Reprinted from National Municipal Review, Vol. XI, No. 7, July, 1922. 
 
 NEBRASKA’S REORGANIZED STATE 
 ADMINISTRATION 
 
 t 
 
 BY A. E. BUCK 
 
 New York Bureau of Municipal Research 
 
 The reorganization in 1917 of the Illinois state administration into 
 j v -j - an orjdwly group of departments has already been copied by several 
 statesy as related in our pamphlet '^Administrative Consolidation in 
 State Governments.^^ The results in Illinois are dealt with in our 
 pamphlet "Administrative Reorganization in Illinois.'^ The Ne¬ 
 braska reorganization of 1919 has now reached the point where the re¬ 
 sults are demonstrable^ as set forth in this article prepared after a 
 visit by the writer to Lincoln. :: :: :: :: :: :: 
 
 irRArtV dr iriii 
 
 War lo im 
 
 One of the most unusual and sig¬ 
 nificant things that has ever happened 
 in American state administration, took 
 place this year in Nebraska. Gover¬ 
 nor McKelvie called a special session 
 of the legislature during the closing 
 days of January to cut down the appro¬ 
 priations for the current biennium that 
 began July 1, 1921. In less than a 
 year after the legislature had made the 
 appropriations for the biennial period, 
 the governor knew that nearly one- 
 tenth of the total sum appropriated for 
 state activities could be saved. In 
 order to give the people of the state the 
 advantage of an immediate saving in 
 the reduction of their taxes, he called 
 the legislature together. By a special 
 message he instructed that body to re¬ 
 peal the law making appropriations 
 for the bienniuna and enact an appro¬ 
 priation bill carrying the reductions 
 recommended by him. The legislature 
 followed the governor’s recommenda¬ 
 tions, the result being that the total 
 appropriations for the biennium were 
 reduced from $22,451,666.33 to $20,- 
 399,910.48—a reduction of $2,051,755.- 
 85. This reduction made it possible 
 to cut the state tax levy for the second 
 year of the biennium from three to two 
 mills, or 333^ per cent. 
 
 10.0 .1 iuiNT-) 
 
 THE 1919 CODE 
 
 What enabled Governor McKelvie 
 to do this, and how did he get the facts 
 upon which to act? The answer is 
 found in the operation of the central¬ 
 ized and responsible system of admin¬ 
 istration established by the civil ad¬ 
 ministrative code. This code was 
 enacted by the 1919 legislature and 
 went into effect in August 1919. It 
 eliminated twenty-four statutory 
 boards, commissions, and agencies, and 
 consolidated their functions under six 
 departments; namely, finance, agricul¬ 
 ture, labor, trade and commerce, public 
 works, and public welfare. The code 
 vests the civil administration of the 
 state in the governor, who has as his 
 chief assistants the six department 
 heads. These heads are called secre¬ 
 taries and are appointed by the gov¬ 
 ernor with the consent of the legis¬ 
 lature. While they are appointed for 
 a definite term of two years, they may 
 be removed at any time by the gov¬ 
 ernor. Each secretary receives an 
 annual salary of $5,000. All subordi¬ 
 nate officers and employees of the 
 code departments are appointed by the 
 department heads with the approval 
 of the governor. Departmental regu- 
 
 1 
 
2 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW 
 
 lations are prepared by the secretaries 
 and are promulgated with the gov¬ 
 ernor’s approval. 
 
 The code administration has now 
 been in actual operation for almost 
 three years. The important results 
 that have been brought about by the 
 application of the code during this 
 period are: (1) the integration and 
 departmentalization of related activi¬ 
 ties of the state government; (2) the 
 application of the cabinet idea to the 
 work of the state administration; (3) 
 the establishment of a budget system 
 with uniform financial control over 
 state expenditures; (4) the installation 
 of a central accounting system; (5) the 
 establishment of a system of employ¬ 
 ment and personnel control; and (6) 
 the inauguration of a state purchasing 
 system. 
 
