THE PLUS SIDE OF THE RECORD 



^ Robert E. Merriam 



Gilbert White's thought-provoking analysis of the difficulties involved 

 in organizing effectively for the development and management of our 

 natural resources makes it easy to see why many people feel that we 

 have not made much progress in solving such stubborn problems. Ap- 

 propriately, he has focused attention on water resources, since this 

 area involves perhaps the most sensitive and complex organizational 

 issues in the natural resource field. Certainly there still is much room 

 for improvement. But that should not lead us to overlook the progress 

 that has been made over the years: we have substantially improved 

 our organizational structure and have developed more effective pro- 

 cedures for the review, selection, and co-ordination of water and re- 



ROBERT E. MERRIAM, Deputy Director of the Bureau of the 

 Budget since March 1958, was for eighteen months prior to his appointment 

 Assistant Director, with supervision over the labor and welfare and resources 

 areas of the Bureau's activities. His earlier federal service, as assistant to the 

 Deputy Administrator of the National Housing Agency in 1941-42, was broken 

 by three years of war service, after which he entered the field of city adminis- 

 tration and politics, first in 1946-47 as Director of the Metropolitan Housing 

 Council in Chicago, and then from 1947 to 1955 as alderman for the city of 

 Chicago. In this capacity he chaired the city's committee on housing and its 

 emergency committee on crime. In 1955 he ran as Republican candidate for 

 mayor of Chicago. Mr. Merriam is the author of Dark December: The Full 

 Account of the Battle of the Bulge, and is co-author of The American Govern- 

 ment: Democracy in Action, and of Going Into Action. He was born in Chicago 

 in 1918; received his M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1940. 



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