ON SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRIVATE AND 
PUBLIC BUSINESS. 
ERNEST BRUNCKEN. 
At the beginning of American governments their administra¬ 
tive systems were uniformly of a very simple nature. 
The functions of the government were few and uncomplicated, 
the amounts disbursed comparatively small. The relative 
homogeneity of the population and the absence of large cities 
helped to make this simplicity possible, which the Jeffersonian 
school of statesmanship endeavored to maintain as a necessary 
condition for the success of Democratic institutions. Dur¬ 
ing this period the notion became prevalent that public busi¬ 
ness can be transacted by any person of ordinary intelligence, 
and does not require special training. This notion is still 
almost universally accepted, although the primitive simplicity 
has given way in the administration of federal, state, and munic¬ 
ipal affairs to a system of great complexity. 
Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the original 
notion of the uselessness of special training for public business 
has been modified into a belief that the same kind of training 
which is required for success in private business, is sufficient 
for efficiency in public administration. The best recommenda¬ 
tion which the ordinary newspaper or stump speaker knows to 
give to a candidate for office, elective or appointive, is that he 
is a good business man, meaning invariably that he has skill 
and experience in some of the various forms of money-making. 
In the mouths of those who somewhat ostentatiously call them¬ 
selves reformers, the same idea is almost always found. They 
tell us that public affairs should be administered as any other 
business is, implying thereby that no essential difference exists 