 RELATED ACTIVITIES DEPARTMEN¬ 
 TALIZED 
 
 The co-ordination of related activities 
 of the state government is one of the 
 most important accomplishments of 
 the code system. It took activities 
 that were operating independently of 
 each other but that were part of the 
 same major function of government 
 and brought them together into one 
 department with a single administra¬ 
 tive head. In this way definite re¬ 
 sponsibility has been fixed for each field 
 of work. This arrangement has not 
 only greatly increased the output of the 
 services rendered, but it has tended to 
 reduce the cost of operating the govern¬ 
 ment. All departments are now 
 located at the state capital, whereas 
 some of the agencies used to be located 
 at various points over the state. 
 
 One of the most important of the 
 code departments, since Nebraska is 
 mainly an agricultural state, is the de¬ 
 partment of agriculture. The func¬ 
 tions of five independent agencies 
 
 [July 
 
 whose activities related to agriculture 
 were consolidated in this department. 
 Not only was the work of these agen¬ 
 cies brought together into one depart¬ 
 ment, but it was systematized and 
 arranged into five groups. These 
 groups are designated as (1) bureau of 
 foods, drugs and oils, (2) bureau of 
 animal industry, (3) bureau of markets 
 and marketing, (4) bureau of game and 
 fish, (5) clerical and records division. 
 The inspectional work is a very im¬ 
 portant feature of this department. 
 It includes the inspection and testing 
 of animals for diseases, the inspection 
 of dairy, food and oil products, the 
 inspection of farm products for ship¬ 
 ment, and the testing of weighing de¬ 
 vices. In order to accomplish this 
 work, the department inspectors are 
 usually assigned a definite section of 
 the state and are required to establish 
 headquarters at the most convenient 
 point in this section. Each inspector 
 is required to send to the department a 
 daily report of work performed, and a 
 statement of his routing for the follow¬ 
 ing two or three days so that the de¬ 
 partment can communicate with him 
 at any time without delay. In this 
 way the department keeps a complete 
 record of the work of all its field men. 
 
 Among the more important activi¬ 
 ties of the department of finance are 
 the classification and control of ex¬ 
 penditures, the installation of uniform 
 accounting methods, the purchasing of 
 supplies, the supervision of state em¬ 
 ployees, and the preparation of the 
 budget. This department is the hub 
 of the administrative wheel. As a re¬ 
 sult of the constant control that it 
 exercises over all expenditures, it is 
 continuously gathering information 
 which is not only of great value in the 
 day-to-day operation of the govern¬ 
 ment but constitutes the basis for the 
 preparation of the budget. The work 
 of this department is arranged in two 
 
B ^5ti 
 
 1922] NEBRASKA’S REORGANIZED ADMINISTRATION 3 
 
 divisions, namely, accounts and bud¬ 
 get, and purchases and supplies. 
 
 The department of labor administers 
 the workmen’s compensation laws, en¬ 
 forces the child labor laws and employ¬ 
 ment and safety regulations. It col¬ 
 lects and publishes labor statistics and 
 maintains a free employment office. 
 Its work is divided into two groups— 
 division of compensation and investiga¬ 
 tion, and division of free employment. 
 
 The regulation of banking and in¬ 
 surance companies, the administration 
 of fire prevention, and the enforcement 
 of the blue sky law are functions of the 
 department of trade and commerce. 
 It also collects and publishes commer¬ 
 cial and industrial statistics. Its activ¬ 
 ities are divided into (1) bureau of 
 banking, (2) bureau of insurance, (3) 
 bureau of securities, (4) division of fire 
 prevention, (5) division of hail in¬ 
 surance, and (6) clerical and records 
 division. 
 
