CODE BILL IN OPERATION.
Calfornia Expert Investigates And
Commends.
He Tells the People What It Is Doing
and Predicts Their Approval.
Nebraska State Journal: Flatter
- ing results of the Nebraska code
bill are predicted by Will H.
Fischer, director of the tax peers’ as
sociation of California. He has been
in Lincoln investigating the workings
of Governor McKelvie’s code bill which
has been in operation since last Aug
ust. He has made similar investiga
tions in Illinois and Idaho. His report
to Governor McKelvie, in the follow
ing form, interests all the people, in
cluding politicans, who take an inter
' est in the form of the state govern
ment:
Lincoln, Neb., June 25, 1920.—Gov
ernor Samuel R. McKelvie, State
Capitol.—DeaV Governor McKelvie:
As you are aware, I am just complete
ing an investigation of the gover
nmental organization of your state. I
have been making similar investiga
tions in other states, the object of such
investigations being to study the re
sults which are being accomplished in
commonwealths which have under
taken to eliminate their boards and
commissions, so far as possible, by
consolidating the functions of such
agencies into clearly defined depart
ments responsible to the governor. We
are all acquainted with the dispro
portionately high cost, the overlaping
and conflicting duties and the general
lack of efficiency inherent in the old
system of multiplied boards and com
missions. We are now being afforded
the opportunty to get acquainted with
the economy, efficiency and real re
sponsiveness, as well as resonsibility,
of state governments reorganized on
the new departmental basis; and for
that opportunity we are particularly
indebted to the states of Illinois, Ne
braska and Idaho, which have success
fully pioneered in new governmental
territory and blazed the path for other
states to follow.
1 am positive tnat 11 tne people oi
the state of Nebraska have given any
sort of close attention to their govern
ment since its reorganization they will
lose no opportunity to signalize and
emphasize their approval of the ad
vancement that has been made.
Systems of administrative govern
ment such as have been set up in Ne
braska, Illinois and Idaho—systems
which a score of states, including, for
instance, New York, California, Iowa,
Delaware, Oregon, Washington are
preparing to adopt—are never popular
with professional politicians of either
or any party. Politicians for revenue
only, and politicians who conceive of
party welfare as necessitating the
building up of great payroll machines
at the expense of the taxpayers, ob
viously and inevitably are hostile in
spirit—and in action, if bold enough—
towards any system which attempts to
apply to the management of the public
business those principles which, of
necessity, any successful man must
apply to the management of private
business.
From political quarters, should an
attack ever comes as against the new
governmental plan in Nebraska, I an
tcipate that it will not be on the merits
of the system; for attack cannot suc
cessfully be made on that ground.
From a careful and impartial investi
gation I am convinced of that. But it
will be whispered, and probably shout
ed, that departmentalized consolidated
government is “autocratic;” that it
centralzes great power in the gov
ernor; that it is not in the line of
democratic ideals. That is the sort of
bosh the politicians have coined in
other states; it is the sort that may
possibly, at one time or another, be
heard in Nebraska. It is intended
solely for the purpose of bamboozling
the people.
The place for democracy, as every
sensible citizen understanSs, is in the
halls of legislation and at the polls
where measures of public policy or
legislation may be directly submitted.
Democracy is expressed in law only.
The voice of the people is heard in the
constitution and statutes.
On the other hand, the responsi
bility placed by the people upon the
governor and subordinate officers of
state is that of executive and adminis
trating the law. The responsibility
can be met satisfactorily only through
a correct organization of the govern
mental machinery. Experience has
proven that the diffusion of power and
responsibility throughout a great num
ber of independent governing agencies
is not conductive either to economy,
activity or democracy. On the con
trary, that system resits in nothing
done, at high cost—and the tryanny of
a vast coterie of officials sacrificing
the public interest constantly for
political considerations.
In Nebraska the legislature has re
arranged, in large part, the govern
mental machinery. No more execu
tive power exists than formerly; but it
can be more efficiently balanced by a
responsibility that is absolutely fixed,
in all cases, and that cannot be evaded.
In consequence, your state govern
ment is in the open. Its activities is
stimulated, economical management
must be realized.
At a future date I shall be glad to
submit to you some detailed analytical
treatments which, on my return to
California, I intend to prepare with
reference to Nebraska and other
states. I shall not go into details now.
I feel sure, however, that you and
all those who have had a part in es
tablishing the new system, your legis
lators, the secretaries of the several
departments, the bureau and divisional
chiefs, and those citizens who have
given their co-operation, will feel a
pardonable pride in the record made
from the outset.
You will have a far more compre
hensive set of reports than were ever
obtainable before, showng the people
Just what service has been rendered.
You will be able to give as thorough
an accounting, financally, as can be
rendered by any state in the union. In
fact, your department of finances is
one of the best in the United States.
