PRESERVATION BY REFORMATION

Singularly fitting today are the words uttered by Macaulay when he urged "Reform in order that you may preserve." In the past year we have witnessed repeated examples of the inability of the machinery at Washington to cope with pressing situations. It is not that we have had ignorant or incapable officials in positions of responsibility, but that the means open to those officials are inadequate for the efficient execution of government work. The various departments have expanded to such an extent that the duties of one, overlapping, often interfere with the work of another; and those duties themselves have in many cases become obscure and ill-defined. The time spent by Congress in disputing details of wording in the recent railroad bill is but one example of the need of legislative reform. And the nation is just beginning to realize that reform must take place if we are to deal intelligently with the advanced problems of today.

The question immediately arises, how can we accomplish the sweeping changes that are necessary, when the very institutions which we aim to attack are incorporated in the Constitution. The immutability of the Constitution has become a paradox. Radical though the proposed changes may seem, we should not fear to accept a responsibility on which depends the accomplishment of good government in the future. The foundations of the Constitution are still sound, but a thorough reorganization of departments and legislative method should take place. The number of departments should be reduced to a minimum, each subdivided into a series of sections whose field would be clearly defined and limited. To supervise and unify the departments, a board of experts consisting of the best executive minds obtainable should be set up to direct and link the work of each into a unified whole. In this manner attention would be centered on the work at hand. A method of suggested legislative reform which seems plausible consists in the establishment of a committee whose sole duty would be the drafting of bills in such form that time may not be lost on the floor of the House in quibbling over details of phraseology and legality. Coordination of effort and legislative progress would be the result of these changes.

One thing is certain: the old order is no longer able adequately to cope with modern conditions. Conservatives and liberals alike should unite to effect the reform which is obviously so necessary. When reform becomes the instrument of political preservation, even the most conservative must see the advantage of altering old traditions, lest the traditions themselves, no longer useful in the race of progress, fall by the way and perish.