 The department of public welfare 
 has supervision over all matters relat¬ 
 ing to public health and social welfare, 
 issues professional licenses, and records 
 vital statistics. Its activities are 
 grouped under (1) bureau of health, 
 (2) bureau of social service, (3) bureau 
 of child welfare, (4) bureau of examin¬ 
 ing boards, and (5) division of athletics. 
 The head of the department appoints 
 upon the recommendation of each pro¬ 
 fession an examining board for that 
 profession which board prepares and 
 conducts the examinations for profes¬ 
 sional licenses. Licenses are granted 
 by the department head upon the rec¬ 
 ommendation of these boards. All 
 records are kept in the department at 
 the state capitol. 
 
 Supervision over the construction of 
 highways, bridges and public improve¬ 
 ments is exercised by the department 
 of public works. For the supervision 
 of irrigation the state is divided into 
 two water districts with a superintend¬ 
 ent at the head of each district, ap¬ 
 
 pointed by the department head and 
 under his supervision. This depart¬ 
 ment licenses the motor vehicles of the 
 state. It is organized under a bureau 
 of roads and bridges, a bureau of irri¬ 
 gation, water power and drainage, and 
 a clerical and records division. At the 
 present time the federal government is 
 co-operating with this department in 
 the building of a system of state high¬ 
 ways. 
 
 This system of departmentalization 
 inaugurated by the code has brought 
 abler men into the service of the state 
 government. Instead of more than 
 fifty officials giving, in some cases, only 
 a fraction of their time to the work of 
 the state government, there are now six 
 men giving their entire time to the 
 work. These men are paid salaries 
 commensurate with the service they 
 are rendering, and are chosen because 
 of their experience and special fitness 
 for the particular field of work they are 
 directing. It is not possible to secure 
 such men under the non-integrated 
 form of state government, or where the 
 department heads are elected by the 
 people. 
 
 THE CABINET IDEA APPLIED 
 
 In order to bring about the greatest 
 cooperation between the work of the 
 code departments. Governor McKelvie 
 introduced the cabinet idea that works 
 similar to that feature of the national 
 government. Whenever important 
 matters arise that concern the general 
 administrative policy, the governor 
 calls a meeting of the department 
 heads. Sometimes the bureau and di¬ 
 vision chiefs are present at these meet¬ 
 ings . The matters under consideration 
 are thoroughly discussed and a general 
 and uniform policy is adopted. Follow¬ 
 ing the cabinet meetings written in¬ 
 structions are sent to each department 
 outlining in detail the application of 
 the policy to the work of that depart- 
 
4 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW 
 
 ment. These meetings have proved a 
 very effective means of defining and 
 harmonizing the general administrative 
 policy which under the old system of 
 government was impossible. They 
 also keep the governor in direct touch 
 with the work of the different depart¬ 
 ments and enable him actually to lead 
 in the administration of the state’s 
 affairs. Besides, weekly reports are 
 filed with the governor by each of the 
 departments telling of the nature and 
 amount of work performed by each 
 bureau and division of the department. 
 
 While the people look upon the gov¬ 
 ernor as the chief executive, in most 
 states he is not in a position to direct 
 the administration because of the ram¬ 
 shackle organization. Nebraska has 
 in a measure overcome this diflSculty 
 by the adoption of the code organiza¬ 
 tion, and has placed the governor in a 
 position where he is more nearly re¬ 
 sponsible for administrative policies. 
 
 BUDGET CONTROL ESTABLISHED 
 
 The code makes the governor re¬ 
 sponsible for the financial policy of the 
 state by requiring him to submit the 
 budget to the legislature. The budget 
 is prepared by the department of 
 finance from information gathered 
 through estimates and through its 
 audit and review of expenditures. The 
 first state budget under the code was 
 prepared by the department of finance 
 and submitted by Governor McKelvie 
 to the 1921 legislature. This budget, 
 a document of 150 pages, gave for the 
 first time in the history of the state a 
 picture of the government’s finances, 
 analyzed its various activities, told 
 what each activity spent during the 
 preceding biennium, and estimated 
 what each activity should spend during 
 the next biennium. Prior to this the 
 members of the legislature had been 
 without accurate and detailed informa¬ 
 tion upon which to base their examina¬ 
 
 [July 
 
 tion of the requests for appropriations. 
 
