Page images
PDF
EPUB

to the Commission for the Standardization of Screw Threads. Some of them are justified in their status no doubt; others are not. They are due in great measure to the fact that the Federal Government is but now entering into new fields of activity.

It is impossible, however, to eliminate all duplication and all overlapping by any system of organization. Every department, however organized, must purchase supplies; many must liquidate stocks; all must occupy office space; and many must use motor transportation. Hence an overlapping of functions is bound to occur. To minimize waste in this regard the Federal Government has recently inaugurated a system of liaison officers and coördinating boards which may very well be exemplified by the states. At present these agencies are eight in number.

The first is the Federal Purchasing Board, which is made up of the chief purchasing officer of each department and a chief coördinator appointed by the President as chairman. Its functions are to prevent competition between the different departments and, wherever possible, to effect the economies of largescale purchasing. The Federal Liquidation Board has been organized upon the same principles for the sake of coördinating the sales of the large surplus stocks the departments have accumulated. It is no longer the practice of any department to dispose of its stock without reference to the needs of others. The custom of doing so resulted at the close of the war in the purchase of goods from one department by specu

lators who sold them to other departments at enormous profits. Supplementing these boards are the corps area coördinators, who locate and inspect surplus stocks, and supervise the purchasing functions of the several departments and establishments in their respective geographic areas.

The surveyor general, in turn, determines in what manner and to what extent the premises of the Government of the United States outside the District of Columbia shall be occupied and used by the various departments and bureaus. He may assign and reassign room in such a manner as seems to him conducive to the greatest efficiency.

A Federal Motor Transport Agent has been created for the purpose of introducing flexibility into the assignment of motor vehicles to the departments. It was discovered that the rule of absolute fixed assignments was working a hardship upon the Government. The motor transport of one department might well be overtaxed, when there were motor vehicles standing idle in other departments. Civilian trucks were frequently being hired by departments to do work which government trucks, had they been efficiently distributed, could readily have performed. Thus a saving in this respect is looked for. The overlapping of service and duplication of effort, however, are nowhere more apparent than in the conduct of traffic. Through the Federal Traffic Board's efforts, a considerable saving in the Government's $200,000,000 traffic bill is anticipated.

Finally a Specification Board has been established. The duty of this board is to compile and adopt standard specifications for materials and services, and to bring specifications into harmony with the best commercial practice wherever conditions permit.

These coördinating agencies have been found exceedingly useful in the Federal Government, and the states and counties would do well to follow the example there set.

Suggested Reading

Beard, Charles A. American Government and Politics. (1924)

CHAPTER XVIII

RECRUITING FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICE

Approximately three and one-half million people constitute the civil service of the United States, Federal, state, and local. Through their hands pass yearly, some nine billion dollars, constituting, so it was estimated in 1921, one eighth of the total income of the country. Their salaries alone reach almost four billion dollars. These facts may, perhaps, give some conception of the size of the Government's employment problem, which in itself warrants serious attention. And that this is not an abnormal situation caused by the war, a study of prewar statistics indicates. In fact, these statistics show that we can expect the problem to be accentuated in point of size through the expansion of the state and municipal activities which were curbed by the war.

It is not the size of the problem alone, however, that calls it to our attention. The strategic location of Government officials in relation to our entire social life in itself makes the matter of utmost importance. Illustrations of this might be drawn from almost any branch of the service. The lives of millions of tenants in our cities depend upon the capacity and honesty of

the building inspectors not only with respect to fire, but also with respect to the construction of the buildings themselves. To a greater degree, perhaps, is the public dependent upon the health service in its varied phases. Carelessness in connection with the water supply may at any time result in an epidemic. Dishonesty in food inspection may have equally dire results. It was the maladministration of the San Francisco Board of Health that was to blame for the entrance of bubonic plague into this hemisphere; for at the time of the San Francisco Exposition they refrained from taking active steps in stamping out a local epidemic from fear that the news of the local infection might injure the success of their project.

Illustrations might be multiplied but sufficient have already been cited to indicate the catastrophic consequences of inefficiency and dishonesty in the government service. Mention should also be made of the gains that have accrued to society when high-grade men have filled the posts. Perhaps the most outstanding example of this was the discovery of the cause of yellow fever by an army physician. The gains which have already accrued to humanity through this discovery can never be calculated.

It is imperative, therefore, that these governmental positions be filled with the highest grade of men obtainable. How can it be done?

In general, two ways have existed. One is popularly known as the "spoils system"; the other is the “merit system." The former is the traditional and still ex

« PreviousContinue »