Committee on Department Methods
Encyclopedia
The Committee on Department Methods, popularly known as the Keep Commission, was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt
in 1905. The Commission's members were Charles H. Keep, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
and Chairman of the Commission, James R. Garfield
, Gifford Pinchot
, Frank H. Hitchcock and Lawrence O. Murray
. The Commission represented the first assertion by a President that the President is responsible for administration.
services by investigating the administrative best practices of the day. Specifically, it was charged with examining salary
classifications, purchasing procedures, accounting procedures, cost accounting
, and generally more uniform and efficient business methods.
The need for the Commission was documented in Roosevelt's autobiography when he heard the story of an officer who was in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs
district office: "The story reached him concerning a requisition in 1904 by an officer in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs' district office for a stove costing seven dollars. Submitting it in early autumn, the official certified that the stove was vitally needed to keep the infirmary warm during the winter months and that the old stove was worn out and useless. The papers were processed through all their travels in the usual routine, and the stove was authorized and sent out. When the stove reached the district office he acknowledged its receipt according to the proper procedure. 'The stove is here,' he wrote, 'and so is spring.'"
Ultimately, the Commission formed 12 subcommittees which were composed of about 70 functional experts employed by the government. The Commission also investigated scandals in the Government Printing Office and the Department of Agriculture. Its primary work, though, was administrative process improvement.
Congress
was suspicious and threatened by the work of the Commission because they saw it as an attempt to consolidate presidential power. They were so threatened, in fact, that they refused to allow the reports of the Commission and its subcommittees to be officially published and it passed an amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses Appropriation Bill that forbade future expenditures by any committee or commission that had not been authorized by Congress. Presidents continue to deny that Congress has the authority to direct administration in this way.
The public perception of the Commission was that it was primarily engaged in an investigation into graft and corruption in government. President Roosevelt, however, maintained that the Commission "thoroughly overhauled" the business of government. When it appropriated funds to President William Howard Taft
, Congress implicitly accepted the view stated by Roosevelt and the Keep Commission that administration was an executive responsibility.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
in 1905. The Commission's members were Charles H. Keep, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
and Chairman of the Commission, James R. Garfield
James Rudolph Garfield
James Rudolph Garfield was an American politician, lawyer and son of President James Abram Garfield and First Lady Lucretia Garfield. He was Secretary of the Interior during Theodore Roosevelt's administration....
, Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania...
, Frank H. Hitchcock and Lawrence O. Murray
Lawrence O. Murray
Lawrence O. Murray was a United States Comptroller of the Currency from 1908 to 1913.Attorney Lawrence O. Murray had extensive government service prior to his appointment as Comptroller by President Theodore Roosevelt...
. The Commission represented the first assertion by a President that the President is responsible for administration.
Establishment of the Committee
The Commission was generally charged with improving the administration of governmentFederal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
services by investigating the administrative best practices of the day. Specifically, it was charged with examining salary
Salary
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....
classifications, purchasing procedures, accounting procedures, cost accounting
Cost accounting
Cost accounting information is designed for managers. Since managers are taking decisions only for their own organization, there is no need for the information to be comparable to similar information from other organizations...
, and generally more uniform and efficient business methods.
The need for the Commission was documented in Roosevelt's autobiography when he heard the story of an officer who was in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
district office: "The story reached him concerning a requisition in 1904 by an officer in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs' district office for a stove costing seven dollars. Submitting it in early autumn, the official certified that the stove was vitally needed to keep the infirmary warm during the winter months and that the old stove was worn out and useless. The papers were processed through all their travels in the usual routine, and the stove was authorized and sent out. When the stove reached the district office he acknowledged its receipt according to the proper procedure. 'The stove is here,' he wrote, 'and so is spring.'"
Ultimately, the Commission formed 12 subcommittees which were composed of about 70 functional experts employed by the government. The Commission also investigated scandals in the Government Printing Office and the Department of Agriculture. Its primary work, though, was administrative process improvement.
Notable Recommendation
- PersonnelHuman resourcesHuman resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
system improvement, including salary reclassification, efficiency ratings, retirement system for federal employeesFederal Employees Retirement SystemThe Federal Employees Retirement System is the current retirement system for employees within the U.S. federal civilian employees...
, uniform regulation for time and leave practices - Purchasing and contracting procedure modification
- Coordination of statisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
- Records managementRecords managementRecords management, or RM, is the practice of maintaining the records of an organization from the time they are created up to their eventual disposal...
, including the idea of a "National Archival House" - Accounting system improvement, including double book entry accounting in the Department of the Treasury which became the first instance of the accounting method in the U.S. government, the use of adding machineAdding machineAn adding machine was a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations.In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous office equipment until they were phased out in favor of...
s, consolidated accounting statements (prior accounts had been kept according to appropriations), official bond standardization, streamlined checks and voucher procedures - Standardized Governmental Transportation procedures
- Inter-departmental relations and work duplication minimization
Reactions to the Commission
Since none of the members of the Keep Commission were even Presidential Cabinet Members, it seems that some of the Cabinet members were quite embarrassed by the results but others such as the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce took the recommendations of the Commission seriously and even encouraged more investigation. The President's direct involvement and support of the Commission seems to have kept dissension to the report to a minimum from the cabinet. However, since the Commission was not sanctioned by Congress, the Cabinet members were free to ignore some recommendations.Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
was suspicious and threatened by the work of the Commission because they saw it as an attempt to consolidate presidential power. They were so threatened, in fact, that they refused to allow the reports of the Commission and its subcommittees to be officially published and it passed an amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses Appropriation Bill that forbade future expenditures by any committee or commission that had not been authorized by Congress. Presidents continue to deny that Congress has the authority to direct administration in this way.
The public perception of the Commission was that it was primarily engaged in an investigation into graft and corruption in government. President Roosevelt, however, maintained that the Commission "thoroughly overhauled" the business of government. When it appropriated funds to President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, Congress implicitly accepted the view stated by Roosevelt and the Keep Commission that administration was an executive responsibility.
See also
- Presidential Commission (United States)Presidential Commission (United States)In the United States, a Presidential Commission is a special task force ordained by the President to complete some special research or investigation...
- Public AdministrationPublic administrationPublic Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
- Commission on Economy and EfficiencyCommission on Economy and EfficiencyThe Commission on Economy and Efficiency was a presidential commission appointed by President William Howard Taft between 1910 and 1913 to look at and propose reforms for the United States federal government...
External links
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30D1EF83E5512738DDDAD0A94DB405B868CF1D3