You will be able to show consider
able savings on your purchases, even
in the face of a market which is most
trying.
You will be able to show an expan
sion of your humanitarian work, and
an intelligent plan for the future.
You will be in a position to show a
far more thorough and effective exe
cution of the laws framed to support
and encourage the vast agricultural
and allied interests of Nebraska.
Under your department of justice
act all legal work has been concentra
ted under the attorney-general. A
most desirable reform.
Tile interests of labor have been
promoted and conserved more effici
ently than would have been possible
under the old system.
The inspection work of the state in
all departments, commands particular
approval.
As your great system of highways
is developed, the advantage of central
ized control in your department of
public works will command more and
more retention and approval.
You will be able to present to the
next legislature a budget which will,
in truth, be what budgets ought to be,
a balance sheet and a complete work
program for the ensuing biennium.
This budget your legislature can con
sider, approve or modify, with real in
telligence of judgment and action.
This is a tremendous advance.
And lastly, when at the end of the
biennium you return to the treasury
unexpended, a considerable sum of
money appropriated by the 1919 legis
lature, and do this at a time when the
average state is “running in the red”
in all departments, I think every citi
zen will understand that the new
system, from the standpoint of cost,
is more than in line with this demand
for economy.
In closing, kindly accept my thanks
for the courtesies which have been ex
tended to me by yourself and by the
secretaries and other officers of the
state government during the course of
my sojourn in Lincoln.
Yours truly,
WILL H. FISCHER,
,Director, Tax Payers Association of
California.
A BUSINESS MAN
FOR PRESIDENT.
George B. Lockwood in the National
Republican: Warren G. Hardnig, next
president of the United States, will
be the first business man by occupa
tion to become president of the United
States.
There have been 27 presidents, hold
ing the office of chief executive
throughout a period of 131 years; all
soldiers, lawyers, planters or publi
cists by profession; not a business man
by occupation in the whole long line.
Warren G. Harding will be the first
business man and the first newspaper
man to succed to the office.
Yet the office of president deals with
the biggest business concern on earth
—the United States of America. The
American government is a great cor
poration in which a hundred and ten
miilion people are stock holders. From
that corporation the people must draiw
dividends, or to it they must pay as
sessments. It deals vitally with the
welfare of private trade and industry,
upon which depends the material pros
perity of all these millions. Yet
until now, in all our century and a
third of history, not one business man
by occupation for the biggest business
post on earth!
Under the present national adminis
tration the government has broken
completely on the business side. It
was a Derocratic senator who de
clared that under the present manage
ment every department had collapsed.
Through lack of competent business
direction the machinery of government
has been so incompetently handled
that the situation calls loudly for the
services of a salvage corps. Waste,
extravagence, incompetency, ineffici
ency, have cost the people billions.
They have heaped huge burdens of
taxation on the backs of the people.
They have undermined the faith of the
people in their government. They
nearly lost the war through the fail
ure to furnish our soldiers at the front
with proper equipment, and through a
debauch of waste at home thatbrOught
inflation, profiteering, demoralizaton
in public and private affairs, in its
wake. These abuses, due to lack of
business sense on the part, primarily,
of the President of the United States,
still menace the very solvency and
safety of the nation.
Along with all this break-down in
the managgement of the nation’s own
business affairs, has a totally wrong
attitude on the part of the gove-nment
toward legitimate business enterprise,
accompanied by an effort to make the
government itself the universal em*
ployer and provider. The machinery
of government has been utilized, under
the camouflage of war necessity, to
political industry. More interested in
.politics than in business, for which the
head of the administration confesses
aristocratic scorn, the aim has been
to build up the public payrolls and de
stroy the private payrolls of the
country. We have had, as someone
has well put it, too much of politics
in business and too little business in
politics.
Out of this chaos comes loudly the
call fer the reconstructive hand of a
real business man; one who has actu
ally wrought in the field of practical
business affairs. The answer to that
call is the Republican nominee for
President, Warren G. Harding, who,
in a typical American community, built
a large and thriving business, under
adverse conditions, from the ground
up, and who, through years of actual
contact with men and things in the
business word, knows what business
means and how it should properly be
conducted.
There is a world of theories and
words, and a world of things and
deeds. Too many professing to be
statesmen well in the former, and too
often, charged with great responsi
bility they make a mess of practical
affairs. Warren G. Harding is a pro
duct of the school of practical experi
ence; a graduate of “the university of
hard knocks.” The great business
problems „of government, now fore
most because of the oppressive btfrdens
of taxation, the vital necessity of re
organizing the government on a busi
ness basis, and the immediate need of
giving to American business enter
prise and Amercan agriculture and
American labor the encouragement es
sential to ward off widespread com
mercial calamity as the aftermath of
war—these conditions call for a man
in the Presidency who in the world of
practical affairs has learned to deal
with business problems in a business
way.