 In order to make the budget pro¬ 
 cedure work more effectively, the 
 budget provisions of the code were 
 amended by chapter 210 of the 1921 
 laws. Under this law all agencies of 
 the state government must report their 
 expenditures each month to the depart¬ 
 ment of finance. The department of 
 finance can investigate any agency of 
 the state government to determine 
 whether or not the appropriations are 
 being judiciously and economically ex¬ 
 pended. This department also has the 
 authority to recommend and require 
 the installation of a uniform system of 
 record keeping for all agencies receiving 
 appropriations from the state. In this 
 way the department of finance can de¬ 
 termine the character and classification 
 of the financial information that is sub¬ 
 mitted to it by the various state agen¬ 
 cies. This uniformity greatly assists 
 in the preparation both of financial 
 statements and the budget. Hereafter 
 the governor will submit along with the 
 budget an appropriation bill, contain¬ 
 ing all the budget proposals for ex¬ 
 penditures, which the legislature must 
 pass by a three-fifths vote should it 
 decide to increase the governor’s 
 recommendations. 
 
 Several other important changes 
 affecting the budget procedure were 
 made by the 1921 laws. A uniform 
 fiscal year, beginning July 1st and end¬ 
 ing June 30th, was adopted. Pre¬ 
 viously the appropriation year and the 
 fiscal year of the state had been differ¬ 
 ent and neither agreed with the federal 
 fiscal year. All fees are now required 
 to be turned into the state treasury, 
 instead of being held out as formerly 
 and used by the agency collecting them. 
 All mill taxes, including the mill tax 
 for the state university and normal 
 schools, have been repealed. This 
 means that in the future expenditures 
 will be by definite appropriations made 
 each time the legislature meets. Prac- 
 
5 
 
 1922] NEBRASKA’S REORGANIZED ADMINISTRATION 
 
 tically all special funds have been abol¬ 
 ished and the money turned into the 
 general fund. This has been done bex- 
 cause it is evident that special funds 
 restrict not only legislative authority 
 but also administrative control and 
 supervision. Besides, such funds 
 greatly complicate any system of 
 accounting and reporting. 
 
 The department of finance has de¬ 
 vised an expenditure classification that 
 is used in setting up the accounts and 
 in systematizing the information for 
 the budget. Appropriations are mado 
 to the various spending agencies in 
 what may be regarded as lump-sum 
 appropriations. Before the appropria¬ 
 tion to any spending agency becomes 
 available for use, the agency must sub¬ 
 mit to the department of finance an 
 executive allotment of the amount esti¬ 
 mated to be required to carry on the 
 work of the agency during the next 
 quarter of a year and this allotment 
 must receive the approval of the gover¬ 
 nor. As the vouchers for the agency 
 pass through the department of finance 
 and are audited for payment, the ap¬ 
 propriation of the agency is encum¬ 
 bered by this department with the 
 amount of each voucher. In this way 
 the department of finance knows when 
 the allotment for any quarter is being 
 overdrawn. As a reserve against con¬ 
 tingencies, the department of finance 
 sets aside at the beginning of the bien¬ 
 nium 10 per cent of the appropriation 
 to each agency for that period and at 
 the end of each quarter retmns one- 
 eighth of this amount to the agency 
 for distribution in its next quarter’s 
 allotment. In this way the possibility 
 of the legislature having to make defi¬ 
 ciency appropriations every time it 
 meets is reduced to a minimum. 
 
 The allotment system makes it possi¬ 
 ble for the department of finance to 
 determine long before the end of the 
 biennial period whether or not there is 
 going to be an unused surplus in the 
 
 appropriations and approximately how 
 much this surplus is going to be in the 
 case of each spending agency. As a re¬ 
 sult of the operation of this system by 
 the department of finance, the gover¬ 
 nor was supplied with the facts that 
 enabled him to call the special session 
 of the legislature referred to in the first 
 paragraph of this article, to cut down 
 the appropriations for the current 
 biennium. 
 
