I believe that H. R. 775 should become a law.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. France? thank you, Mr. France.

If not,

Our next witness is Mr. Cliff D. Carpenter, president of the Institute of American Poultry Industries, Chicago, Ill.

STATEMENT OF CLIFF D. CARPENTER, PRESIDENT, INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN POULTRY INDUSTRIES, CHICAGO, ILL.

Mr. CARPENTER. The membership of the Institute of American Poultry Industries is composed primarily of processors of poultry and eggs, representing 600 processing plants located throughout the United States.

We approve H. R. 775 for the following reasons:

1. During the war years many Government regulations were imposed on industry because of the nature of the emergency; such regulations or their substitutes, however, have no place in our peacetime economy. It is our hope that the findings and recommendations of the proposed Commission will result in minimizing bureaucratic controls over the business affairs of our peacetime economy.

2. We believe that much duplication and overlapping of services, activities, and functions now exist in government, and that many consolidations of such services and activities can be effected without loss of any of the necessary functions of government.

3. All services and activities not necessary to the efficient conduct of government should be abolished.

4. One serious effect of unnecessary Government services is to maintain high rates of taxation which is not only wasteful, but if continued could endanger our whole economy.

We urge that your committee approve H. R. 775.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. Carpenter? If not, thank you, Mr. Carpenter.

Our next witness is Mr. T. Jefferson Coolidge, a former Under Secretary of the Treasury, and chairman of the Citizens National Committee, a nonprofit organization engaged in research on expenditures in the Federal Government.

STATEMENT OF T. JEFFERSON COOLIDGE, FORMER UNDER SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, AND CHAIRMAN OF THE CITIZENS NATIONAL COMMITTEE, BOSTON, MASS.

Mr. COOLIDGE. I am chairman of the Citizens National Committee which for the past 5 years has been engaged in surveying the Federal Government and its operations from the standpoint of efficiency and economy. Needless to say. I am heartily in accord with the purpose of H. R. 775 and trust this bill will become law, with any amendments that you may deem necessary to increase its workability and effectiveness.

It is needless to dwell on the vast sums being spent by the Federal Government and the waste and extravagance involved. We are all familiar with the facts and many of the individual examples. The total spent amounts to perhaps 25 percent of all the income earned by every citizen of the country.

Our democracy is based on the theories that private initiative is more wholesome than Central Government control and that vigorous and healthy State and local governments, performing their proper functions, are essential for our constitutional system.

Expenditures totaling the sums now being spent by the Federal Government must necessarily sap, through taxes, the initiative of individuals and deplete the resources of State and local governments. Thus, if our society is to remain healthy and strong we must drastically reduce these Federal expenditures, utilizing every possible means to achieve this end in the interest of economy and good government.

Certainly commissions as authorized in H. R. 775 are a most useful method to determine facts and obtain constructive suggestions for better government at less cost. However, the problem designated is so very broad in scope-covering in fact all activities of the Federal Government-that it would seem difficult for a single commission acting as a unit to cover all the ground. This Commission could well separate the various activities of the Federal Government and the agencies that administer them into special groups showing the funds allocated to the various activities. Then it might well delegate to other individuals the duty of examining and reporting how best certain duties could be administered with less expense and more efficiency and what duties might be dispensed with.

In my opinion there are many duties that could well be dispensed with by the Federal Government and undertaken by the State governments with benefit to self-government and efficiency.

If this point of view is sound it might well be well to recognize in the language of the bill the immensity of the problem and request of the Commission to determine how best the problem can be handled, rather than apparently expect a final answer.

However, in any case the Commission will presumably feel free to act as best it may in favor of Government economy and efficiency, and I feel sure its report will have excellent results.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. Coolidge? If not, thank you, Mr. Coolidge.

Our next witness is Mr. Lewis H. Brown, chairman of the board of Johns-Manville.

STATEMENT OF LEWIS H. BROWN, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF JOHNS-MANVILLE CORP.

