APPENDIX 2 

 CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVITIES 



Explanatory Note 



The Classifications of Activities have for their purpose to 

 list and classify in all practicable detail the specific activities 

 engaged in by the several services of the national govern- 

 ment. Such statements are of value from a number of stand- 

 points. They furnish, in the first place, the most effective 

 showing that can be made in brief compass of the character 

 of work performed by the service to which they relate. Sec- 

 ondly, they lay the basis for a system of accounting and re- 

 porting that will permit of the showing of total expenditures 

 classified according to activities. Finally, taken collectively, 

 they make possible the preparation of a general or consolidated 

 statement of the activities of the government as a whole. 

 Such a statement will reveal in detail, not only what the gov- 

 ernment is doing, but the services in which the work is being 

 performed. For example, one class of activities that would 

 probably appear in such a classification is that of "scientific 

 research." A subhead under this class would be "chemical 

 research." Under this head would appear the specific lines of 

 investigation under way and the services in which they were 

 being prosecuted. It is hardly necessary to point out the 

 value of such information in planning for future work and 

 in considering the problem of the better distribution and co- 

 ordination of the work of the government. The Institute has 

 it in contemplation to attempt such a general listing and classi- 

 fication of the activities of the government upon the comple- 

 tion of the present series. 



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