 In this connection mention should 
 be made of the very valuable work 
 that the department of finance is doing 
 in educating the people to appreciate 
 the significance of the budget and to 
 understand something of the problems 
 connected with financing the state and 
 local governments. This department 
 prepares monthly statements relative 
 to the state’s finances and occasionally 
 a bulletin on the distribution of taxes 
 between the different activities of the 
 state and local governments and sends 
 these to the newspapers and various 
 organizations throughout the state. 
 
 central accounting system 
 
 INSTALLED 
 
 In the installation of a central ac¬ 
 counting system Nebraska has made 
 notable progress under the code admin¬ 
 istration. The department of finance 
 has not only established a uniform sys¬ 
 tem of financial records for all spending 
 agencies of the state, but practically 
 all bookkeeping, especially for the code 
 departments, is done by this depart¬ 
 ment. Under this procedure the ac¬ 
 counting control is not only centralized, 
 but it becomes unnecessary for each 
 department to maintain a force to keep 
 a set of books for it. Only such rec¬ 
 ords as relate directly to the work of 
 the department are now kept by the 
 code departments. Records giving 
 complete information relative to the 
 appropriations and expenditures of all 
 departments are kept by the depart- 
 
6 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW 
 
 ment of finance. The accounting sys¬ 
 tem in this department shows at all 
 times, for each department, bureau and 
 division, the expenditures, the unex¬ 
 pended balances and the free and un¬ 
 encumbered balances. The spending 
 agencies that are independent of the 
 code departments, such as the Univer¬ 
 sity, the board of control, and the con¬ 
 stitutional oflacers, keep their own 
 books. However, the general form of 
 these books is prescribed by the depart¬ 
 ment of finance, and these agencies 
 must report monthly to the depart¬ 
 ment of finance an itemized and classi¬ 
 fied statement of all their expenditures. 
 
 All spending agencies are required by 
 the department of finance in making 
 their reports to distribute their ex¬ 
 penditures according to nine standard 
 expenditure accounts. These accounts 
 and the sub-groups under each have 
 been built up largely on an object basis 
 and are used by the department of 
 finance for budget-making as well as 
 accounting purposes. It is possible by 
 the use of this classification not only 
 to determine when expenditures have 
 been properly made, but also to com¬ 
 pare the expenditures of different de¬ 
 partments and institutions. 
 
 As has already been pointed out, the 
 department of finance exercises the 
 powers of pre-audit. Every depart¬ 
 mental expenditure, before it is con¬ 
 tracted, must have the approval of this 
 department. This approval involves 
 not only passing upon the availability 
 of funds to meet the expenditure, but 
 also the advisability of making the 
 expenditure. Upon approval the ap¬ 
 propriation of the department making 
 the expenditure is encumbered by the 
 amount of the proposed expenditure. 
 After the expenditure has been made a 
 voucher signed by the department head 
 is sent to the department of finance 
 where it is checked and approved be¬ 
 fore going to the auditor’s office. The 
 auditor, an elective constitutional 
 
 [July 
 
 officer, approves all vouchers as to the 
 legality of the expenditures. A useless 
 step in the procedure is the requirement 
 that the secretary of state likewise 
 approve all vouchers before payment 
 by the state treasurer. 
 
 The centralization of the accounting 
 control in the department of finance 
 is not only necessary to the proper 
 carrying out of the budget plan, but 
 also to the intelligent preparation of the 
 budget. By this means the staff that 
 prepares the budget for the governor 
 is kept in daily touch with the expendi¬ 
 tures of all agencies, and the facts that 
 are essential to the criticism of the esti¬ 
 mates are gathered from day to day. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT CONTROL ESTABLISHED 
 