Mr. BROWN. Throughout the year our Federal Government and independent agencies have been growing in unprecedented size and numbers.

Whenever our country has been faced with an emergency the executive branch has been granted more powers, has become more complex, and the number of employees on the Federal pay roll has increased tremendously.

World War II accelerated this growth and expansion to enormous proportions.

With every emergency it has been stressed that the executive branch would be cut back when the emergency was over. In only rare in-stances, however, has that happened.

As a result the executive structure of our Government has mushroomed into a sprawling, bureaucratic, expensive, and inefficient machine which has even reached down to the States and has usurped many of the rights of these local governments.

Clearly it is time not only to put a halt to this huge and unhealthy growth, but also to streamline the executive branch, reduce it in size and cost.

H. R. 775 is a bill drawn up to accomplish this purpose. This bill provides for increasing efficiency, eliminating dupliction, preventing overlapping, and thus reducing expenditures in the executive branch of the Government to a minimum consistent with the performance of their proper functions.

I am heartily in favor of this bill and am confident that Congress will approve it.

I do believe that the bill should be amended to broaden the powers of the commission. These powers should include the relationship between the Federal and State Governments.

Today there is great apprehension throughout the country because the Federal Government has gone too far in its infringement of the rights of the States. Admittedly, the Federal Government should always cooperate with and assist States on problems affecting the public welfare. But the relationship between the Federal and State Governments should be such that there is no centralized, Federal control and power over matters that rightfully belong to the respective States. The Commission should have the authority to recommend what should properly be done by the Federal Government and by the respective State governments. When this has been done and the recommendations adopted much progress will have been made toward streamlining the executive branch of our Government, and reestablishing responsibility and authority for handling State problems at the grass roots level where they rightfully belong, thus improving public service and greatly reducing the burden on the taxpayer.

This subject of reorganizing and streamlining is not new. It has been before our President and Congressmen on numerous occasion. The objectives of all of the plans and programs have been excellent and much good has been accomplished.

If such efforts did no more than to center the attention of all the people on the growth of the Government and the necessity for constantly endeavoring to improve its functioning and to eliminate duplication and overlapping, the efforts would be worthwhile.

One of the great difficulties with all reorganization plans has been not so much in the plans themselves but in the carrying out of such plans. It is here that theory meets facts. Many promising reforms have been wrecked because the plans placed into operation were com pletely in the hands of personnel in the executive branch and the independent agencies-all of whom have friends or representatives in the congressional branch of the Government, as well as in the executive branch.

H. R. 775 proposes a new type of commission for this purpose. It would consist of a mixed commission composed of Representatives of the Congress, the executive branch, and the people. The Commission would be evenly divided insofar as political affiliations are concerned.

It is apparent that the intention of the author of H. R. 775 is a long-range, comprehensive study. I believe it would accomplish much good. I strongly recommend its approval.

The fact that our Government departments and independent agen-, cies, by force of necessity during the war, grew in size and numbers almost beyond comprehension, makes a move along these lines not only desirable but an urgent necessity.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. Brown? If not, thank you, Mr. Brown.

Our next witness will be Mr. James S. Adams, president of Standard Brands, Inc.

STATEMENT OF JAMES S. ADAMS, PRESIDENT, STANDARD BRANDS, INC., NEW YORK, N. Y.

Mr. ADAMS. This bill has appealed to me so strongly on its merits that I urge its enactment.

During the war, I served in a number of different capacities under three of the Chairmen of the War Production Board-Messrs. Knudsen, Nelson, and Krug. In addition, with Richard Deupree, I was rqesponsible for organization of the rubber industry and later organized the automotive indstry and worked out the program for converting to war production. Since last October, I have been chairman of a committee appointed by the Secretary of War for the purpose of making recommendations for the improvement of personnel, educational, and recruiting policies of the Army.

These varied assignments have placed me in contact with a large number of the agencies within the executive branch of the Government. I am convinced that the executive branch must be reorganized if it is to function with even a fair rate of efficiency. Today, the multitude of bureaus and agencies makes the President's job of administration impossible. In my opinion, a 25-percent reduction in personnel within the executive branch will make for a 50 percent increase in efficiency and will, of course, involve substantial savings to the taxpayers.

