Evening star., 1943-02-12
u. ). Questionnaires
Impede War Effort,
Byrd Group Charges
Joint Committee
Says Agencies Have
Excessive Quiz-Monio'

and often unintelligible quiz mania" "
OF Federal bureaus, the Byrd Com
mittee on Reduction of Non-essen-
tial Federal Expenditures, in a re-
port to Congress, charged that this
plethora of questionnaires actually
impedes the war effort.
The report shows that 48 Govern
ment agencies required answers
from the public to 7.O25 separate
questionnaires from July /, l941. to
December !, 1912. This figure does
not include reports requested by the
Agricultural Adjustment Admins
tration, the Farm Credit Admins
tration and the Bureau of Agricul-
tural Economics. Those agencies did
not furnish the committee this in
formation.
The OPA led all the agencies with
1,096 questionnaires. WPB was sec
ond with TAI and the Agriculture
Department third with 642, exclu-
sive of the three agencies already
mentioned.
Can't Estimate Cost.
The committee said 1t had not
been able to learn how many cop
les of the questionnaires had been
distributed, but it was known that
the OPA has requested statistical
data on 7,7l5 ,229 report forms, ex-
elusive of rationing blanks and in
structions.
ut is impossible to estimate the
cost of preparing, analyzing and
tabulating these reports on the part
of the Government" the committee
said, but this cost is necessarily
high. The nearest approximate esti-
mate that can be used is that Of
Joseph I. Lubin, chairman of the
WPB Committee for Review of Data
Requests From Industry who de-
clared that the WPB has eliminated
20 per cent of the existing forms and
reports. and according to Mr.. Lubin
has thereby released the equivalent
of $4,000 men working every day
which means a saving of 10000 900
man hours year now consumed in
compiling such reports"
The cost to private industry of
preparing answers to these question:
paires has been colossal in COM
parison with the benefits derived
by the Government, and the task of
preparing them has confused and
discouraged many private business
enterprises engaged in essential war
work, the committee added
Reports Called Needless.
The committee also said that it
could not escape the conclusion that
"one of the chief sources of un-
popularity, irritation and resent
ment in connection with rationine
and price controls" grows out of
the needless, too complex, reports
demanded by the Government
The committee made two major
recommendations, as follows
The Budget Bureau should be
given increased power to stop ques-
tionnaires and should endeavor tc
prepare master, or overall, report
forms which. when filled out BY
industry, could be made accessible
to the agencies needing the infor
nation
Congress should step in and limit
/ the amount OF money made avail.
able in appropriations bills to de.
partments ard agencies for issuing
forms and questionnaires.
The committee commended the
Bureau of the Budget for accept
ing all-over control of question
naires" with the idea of reducing
their number, but said the bureau
had been circumvented in some in
stances by use Of so-called admin
lstrative FORMS requesting statis-
teal data at great length.
Special Complaints.
! The committee gave its opinion
+ that so to rs per cent of all the re.
/ ports could be eliminated "Withou,
in any way impairing the necessary
/ records of the Government"
Among the special complaints made
by the committee were
That there had been no attempt
at uniformity in preparing the forms
The purpose and use OF many
forms were not clear.
Identical information was re.
quested by several agencies.
Many questions were couched il
language too technical for business
men to understand.
The forms were not constructed