 The department of finance has 
 developed a rather unique system of 
 employment control. While it does 
 not conduct examinations to test the 
 fitness of individuals to enter the state 
 service, as civil service commissions do, 
 it is, nevertheless, more effective in its 
 management and control of state em¬ 
 ployees than most of the civil service 
 commissions. Any person desiring to 
 enter the state service must fill out 
 and file with the department of finance 
 a blank, stating position desired, edu¬ 
 cational and experience qualifications, 
 age, marital relations, sex, name and 
 address of last employer, last position 
 and salary earned, and the names and 
 addresses of at least three persons as 
 references. The department of finance 
 then asks each one of the references to 
 fill out a blank that contains a number 
 of questions about the character, edu¬ 
 cation and general qualifications of the 
 person to fill the position. If the per¬ 
 son’s record is satisfactory, he is rec¬ 
 ommended for appointment to the 
 position by the department of finance. 
 The appointment is made by the de¬ 
 partment head with the approval of the 
 governor. After the appointment has 
 
1922] NEBRASKA’S REORGANIZED ADMINISTRATION 
 
 7 
 
 been made a permanent card record 
 for the employee is filed in the depart¬ 
 ment of finance. Any change in the 
 salary rate of the employee must be 
 approved by the department of finance. 
 Before the adoption of the code there 
 was practically no record of the state’s 
 employees. 
 
 Each employee in the different 
 bureaus and divisions of the code de¬ 
 partment is required to sign a daily 
 time report, giving the time of arrival, 
 the time at lunch, and the time of leav¬ 
 ing. All field employees mail daily 
 time reports to the departments. 
 These reports are collected by each 
 department and are sent each month 
 together with a summary to the depart¬ 
 ment of finance. The summary shows 
 the number of days during the month 
 that each employee has worked less 
 than eight hours, the number of days 
 each has worked over eight hours, and 
 the number of days and time that each 
 has been absent without pay, on sick- 
 leave, or on vacation. As a result the 
 department of finance has a work re¬ 
 port of every person employed in the 
 code departments. From these re¬ 
 ports the department of finance makes 
 up each month the payrolls of all the 
 code departments. Under this system 
 the department of finance has the origi¬ 
 nal signature of each employee for each 
 day he or she has been paid during the 
 month or year. These records are also 
 used in making promotions. 
 
 Prior to the adoption of the code 
 there was little relation between the 
 duties performed and the pay received 
 by the employees of the various boards. 
 The department of finance has worked 
 out a salary standardization plan that 
 provides for standard titles of positions 
 and uniform salaries for the same class 
 of work in all of the code departments. 
 It fixes a minimum salary rate with ad¬ 
 vancement to a higher rate at specified 
 times, and promotion from a lower to a 
 higher grade of service upon the recom¬ 
 
 mendation of the department head. 
 
 PURCHASING SYSTEM INAUGURATED 
 
 The division of purchases and sup¬ 
 plies in the department of finance buys 
 oflSce supplies for all agencies of the 
 state government except the University 
 and normal schools. Prior to the 
 adoption of the code each agency pur¬ 
 chased its supplies in small quantities 
 at frequent intervals. Under this 
 scheme the various agencies frequently 
 spent more than was necessary, proper 
 scrutiny could not be exercised on the 
 part of the state, and favoritism was 
 often shown in the selection of vendors. 
 Now, every department and agency 
 must file a requisition for supplies with 
 the purchasing agent. After this req¬ 
 uisition has been approved by the 
 accountant of the department of fi¬ 
 nance to the effect that there is suffi¬ 
 cient unencumbered balance in the 
 appropriation of the department or 
 agency to pay for the supplies, the pur¬ 
 chasing agent makes up a schedule, 
 combining like classes of supplies from 
 several requisitions, and solicits bids 
 from dealers. An order is then placed 
 with the successful bidder by the pur¬ 
 chasing agent. A copy of this order is 
 retained by the purchasing agent, a 
 copy is sent to the accounting division 
 of the department of finance, and two 
 copies are sent to the department or 
 agency receiving the goods. The de¬ 
 partment or agency files one copy of 
 this order with its copy of the requisi¬ 
 tion and checks the other when the 
 goods are received, returning the latter 
 copy to the purchasing agent. Pay¬ 
 ment for the goods is then authorized 
 by the purchasing agent upon a voucher 
 that is approved by the head of the de¬ 
 partment or agency receiving the goods 
 and by the secretary of finance before 
 going to the state auditor. 
 
