Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



141 



1923 which, for tlie first time, put tlio personnel system 

 of the Government at Wasliinyton upon a scientific 

 basis. 



Tlie House and Senate Special Committees on the 

 Budget were set up in 1919 for the purpose of formu- 

 lating means by which the existing system for deter- 

 mining and making provision for the financial needs 

 of the Government, which was generally held to be 

 unsatisfactory in the extreme, might be supplanted by 

 one resting upon a budgetary basis. These committees 

 held hearings at which experts on the subject were 

 called upon to describe the budgetary systems of 

 other countries and the character of the provision that 

 sliould be made for a budgetary system for the National 

 Government. The published reports of these hearings 

 and the reports of the committees furnished the basis 

 for the drafting of the bill, which became the Budget 

 ajid Accounting Act of 1921, and the radical revision 

 of the rules of the two Houses of Congress governing 

 the preparation and handling of appropriation bills.^^ 



The nature of the investigations made by the other 

 committees and commissions is sufficiently indicated 

 by their titles. They are, as has been stated, merely 

 indicative of character of researches constantly being 

 made by special and joint committees into administra- 

 tive problems. 



Investigations of Special Services. — ^In contradistinc- 

 tion to the investigation of specific problems of adminis- 

 tration. Congress is constantly making researches into 

 the organization and operations of particular services. 

 These inquiries are conducted partly by standing com- 

 mittees and partly by special or joint committees or 

 commissions specially created for the purpose. They 

 have in view, either the securing of information upon 

 which to base constructive legislation or the determina- 

 tion of the facts in regard to alleged improper conduct 

 on the part of those in charge of the conduct of the 

 affairs of the services inquired into. Notable examples 

 of an inquiry of the latter character are those made by 

 the Joint Committee to investigate the Department 

 of the Interior and the Bureau of Forestry, created 

 by Joint Resolution of January 19, 1910, to investigate 

 the issues involved in the famous Ballinger-Pinchot 

 controversy when allegation of serious misconduct of 

 affairs of the Department of the Interior had been 

 made, and the investigation of the oil leases which led 

 to the prosecution of Albert Fall, Secretary of the 

 Interior, and the resignation of the Secretary of the 

 Navy, Denby. Such an investigation is now pending of 



" Of the two committees, the House Committee made much the most 

 thorough Inquiry and its hearings and reports are of the greater value. 

 They are : 



(1) National Budget System: Hearings, 66th Cong., Ist sess., 191B 



(2) H. Kpt. 362, 66th Cong., 1st sess., 1919. 



(3) H. Rpt. 373, 66th Cong., 1st sess., 1919. 



the conduct of the affairs of the Tennessee Valley 

 Authority. 



Of inquiries having for their purpose merely to aid 

 Congress in making provision for the conduct of the 

 affairs of a particular service, those regarding the Post 

 Office Department and Postal Service have been much 

 the most numerous. A listing of some of these special 

 inquiries regarding that service shows the extent to 

 which Congress finds it desirable to make researches 

 in the administrative field. 



1. Joint Commission to Inve.stigate the Postal Service, created 

 by act of June 13, 1898. 



2. Joint Commission on Second Class Mail Matter, created 

 by act of June 26, 1906. 



3. Joint Commission on Business Methods of the Post Office 

 Department and Postal Service, created by act of March 2, 

 1907. 



4. Commission on Second Class Mail Matter, created by joint 

 resolution and act of March 4, 1911. 



5. Joint Committee to Investigate Second Chiss Mail Slatler, 

 created by act of August 24, 1912. 



6. Joint Committee on General Parcel Post, created by act 

 of Augu.st 24, 3912. 



7. Joint Committee to Investigate Purchase of Pneumatic Tube 

 Service, created by act of August 24, 1912. 



8. Joint Committee to Investigate Pneumatic Tube Service, 

 created by Act of March 3, 1917. 



9. Joint Commission on Postal Employees' Compensation, 

 created by act of February 28, 1919. 



10. Joint Postal Commission, created by act of April 24, 1920. 



Political Conditions and Problems 



111 the political field Congress has made important 

 investigations into such matters as proposals for the 

 amendment of the Federal Constitution, the conduct of 

 Federal elections, lobbying, and propaganda. 



In 1893 the House created its Standing Committee 

 on Election of President, Vice President, and Repre- 

 sentatives in Congress, supplanting select committees 

 which had been created from time to time prior to 

 that date. The hearings and reports of this committee 

 on proposals eventuating in the adoption of the Seven- 

 teenth and Twentieth Amendments to the Constitu- 

 tion, providing, respectively, for the election of Sena- 

 tors by direct vote of the people and the elimination 

 of the so-called "Lame-Duck" Congi-ess, by fixing new 

 dates for the beginning and ending of the term of 

 office of the President, Vice President, Senators and 

 Representatives and, incidentally, providing for cer- 

 tain contingencies in respect to the succession to the 

 office of President, embrace careful consideration of all 

 the factors involved in these proposals and the char- 

 acter of affirmative action to be taken. This committee 

 has also held hearings and submitted reports upon 

 such proposals for constitutional amendment as those 

 providing for changing the terms of Representatives 

 from 2 to 4 years, fixing the terms of the President and 

 Vice President at 6 years, and that the President and 



