Public sector

“ In the private sector, the Government’s efforts in imple­menting the over-all economic program will be to facilitate the growth of private enterprise. The specific projects that we have scheduled during these five years in the field of trans­port, communications, and allied public services are aimed at providing the private sector with the facilities which it needs in order to establish and expand its productive ventures. ”

“ The Council shall advise the President, through the White House Office of Private Sector Initiatives, with respect to the objectives and conduct of private sector initiative policies, including methods of increasing public awareness of the importance of public/private partnerships; removing barriers to development of effective social service programs which are administered by private organizations ”

“ Industries Carried on by Government.—In addition to the regulation in these various respects of industries carried on by private persons, and intervention for the protection of the public health, the government has extended its functions very considerably by taking up certain new duties or services, which it carries out itself instead of leaving to private hands. ”

“ The undertaking by the State or the Municipality, or other units of social life, of various departments of industry, such as the railways, telegraphs, post-offices, is a definite assertion that, in the supply of the common services rendered by these industries, the competition of private interests cannot be relied upon to work for the public good. ”

“ A third group of functions embraces the direct participation in industry by the Government itself, as the post-office, gas, electric, and water works, canals, roads, sewers, parks, etc. In other countries, when the functions of government are more extended than in the United States, it conducts railroads, telegraph and telephone systems, tenements, pawn shops, theaters, industrial insurance, or various other activities. The line which divides public from private enterprise varies greatly in different countries. ”

“ To the degree that governments faithfully exercise their legitimate public functions and refrain from interfering with legitimate private functions, they contribute to the Productive Process. This is demonstrated by observable Economic results. Wherever Government approximates a realization of its functions, Economic conditions are manifestly better than where it neglects or abuses them. Evidently, then, Government is a form of human service which, like all other human service forms, belongs as an Economic factor in the Labor category. ”

“ It must always be remembered that in the working of a [Pg 218] monopoly by the State, the interest of the public as a whole is the paramount consideration, and every economy consistent with efficiency must be adopted. ”

“ In our municipal life, for example, it is the aroused interest and zeal of the best business community for better government and better conditions that can alone produce important results. Happily, all over the country we find chambers of commerce, boards of trade, merchants' associations, and other bodies of men of practical business affairs, taking their stand for the transaction of public business upon high standards of character and efficiency. ”

“ The advocates of this theory point out that the functions of the Government change with progress, and that in our complex modern industrial life it should seek to improve conditions positively, and not leave the people to the mercies of a blind competitive struggle; practically, it should regulate industry, conditions of work, housing, etc., and should manage all public utilities which affect the life or well-being of the citizens, as railroads, telegraphs, industrial insurance, etc. ”

“ The paramount importance of the trade and industry of the country, and my anxiety that the exigencies of the public services should be provided for in the manner least burdensome to the community, have induced me to resort to the means which the constitution has entrusted to me, of ascertaining the sense of my people upon matters which so deeply concern their welfare. ”

“ Especially in what is designated as applied economics and applied sociology there is to be found material a large part of which relates directly to the regulation and administration of governmental affairs. Thus in portions of the courses designated as labor problems, money and banking, public finance, trust problems, public utility regulation, problems in social welfare, and immigration, primary consideration is frequently given to government activities and to the influences and conditions surrounding government control. ”

“ Most earnestly, therefore, does this Society call upon all to whom a maintenance, out of the public purse, is dear, upon those who value the places they hold at the expense of the country, or the permanence of the present Administration, to join them in promoting these objects and principles. ”

“ To decide for what public objects local superintendence is best suited, and what are those which should be kept immediately under the central government, or under a mixed system of local management and central superintendence, is a question not of political economy, but of administration. ”

“ The answer to all these questions is that the Government and the Municipalities have proved that they can manage vast and intricate businesses, and can manage them more cheaply, more efficiently, and more to the advantage and satisfaction of the public than the same class of business has ever been managed by private firms. ”

“ Industry had produced municipal prosperity; prosperity stimulated municipal industry. A new class of society had been called into existence by mercantile occupations, and, in proportion as it throve, the whole social order was improved. ”

“ Writers of all schools admit that activity in certain departments of national life is a fair indication of prosperity and progress. It is, for instance, generally allowed that an increase in population, a development of agricultural and manufacturing industry, a growth of foreign commerce, an increase in shipping, or an improvement in the public revenue, are all signs of health and well-being ”

“ One of the most difficult and interesting practical problems which now engages the thoughts of the American people is how to maintain economy, efficiency, and purity in the administration of local affairs, and especially in the government of towns and cities, without a departure from principles and methods which are deemed essential to free popular government. ”

“ The dominant conception operating in this economic community is that of public service. The theory expressed in the book, however, is subordinated to a description of actual facts—the administrative treatment of labour conditions, unemployment, commerce and finance, which will be found valuable even by those who do not agree with the theory, since the description is the only one which covers contemporary post-war administration. ”