Few bureaus or agencies are ever done away with. Once created, they soon become "essential to the welfare of the country" at least in the minds of the employees of the particular agency. This condition exists in business, as well as in Government, and most business organizations have been engaged for some time in just such a program of realinement and expense reduction, not only in the interest of saving money, but in improving efficiency. Such a review of organization and expenses must be made in Government and industry from time to time.

Congressman Brown's proposal, for the first time, makes possible a fair, impartial, and cold-blooded appraisal of the executive branch of the Government, and without politics. As I understand it, the Commission will be nonpartisan, jointly appointed by the President and the Congress, to report after the next election, so that every trace of partisanship will be removed, and if the proper men are appointed to the Commission, they will have the opportunity of rendering a great and important service to the country.

For that reason I urge your favorable consideration of H. R. 775.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions of Mr. Adams? If not, thank you, Mr. Adams.

The following letter and telegram have been received.

BENDIX AVIATION CORP., Detroit 2, Mich., June 25, 1947.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EXPENDITURES IN THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS:

Washington, D. C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN: Unfortunately, prior commitments make it impossible for me to be in Washington June 25 or 26. I must decline regretfully the opportunity, extended through you, to appear personally before the House Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments on behalf of H. R. 775, your bill to establish a Commission or Organization of the executive branch of the Government. I do, however, want to take advantage of your offer to place a statement in the record and you may regard this letter as my statement on the subject.

I am in hearty accord with the purposes of this legislation. Its aims are economy and efficiency in government, ends which must be accomplished promptly if our system of government is to survive and if our people are to enjoy continued prosperity.

What you propose for government is exactly what American industry must do almost daily. Under our competitive system, every businessman must cut administrative costs and effect operating economies continually if he is to stay in business.

Our Government has grown swiftly during the last few years, with bureau piling on top of bureau, while we made an all-out effort to win the war. With that objective and our methods, there can be little criticism. Now, however, we have reentered an era where costs are again important. The taxpayer demands full value for his tax dollar, just as he demands full value for his purchase from shopkeepers' shelves.

I understand the Commission to be established under your bill will study every phase of operation within the executive branch of Government with a view to recommending to the Congress ways and means for eliminating duplicating functions, extravagence, and waste. If such a reorganization is recommended and adopted, it should result in savings of billions of dollars.

This money saved for the taxpayers, then, would serve two purposes. First it would reduce the tremendous national debt and at the same time cut down the heavy interest charges taxpayers are bearing to carry this debt. Secondly, it would reduce taxes so that more money can be spent for the purchase of goods and services. Thus, your bill is a step toward increasing prosperity and maintaining our high standard of living.

Almost every businessman has had experience with the overlapping and duplicating functions of Government departments, bureaus, and agencies. 93 Government agencies lend money; 27 agencies are concerned with standards and inspection; 22 with insurance; 37 with foreign trade. If such overlapping existed in private industry, costs would rise to a point where no one could afford to pur-chase its products or services.

Some

Almost every Government bureau or agency is engaged in purchasing. suppliers actually have scores of Government agencies on their list of customers. During the war, a few steps were taken toward centralized purchasing for the Government. Actual centralized purchasing, as known-in private industry, never was accomplished.

This situation, among many others, contributes to increased cost of Government, reduced efficiency, and high taxes. It contributes to increasing the cost of doing business with the Government-of selling to the Government the things Government buys. This added selling cost must be added to the price of items sold the Government, an added cost which eventually must be borne by the taxpayer.

It is my earnest hope, shared, I am sure, by every American taxpayer, that the cost of Government can be reduced promptly. An intelligent and systematic survey of the operations of Government should reveal many ways in which economies may be effected. Your bill is an approach to a solution of this great problem and I am happy to support its objectives.

Respectfully yours,

M. P. FERGUSON, President.