Administrative Reorganization in Minnesota1

The governor of Minnesota, Hon. A. O. Eberhart, in his message to the state legislature in 1911, made an exhaustive statement concerning the defective and expensive administrative system of the state, pointing out the lack of adequate centralization, responsibility and coöperation, suggesting a definite plan of reorganization, and making an earnest plea for legislative action; but his plea fell upon deaf ears. Again in 1913 he reargued the case but restricted his suggestions to the reorganization and systematization of only two departments: (1) the department of public domain and (2) the department of agriculture. These departments were not reorganized; instead the House of Representatives appointed a committee on public accounts. This committee made a partial study of the situation and filed a report. Nothing further was done except to introduce more than half a hundred bills dealing with state economy and efficiency, one of which passed, an act providing for an educational commission for investigation purposes.Perhaps one reason the legislature did not undertake a thoroughgoing reorganization of the administrative machinery of the state government is because the members wanted a scientific, impartial investigation of the whole subject made so that action might be taken only after full knowledge. However, the legislature did not provide for a general committee to study the whole situation but went at it piecemeal by providing for a commission to study a single problem.