitution
and giving the executive branch mod
ern tools of management and an up
to-date organization which will enable
the Government to go forward efil-
ciently. We can prove to the world
that American Government is both
democratic and effective.
In this program I invite your CO.
operation, and pledge myself to deal
energetically and promptly with the
executive responsibilities of reorgan-
ization and administrative manage
ment, when you shall have made this
possible by the necessary legislation.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.
The White House,
January IL, 1887.