And, so, in response to this imme
diate, pressing need, Warren G. Hawi
ng will be the nation’s first busness
man by occupation in the Presidency
of the United States.
A WAGGISH EMPLOYER.
Boston Transcipt: Mistress—Let
me gee. What’s your name?
Maid—Minnie, mum.
Mistress—Well, Minimum, if you’ll
only do the maximum of work, we'll
get along nicely.
SPEED MANIA.
Boton Transcript: Mrs. Newrich
(returned from tour)—We went very
swiftly all the way.
Caller—But travelling in a fast
auto, how could you get any idea of
the country?
Mrs. Newrich—Oh, I bought a lot of
picture postcards every place we stop
ped at.
THE DIFFERENCE.
Coal Merchant (anxiously)—Hold
on! That load hasn’t been weighed. It
looks to me a trifle large for a ton.
Driver—“Taint intended for a ton.
It’s two tons.
Coal Merchant — All right. Go
Ahead.
FREEZING.
Yale Record: He—What makes that
fellow glare at me so?
She—'You’re sitting on his ice
cream.
AND COME TO STAY.
Boston Transcript: “I believe,” said
the cheery philospopher, “that for
every single thing you give way two
come back to you.”
“That’s my experience,” agreed
PhamJey. “Last March I gave away
my daughter and she and her husband
came back in May.”
FISH WERE PUNISHED.
Edinburgh Scotsman: Parson—
Surely you haven’t caught those to
day?
Little Boy—Yes, that’s what hap
pens to fishes what goes chasing
worms on Sunday.
Sunkist
Lemons
ONE DOZEN, 39 p
Large Size ...
1 Dozen Economy Jar 90 p
1 Large Package Imported OQp
Dates.„.
35c Package Sunkist OKp
One-Half Dozen Cans Heinz QOp
Pork and Beans. wfcb
15c Package Royal H Fruit Iflp
Jar Rings ...».—
2 Cans Hershey’s .. 30c
35c Package Fine ORp
Tapioca ..-.
2 Pounds Fancy Head 47 P
Rice . u
4—35c One Pound Cans Cl |)f)
Alaska Salmon .—. V *
2 Bottles Pure Apple OQp
Cider Vinegar. w Ju
Arour’s Bacon, QQp
Pound ..
IQ Pounds Granulated QRp
Com Meal ....
65c Large Jars Fruit A7p
15c Sack Extra Fine 1 fip
25c Package Bird 1 0 p
2—15c Cans OHp
Milk. tUw
10 Bars Pang G QCp
Naptha Soap.-. **vb
25c Package Sal 1 On
Soda . IOC
2 Cans Early June 4Qp
Peas . "Mb
57 STEPS
‘MELVIN’
SELLS FOR LESS
Vitt’s Grocery
WE PAY CASH FOR EGGS.
Tip Top Bread....15 cent loaves
Bon Ton Flour, per sack......$4.25
(Package of Yeast with every sack.)
Karine Coffee....55c
Catsup ....... 35c
New Potatoes, per pound . 15c
We carry a full line of fresh fruit and vegetables.
J. A. Vitt, °’N»'iU.
U A FEW CENTS
jj Will work wonders for
gg you in the way of re
gj markably improving the
a appearance of some gar
H ment you may have cast
a aside.
Get It Out
H And let us show you
\ what we can do with it
p and how reasonable our
j§ charges are for clean
p ing, pressing and re
J pairing.
| O’Neill Sanitary L’dy,
Phone 209
We’ll Call.
"What's tko mi— Doom it Pay
Ta lot old Poors invito docayt
Not forms, "says Wintkrop Wiso»
"Enamel thorn with Kpmnlm "
Old Floors Disappear and Never Return!
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__ _ ^
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COLORS __ WATERPROOF
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repeated waahinga will not injure. Will not nick to furniture, and doea not peel or chip off.
Try KYANtZE FLOOR ENAMEL on that Floor that never dM leek well. , &,
Warner Sons
« \
/
There May Be Delay
in Moving Your Telophone
If you order your telephone moved next week you may be
told to expect a delay in getting it done.
Nearly half a million other telephone users in the United
States will move their telephones this month, too. And for all
of them many carloads of wire and other materials will be
needed.
A general shortage of materials, as well as a lack of
sufficient transportation facilities, is holding back factory
output and the telephone companies can’t get enough supplies.
The factories are months behind in their orders.
In this emergency it will be greatly appreciated if you
will order the least possible changes in your telephone equip
ment. And when you need to have something done please let
us know as far in advance as possible.
NEBRASKA TELEPHONE COMPANY
