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113 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. vi (1924)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0113 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD WHAT can be done to secure com- petency and economy in the public business? It is to this question this volume is addressed. No attempt is made to balance the relative merits of one class of expen- ditures against another or to suggest expenditures that may be eliminated. These are questions of public policy that are to be discussed at another time. The question with which we are concerned in this volume is as to the methods that tend to secure economy and competency in those expenditures which the legislatures authorize. For given a public service to be accomplished it is in the public interest that that service be com- petently done without waste or ex- travagance. Few if any are interested in economy in public business just for the sake of economy. Nor is anyone deeply in- terested in economy in private business as such. We are interested in economy as we are interested in thrift: that we may in the long run accomplish more that is worth while. In private busi- ness the drive for economy and com- petency comes from the desire to get maximum net returns. In public busi- ness the drive for economy and com- petency comes from the necessity of meeting the growing public demands for expenditures in the face of a grow- ing restlessness against increasing taxes. All the people want public expendi- tures-always when the cost is borne by someone else-and often when the cost is borne fairly by themselves. The real drive for economy in public expenditures does not come until hope for passing the taxes to someone else is given up. Those who finally admit to themselves that their taxes are as inevitable as death under prevailing public expenditures get interested in public economy; and sometimes that interest grows into a demand suffi- ciently vocal to offset the universal interest in expenditures. I. THE TREND IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURES While it is not the purpose of this volume to discuss expenditures that may or may not be eliminated it is pertinent to inquire as to the trend of public expenditures. For if that trend is upward, competency in public man- agement and thrift in public expen- ditures become all the more important. The total revenues raised for muni- cipal, county, state and national pur- poses increased from $2,131,402,000 in 1912 1 to $6,346,332,000 in 1922, an increase of 198 per cent. These revenues in 1912 totaled $21.96 for every person in the United States; by 1922 they totaled $58.37. Such a trend is cause of concern even after due consideration is given to increases in wealth as well as in population and to the lower purchas- ing power of the dollar. Municipal revenues 2 increased in this period least of all: from $849,971,- 000 to $1,532,400,000 or 80 per cent. Revenues for county purposes grew in this eleven year period from $307,872,- 000 to $742,331,000 an increase of 141 per cent. But the revenues for na- tional purposes increased from $667,- 038,000 to $3,204,133,000 or 380 per cent in 1922 and to $3,630,215,000 in 1923 or 444 per cent. The heaviest increase, therefore, is 1 The census table from which these figures were compiled indicates that the revenues given for the national government ($667,083,000) were for 1913 and not 1912. a All incorporated places of over 2,500. vi

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