 The purchasing agent buys and con¬ 
 trols the use of mileage books that are 
 
3 0112 061967003 
 
 8 
 
 furnished to the several employees in 
 the different departments whose work 
 necessitates their traveling over the 
 state. Each employee must file with 
 the purchasing agent a report showing 
 the trips that are made with the mile¬ 
 age. In this way the department of 
 finance has on file a complete record of 
 all mileage books used by the code de¬ 
 partments. The purchasing division 
 does mimeographing and addresso- 
 graphing for the different departments 
 and agencies and charges them only 
 for the material and labor involved. 
 
 All printing contracts are let by the 
 purchasing agent. In the printing of 
 reports each department must furnish 
 a manuscript copy of its report to the 
 purchasing agent who goes over it care¬ 
 fully to see if it contains any unneces¬ 
 sary or repeated matter. He may re¬ 
 quire the department to eliminate such 
 matter from the report before he con¬ 
 tracts for the printing. The contract 
 is let upon the basis of cost per page,— 
 the character of the matter, that is, 
 whether it is descriptive or statistical, 
 being the determining factor in the 
 page cost. All printing must be done 
 and the reports delivered within thirty 
 days. Formerly, it was not unusual 
 for the printing of reports to be delayed 
 after the contracts had been let for a 
 period of from one to four years. 
 
 It is estimated that this system of 
 centralized control of purchasing and 
 printing has resulted in a net annual 
 saving to the state of about 20 per cent. 
 The operation of the system has also 
 contributed to the success of the budget 
 system by establishing control over 
 expenditures for supplies. 
 
 ******* 
 
 It is to be regretted that the consti¬ 
 tutional convention of 1920, instead of 
 reducing the number of administrative 
 oflScers and boards under the constitu¬ 
 tion, saw fit to add four more such 
 agencies, making a total of sixteen. 
 
 [July 
 
 Thus the present administrative sys¬ 
 tem includes sixteen constitutional offi¬ 
 cers and boards, six statutory boards, 
 and the six departments created by 
 the code. 
 
 The revised constitution of 1920 con¬ 
 tains a provision that gives the legisla¬ 
 ture the power to eliminate the heads 
 of the code departments and to place 
 the work of these departments under 
 the constitutional administrative offi¬ 
 cers. If this were done, it would be a 
 decided step backward. It would 
 practically amount to setting up a eom- 
 mission form of government for the 
 state. The heads of the departments 
 would then be elected just as the gov¬ 
 ernor is and there could be no central¬ 
 ized or responsible supervision of the 
 administration. As a result the state 
 would have six or eight governors in¬ 
 stead of one. One of the serious and 
 inevitable defeets of this arrangement, 
 even worse than under the old scheme 
 of organization that existed before the 
 adoption of the code, would be the 
 tendency of each one of these inde¬ 
 pendent administrative officers to mag¬ 
 nify his own problems and importance, 
 constantly to expand his activities, 
 and to work for and spend as large 
 appropriations as he could obtain in 
 competition with the other administra¬ 
 tive officers. There would be few in¬ 
 centives to real economy and no estab¬ 
 lished avenues of mutual interest and 
 co-operation. 
 
 Under the code system of organiza¬ 
 tion the departments have nothing to 
 gain by competing with each other for 
 appropriations. Co-operation takes 
 the place of interference. The result— 
 a most important one—is the develop¬ 
 ment of the idea of unity in administra¬ 
 tion. The worth of the code system 
 has already been clearly demonstrated 
 by its successful operation. Undoubt¬ 
 edly, the next step should be in the 
 direction of strengthening and extend¬ 
 ing this system. 
 
 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW