Evening star., 1940-02-20
Kennedy 10 Set
Reorganization
Hearing Date
D. c. Subcommittee
Heed to Confer
With Dirksen

push through Congress III tne ueft
few weeks q plan for reorganixing
the District government 'in the in
terest of efficiency and economy"
As the first step Mr.. Kennedy,
who is chairman Of q special sub
committee of the House District
Committee in charge of reorgani8a-
tion legislation, arranged to fix q
date for q new series Of public hear
ings on the various proposals tor
modernizing the municipal machine.
The date will be determined at
conference he proposes to hold with
Representative Dirksen, ranking
minority member of the District
Committee.
Impetus was given the reorganiza-
ton plan at the Capitol following
receipt yesterday of the revised
edition of the program Of the Com
missioners, to which was attached
sundry suggestions and criticisms Of
Federal oficials who had previously
reviewed it.
Hasn't Received Copy.
Representative Kennedy said he
had not yet received an ofIlcial copy
OF the latest report Of the Com
missioners and therefore had no
comment to make. He plans, how
ever, to procure copy and study 1t
seriously, and then make a state
ment.
To avoid any further delay in
handling the reorganization pro-
gram, Mr.. Kennedy said he hoped
to be able to begin the new series
Of public hearings the latter part
OF the week.
MIR. Kennedy has his own bill for
reorganizing the municipal govern
ment now pending before his sub
committee, as well as the original
plan proposed by the Commissioners.
The Kennedy plan would create a
city manager as the administrative
head of the District and allow the
Commissioners to serve as the gov
erning body.
Proposed Advisory Council.
The Commissioners objected to
any change in the administrative
setup of the municipal government,
but proposed creation Of a citizens
advisory council of nine members
to advise them on tax, budget and
legislative problems.
Critiques Of the reorganization
plan Of the Commissioners came
from Harold D. Smith, director Of
the Budget Bureau; Secretary Of
War Woodring, Acting Secretary of
Interior Burlew, r. w. Elliott, acting
controllsr general, and Harry B.
Mitchell president Of the Civil Serv-
ice Commission. The severest criti-
cism was made by Mr.. Elliott, who
declared all efforts Of his ofice to
correct deficiencies in the revenue
accounts Of the District government
appeared to have been met with
. form of passive resistance"
Maj. Daniel ]. Donovan, District
auditor and budget ofIicer, said,
however, the annual report Of the
controller general for four or five
years, with the exception of last
year, contained substantially the
same criticism.
II am prepared to answer that
criticism" said Maj. Donovan. 1.-THE
whole matter was thoroughly dis
cussed by me and representatives
of the general accounting office
during hearings on the 1888 District
appropriation bill"
New Accounting System.
The discussion to which Mai.
Donovan referred concerned In part
a new accounting system which the
auditors office. on recommendation
of the General Accounting ONCE,
had placed in operation on July I,
1881, for trial period to determine
whether it could be operated effici-
emily and economically.
The record of the hearings shows
that Maj. Donovan, in response to
questions by Representative Cannon,
then chairman Of the appropriations
subcommittee. testified that he had
consistently opposed installation of
the new system in the auditors
Office because he believed the system
had been built around Federal con-
ditions and Federal Offices and be-
cause he didn't believe there was any
counterpart in the Federal service
Of the Office of the District auditor.
At the time Maj. Donovan ap-
peared before the subcommittee,
the system had been in operation
eight months. Asked If he thought
it had had fair trial, the auditor
said yes, and added: II am prepared
ut this time to say, without any
mental reservation, backed by my
years Of experience In the auditors
ofice, that the system will not
operate economically, nor will it
operate for purposes Of municipal
business efficiently"
Additional Employees Required.
Maj. Donovan contended the
new system would cost more to
operate and would not give as COM
plete and full information along
fiscal lines as the old system. He
said additional employees were re-
quired during the trial period, but
that the system did not work salts
factorily.
The record also shows that Arthur
r. Pilksrton, principal assistant
auditor, who had been charged with
the responsibility OF determining
whether the new accounting system
could operate satisfactorily, also tes-
tined 1t was much more expensive
and that he could see no advantages
In operation Of the new system
which could not be secured under
the old system.
In his testimony, Maj. Donovan
recalled that in 1928 the General
Accounting ONCE recommended in
stallation Of the system in the audi
tors Office. He said he made q very
careful study Of the report and
decided that the system would not
work effectively, eniciently or eco
nomically.
II did not agree with the views
OF recommendations exnressed hv