FOREWORD 



The first essential to efficient administration of any enter- 

 prise is full knowledge of its present make-up and operation. 

 Without full and complete information before them, as to 

 existing organization, personnel, plant, and methods of oper- 

 ation and control, neither legislators nor administrators can 

 properly perform their functions. 



The greater the work, the more varied the activities en- 

 gaged in, and the more complex the organization employed, 

 and more imperative becomes the necessity that this informa- 

 tion shall be available — and available in such a form that it 

 can readily be utilized. 



Of all undertakings, none in the United States, and few, if 

 any, in the world, approach in magnitude, complexity, and 

 importance that of the national government of the United 

 States. As President Taft expressed it in his message to Con- 

 gress of January 17, 1912, in referring to the inquiry being 

 made under his direction into the efficiency and economy of the 

 methods of prosecuting public business, the activities of the 

 national government "are almost as varied as those of the en- 

 tire business world. The operations of the government affect 

 the interest of every person living within the jurisdiction of 

 the United States. Its organization embraces stations and 

 centers of work located in every city and in many local sub- 

 divisions of the country. Its gross expenditures amount to 

 billions annually. Including the personnel of the military and 

 naval establishments, more than half a million persons are re- 

 quired to do the work imposed by law upon the executive 

 branch of the government. 



"This vast organization has never been studied in detail as 

 one piece of administrative mechanism. Never have the 

 foundations been laid for a thorough consideration of the re- 

 lations of all its parts. No comprehensive effort has been 

 made to list its multifarious activities or to group them in such 

 a way as to present a clear picture of what the government is 

 doing. Never has a complete description been given of the 

 agencies through which these activities are performed. At 



