The Committee on Department Methods, popularly known as the Keep Commission, was appointed by
President
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Automobiles
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Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
in 1905. The Commission's members were Charles H. Keep, Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Penns ...
Lawrence O. Murray
Lawrence O. Murray (February 18, 1864 – June 10, 1926) was a United States Comptroller of the Currency from April 27, 1908, to April 27, 1913.
Establishment of the Committee
The Commission was generally charged with improving the administration of
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
services by investigating the administrative best practices of the day. Specifically, it was charged with examining
salary
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis.
F ...
cost accounting
Cost accounting is defined as "a systematic set of procedures for recording and reporting measurements of the cost of manufacturing goods and performing services in the aggregate and in detail. It includes methods for recognizing, classifying, al ...
, and generally more uniform and efficient business methods.
The need for the Commission was documented in Roosevelt's autobiography when he heard the story of an officer who was in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs district office: "The story reached him concerning a requisition in 1904 by an officer in charge of a Bureau of Indian Affairs' district office for a stove costing seven dollars. Submitting it in early autumn, the official certified that the stove was vitally needed to keep the infirmary warm during the winter months and that the old stove was worn out and useless. The papers were processed through all their travels in the usual routine, and the stove was authorized and sent out. When the stove reached the district office he acknowledged its receipt according to the proper procedure. 'The stove is here,' he wrote, 'and so is spring.'"
Ultimately, the Commission formed 12 subcommittees which were composed of about 70 functional experts employed by the government. The Commission also investigated scandals in the Government Printing Office and the
Department of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
. Its primary work, though, was administrative process improvement.
Notable recommendation
*
Personnel
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system improvement, including salary reclassification, efficiency ratings, retirement system for federal employees, uniform regulation for time and leave practices
* Purchasing and contracting procedure modification
* Coordination of statistics
* Records management, including the idea of a "National Archival House"
* Accounting system improvement, including double book entry accounting in the Department of the Treasury which became the first instance of the accounting method in the U.S. government, the use of
adding machine
An adding machine is a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations.
In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous of ...
s, consolidated accounting statements (prior accounts had been kept according to appropriations), official bond standardization, streamlined checks and voucher procedures
* Standardized governmental transportation procedures
* Inter-departmental relations and work duplication minimization
Reactions to the Commission
Since none of the members of the Keep Commission were even Presidential
Cabinet Members
This is a list of the offices of heads of state, heads of government, cabinet, and legislature, of sovereign states. Date of Origin refers to most recent fundamental change in form of government, for example independence, change from absolute mon ...
, it seems that some of the Cabinet members were quite embarrassed by the results but others such as the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the m ...
and the
Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...
took the recommendations of the Commission seriously and even encouraged more investigation. The President's direct involvement and support of the Commission seems to have kept dissension to the report to a minimum from the cabinet. However, since the Commission was not sanctioned by Congress, the Cabinet members were free to ignore some recommendations.
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
was suspicious and threatened by the work of the Commission because they saw it as an attempt to consolidate presidential power. They were so threatened, in fact, that they refused to allow the reports of the Commission and its subcommittees to be officially published and it passed an amendment to the Sundry Civil Expenses Appropriation Bill that forbade future expenditures by any committee or commission that had not been authorized by Congress. Presidents continue to deny that Congress has the authority to direct administration in this way.
The public perception of the Commission was that it was primarily engaged in an investigation into graft and corruption in government. President Roosevelt, however, maintained that the Commission "thoroughly overhauled" the business of government. When it appropriated funds to President
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
, Congress implicitly accepted the view stated by Roosevelt and the Keep Commission that administration was an executive responsibility.
Public Administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, Administration (government), administration of Government, government establishment (Governance#P ...
*
Commission on Economy and Efficiency The Commission on Economy and Efficiency was a presidential commission appointed by President William Howard Taft between 1910 and 1913 to look at and propose reforms for the United States federal government, particularly the presidential budget. ...