“ The state, through its special servants, educates children and youth, guards the public health, encourages inventions, stimulates certain kinds of production, collects statistics, carries letters and parcels, provides currency, improves rivers and harbors, preserves forests, constructs reservoirs for irrigation, and digs canals and tunnels for transportation. In these ways and in others it enters the field of positive production; but in the main it leaves that field to be occupied by private employers of labor and capital. ”

“ The proper understanding and practice of these functions is the most important thing for a people to arrive at, but, having arrived at this as the basis of all the relations of the people, the scientific construction of the various departments of the complete superstructure which is to cover all the public interests of all the people, as well as to maintain their private interests intact, can be begun. ”

“ He will therefore have every inducement to lend a helping hand in the introduction of a thorough and permanent reform of the civil service, which, proceeding upon the idea that established character, knowledge and capability ought to be the only test of fitness for office, will at last give the country an able, honest and economical administration of the public business. ”

“ I think the economy, purity, and efficiency of the public service would be greatly promoted by their systematic introduction, wherever practicable, throughout the entire civil service of the Government, together with ample provision for their general supervision in order to secure consistency and uniform justice. ”

“ In the third place, if I have any just estimate, if an experience not now a short one in public affairs has enabled me to know any thing of what the public interest demands, the state of the country requires an essential reform in the system of revenue and finance such as shall restore the prosperity, by prompting the industry and fostering the labor of the country, in its various branches. ”

“ The great majority of city officials and employees are engaged in rendering social and economic services—such as teaching in schools, caring for the public health, building streets, inspecting markets, attending to the water supply, putting out fires, and making out tax bills; all of which tasks are quite different in nature from the work which legislatures or governors or courts perform. It is work which, in order to be effective, must be done in accordance with the methods of everyday business with emphasis on intelligence, punctuality, and honesty. ”

“ The government has pursued a moderate program of economic reform and privatization, resulting in a gradual lifting of state controls over economic activity and a shifting of assets into the private sector. Nevertheless, government control over key sectors of the economy remains strong. ”

“ But public works activities are closely inter-related and have a substantial influence on the growth of the country. Moreover, in times of threatening economic contraction, they may become a valuable sustaining force. To these ends, efficient planning and execution of the nation's public works require both the coordination of Federal activities and effective cooperation with State and local governments. ”

“ And for that disease there is no other remedy than the one I have told you of—the PUBLIC OWNERSHIP and cultivation of the land, the PUBLIC OWNERSHIP of the mines, railways, canals, ships, factories and all the other means of production, and the establishment of an Industrial Civil Service—a National Army of Industry—for the purpose of producing the necessaries, comforts and refinements of life in that abundance which has been made possible by science and machinery—for the use and benefit of the whole of the people. ”

“ In view of these several features, which are so closely related that they form a common character, more or less fully shared by various industries, and especially in view of the necessity for the formal granting to them of peculiar privileges in the form of a public franchise, the public, in order to protect the general interest, is forced to undertake an exceptional control of these industries. ”

“ The federal government has absorbed numerous matters of social and economic importance, such as those relating to railways, telegraph, factories, insurance, debts, marriage, the law of contract, and general measures of sanitary precaution. ”

“ We have departments which deal with such important matters as currency and finance, agriculture and statistics, the administration of justice, the control of railway traffic, the erection of public buildings and the improvement of waterways, the carrying out of geodetic and geological surveys, the representation of the country abroad, the protection of the public health, and, finally, the great question of public education. ”

“ All persons conversant with public business know the difficulties which, from this cause, have constantly been experienced in bringing commercial subjects, and even the condition of the population dependant on manufactures and commerce, under the consideration of government and parliament. ”

“ And who can say that industry, whether agricultural, domestic, manufacturing, scientific, artistic, or commercial, is organized at the present day either in the state or in municipalities? Who can say that all the work which is carried on in any of these departments is executed in subordination to any general views, or with foresight, economy, and order? Or, again, who can say that it is possible in our present state of society to develop, by a good education, all the faculties bestowed by nature on each of its members ”

“ Towns of this class possess the public spirit and the intelligent administration required for the success of such a public venture. They also possess a fund of gratuitous public service among the citizens which may be drawn upon when occasion requires. ”

“ Every consideration of care for the public interest and every sensible business reason dictate such management or disposal of this important source of public revenue as will except it from the general rules and incidents attending the ordinary disposition of public lands and secure to the Government a fair share at least of its advantages in place of its transfer for a nominal sum to interested individuals. ”

“ Public Services — I also propose greater outlays by the Government for public services designed to improve the general living standards of the people, particularly in the less developed areas of this country. ”

“ In other words, the economic model of pure public goods will track our reality well in some areas and poorly in others—and the argument for state intervention to fix the problems of public goods will therefore wax and wane correspondingly. ”

“ Suppose, sir, that all the sales that have been effected had been made by the state, and that the proceeds had gone into the state treasury, to be returned back to the people in some of the various shapes in which a beneficient local government exerts its powers for the improvement of the conditions of the citizens. Who can say how much of wealth and prosperity, how much of improvement in science and arts, how much of individual and social happiness, whould have been diffused throughout the land! ”