Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1910 — MODERNIZING UNCLE SAM'S BUSINESS SYSTEMS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MODERNIZING UNCLE SAM'S BUSINESS SYSTEMS

LTHOUQH the ensuing seaA son will be In one sense what is known as. an offyear in governmental ac- . tivities, owing to the fact 1 mat there will be a “short fvOgW session" instead of a “long CsW I session" of congress, there IT'er will be inaugurated several projects of far-reaching Importance. Probably the most important of these new departures wul be the scheme for modernizing Uncle Sam’s business systems as represented In the routine of the departments at Washington and their “branch offices" scattered all over the country. This

la the undertaking which is one of the pet projects of President Taft and to carry it out congress has appropriated the stun of SIOO,OOO. Every since he entered the White House President Taft has been imbued with the conviction that the machinery of government could be operated at much lesß expense than has been the case for years past Among practical business men the Federal Covemment’s wasteful and costly method of carrying on Its business has for years been at once a joke and a reproach and Senator Aldrich of Bhode Island voiced the general opinion when he recently declared that he could administer the affairs of the biggest business institution on the continent and by the introduction of modern methods and policies save fully $300,000,000 a year over the present cost. The recent legislation by congress ■was designed merely to enable the president to start the ball rolling for reform in the conduct of the Federal businesa With SIOO,OOO set aside to inaugurate the work, the president is authorized to employ accountants and

experts from official and private life and to inquire into every phase of the methods of transacting the public business of the government in the several executive departments and other governmental establishments. It Is expected that many of the recommendations for reforms which will be made by these business physicians can be carried out promptly with no other authority than the order of the president, but where congressional action is necessary there is assurance that it will be forthcoming. The president has placed this entire overhauling of the governmental business systems In the hands of his very capable new secretary, Mr. Charles D. Norton, who had quite an interval of experience as assistant secretary of the treasury before coming to his pres-* ent post and who while In that department Inaugurated the “house cleaning” of the treasury’s business systems which became in effect the forerunner of the broad rejuvenation that Is now to sweep the entire Federal establishment. Mr. Norton has Invited the in the country, including such authorities on the subject as Maj. Charles Hlne, the reorganization experts of the Harriman lines, to submit written programs for governmental business reorganization and from these propositions he will select plans, to be carried out. It is the supposition that Mr. Norton’s private business experience as the proprietor of one of the largest general insurance agencies in the country for years before he entered the government service will stand him In good stead In selecting Improved business

systems for the government. While Mr. Norton will have the general direction of the new project he will have the assistance of a board of directors, as it were —a commission composed of one executive officer from each department and independent bureau at Washington and this commission will co-operate with the experts in bringing about the big reform. The present movement, it may bd"added, is not designed so much to enable the cuttinff off of a clerk here and there—although doubtless many clerks will be retired as a result of its economies—as to formulate an entirely new structure of business methods. Several of the government departments have started on overhauling of their business systems without waiting for the general reconstruction and what has been accomplished thus In piece-meal fashion gives a forecast of what may be expected later. In the U. S. land office, instance, bookkeeping methods have been so simplified that a single volume now holds the records tnat formerly required twenty-one different books. In one office 16 standard printed forms now do the work that formerly necessitated 83 different documents and in the postoffice department $175,000 a year is being saved In twine bills by means of a new tying device. Incidently it may he noted that some of the most radical economies that are expected as a result of Uncle Sam’s latest move are looked for in the mailing rooms of the departments where tons of government documents are wrapped, addressed and mailed each day.