VIII. THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Under a Director and an Advisory Board of three members appointed by the Governor.

1. The Bureau of Common Schools.

Under a Commissioner.

The State Board of Examiners of Teachers should be appointed by the Commissioner.

2. The Bureau of Higher Education.

Under a Commissioner.

The Director, Advisory Board, and two Commissioners would be substituted for the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the State Board of Textbook Commissioners, the Boards of Regents of the University, the Agricultural College, and the Normal School, the Presidents of these three institutions, and the Board of Higher Curricula.

3. The State Library.

Under a Librarian, who would combine the functions of the present trustees of the State Library and Librarian.

The examination of the expenditures of State appropriations granted to the Oregon Historical Society, the McLaughlin Memorial Home, and the Oregon Social Hygiene Society should be entrusted to the Librarian.

IX. THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

A board of three members.

The reorganization here suggested, far-reaching as it is, has nothing at all new, or radical, or "un-American" about it. In general substance it is, so far as it goes, a mere reproduction of the national administration for state purposes. Moreover, all of the proposals here made could be adopted without any disturbance of the state constitution and without any considerable redrafting of statutes now in force.

Reorganization of County Administration for

Economy and Efficiency

BY RUFUS C. HOLMAN,

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OREGON

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Like all things that are to be well and thoroughly done, it is expedient, in reorganizing a county government so as to get a maximum of efficiency and economy of the business administration, for the county court or board of county commissioners, in whom this duty lies, to counsel with and be advised by persons whom it is reasonable to believe are more expert and are better informed on their particular subjects than are the commissioners themselves. The public official who knows it all should be retired.

The commissioner should, as a very foundation for improvement, realize that his knowledge and experience has been limited by his own individual education and observations, and that it is a rare man, indeed, who is perfectly prepared on all occasions to correctly solve by himself all the problems which are continually presenting themselves in the administration of county affairs, and that to guess or to experiment is very apt to be inefficient and expensive, and that when he guesses or experiments, he does so with a sacred fund, not his own, but one belonging to the taxpayers, whose agent he is.

Having put himself in a mental attitude to seek the best of everything that pertains to county government, without prejudice regarding its source, he naturally begins to look around him for those persons living within his community in whose integrity he has respect, and in whose wisdom and knowledge of the particular subjects in which they excel, he has confidence. He should then formally invite such persons to act on definite "advisory boards" for the purpose of giving particular study to the administration of each institution and department of county government-each advisory board being assigned to its particular department. He should publish the names of the members of each of his advisory boards, so that the public may know with whom he is conferring and on what subjects.

Publicity is a great and indispensable aid in the efficient and economical administration of county affairs. If any policy or administration program can stand the light of publicity before adoption, it is very apt to be sound, and if it cannot, it will fail and thus the community will have been saved from an administrative error, and the resultant waste of public funds.

In most of us there seems to be a reluctance to discard the old and adopt the new, which amounts to actual antagonism. This is particularly noticeable in the administration of public affairs. It is so much easier to drift than to work, and, as a rule, the public is so unappreciative of an official's services that for those who are in public life for what there is in it there is a strong tendency to do only those things that are necessary for their continuation in the public service and their retention on the public payroll.

WHAT COMMERCIAL WORLD TEACHES

In the commercial world the methods are constantly being altered to meet every new condition. In other words, the methods adopted by successful commercial enterprises are only those that can live under the rule of the survival of the fittest, but in public affairs we notice periodical upheavals in contrast to the gradual and almost daily change of commercial life, and after one of these upheaval affairs settle back into slumber and those new methods which have been thus adopted not only remain just as they were installed, but are very apt not to receive from time to time the corrections and adjustments which they should receive. Too often they are permitted to become inefficient and worthless by gradual disuse and neglect. The only remedy for this state of affairs that exists is that the public should, like private enterprises, choose their officials for their qualifications to perform their particular duties and not entirely for their personal popularity.

After having conferred with his chosen advisers, and at last having arrived at a conclusion wherein a definite administrative policy has been decided upon, the commissioner must be possessed of sufficient resolution and determination to carry his program through to a successful conclusion, regardless of difficulties and immature and prejudiced criticism.

The formal adoption of an administrative code, wherein a regular and orderly procedure is prescribed for the county administration, is of the first importance and must not be delayed. This should be prepared by experts on the subject. I believe in formality, order and regularity in contrast to informality, disorder and irregularity.

This administrative code should provide for a budget system of finance. An advisory board should be appointed to prepare the budget of expenditures for the next fiscal year and submit its completed work to the county court with its recommendation in time for the budget to be adopted by the county court, and the resultant tax levy for county expenditures fixed and ordered as prescribed by statute. This budget advisory board should hold meetings at times and places convenient to the public.

The board of commissioners should request the auditor to prepare and send to each administrative head of an office or function, not later than the tenth of October of each year, a statement showing for such office or function just what the unexpended balance remaining in the county treasury is at that time to the credit of each county office. The auditor should also be requested to deliver to the chairman of the advisory board, not later than the fifteenth of November of each year, a written estimate of the revenues which accrue to the county during the ensuing year from sources other than taxes, together with all other information and statistical data which are necessary in the accurate compilation of a budget.

Each administrative head should at this time carefully prepare and submit to the advisory budget board an estimate in detail of the anticipated expenditures of his department for the ensuing year. The advisory budget board should transmit such recommendations as it desires to make with respect to the amount of taxes to be levied, taking into consideration the estimated accruals from sources other than taxes, the estimated unencumbered balances of the current year's appropriations, and also the amount of the cash on hand.

On the Friday preceding the last Monday in November, the county court should tentatively agree on the amount to be allowed for each appropriation item in the budget. The amount

agreed upon should be known as the tentative budget, and on the last Monday in November, and the first Monday in December, the tentative budget should be published in at least one local newspaper, together with such data as is required by statute.

The tentative budget should be in the same form as the final budget. On the third Monday in December the county court should hold a public hearing on the tentative budget and advertisement of the date and place thereof should be prominently displayed in the local papers not later than three days prior to such hearing. Within ten days after the third Monday in December the county court should formally adopt a complete budget for the ensuing fiscal year.

REGULAR MEETINGS ADVISABLE

The board of county commissioners or county court should have a regular time and meeting place, and should keep an accurate minute book of its meetings, and the first order of business of each meeting should be the reading and approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. This record should always be open to the public.

The financial records or books of account should be so kept that they would be an administrative aid, in that they should record the errors and extravagances of the past.

The matter of making county purchases is of extreme importance and one of the methods in daily use by any of the largest successful public utility corporations, is applicable to county affairs. Multnomah County follows the methods of the S., P. & S. Railroad Company in this regard.

A system of standardization of county supplies should be adopted. In this lies economy. It simplifies purchases and eliminates waste.

In managing a county poor farm, trained nurses should be put in charge of the care of the inmates, and a real farmer, acting under instructions from the Oregon Agricultural College, put in charge of the farming operations. In this way I believe any county poor farm can become eventually self-sustaining, and also a model farm where the farmers of the county can learn the details of the most approved agricultural methods.