The Brookings Institution-Devoted to Public Service through Research and Training in the Humanistic Sciences-was incorporated on December 8, 1927. Broadly stated, the Institution has two primary purposes: The first is to aid constructively in the development of sound national policies; and the second is to offer training of a supergraduate character to students of the social sciences. The Institution will maintain a series of coöperating institutes, equipped to carry out comprehensive and inter-related research projects. The responsibility for the final determination of the Institution's policies and for the administration of its endowment is vested in a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. The Trustees have, however, defined their position with reference to the scientific work of the Institution in a by-law provision reading as follows: "The primary function of the Trustees is not to express their views upon the scientific investigations conducted by any division of the Institution, but only to make it possible for such scientific work to be done under the most favorable auspices." Major responsibility for "formulating general policies and coördinating the activities of the various divisions of the Institution" is vested in the President. The by-laws provide also that "there shall be an Advisory Council selected by the President from among the scientific staff of the Institution and representing the different divisions of the Institution." INSTITUTE FOR GOVERNMENT RESEARCH SERVICE MONOGRAPHS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT No. 64. THE PERSONNEL ITS HISTORY, ACTIVITIES JK776 COPYRIGHT, 1931, BY THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The PRINTING CORPORATION of AMERICA Twenty-Second and Streets WASHINGTON. D.C The first essential to efficient administration of any enterprise 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 operation 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 subdivisions of the country. Its gross expenditures amount to billions annually. Including the personnel of the military and naval establishments, more than half a million persons 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 foundations been laid for a thorough consideration of the relations of all of its parts. No comprehensive effort has been made to list its multifarious activities or to group them in such a way as to present a clear picture of what the 765005 |