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 opera- 

 tion and control, neither legislators nor administrators can 

 properly perform their functions. 



The greater the work, the more varied the activities engaged 

 in, and the more complex the organization employed, the more 

 imperative becomes the necessity that this information 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 

 Congress 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 entire 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 

 nearly $1,000,000,000 annually. Including the personnel of 

 the military and naval establishments, more than 400,000 per- 

 sons are required 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 



