The Machinery of Government

Abstract

THE quotation from Carlyle with which the article on the above subject opens in NATURE of April 3 is singularly appropriate—“A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder”—and the comments of the writer are very useful. I add another quotation from a more obscure source: “A man of great knowledge and unweariable perseverance can really, by constantly pressing upon Ministers and Departments, do more than a tired and harassed official to shape public ends.” There is a substratum of truth in this. The State Department lacks initiative. The Minister's time is taken up in assisting to run the political machine, in doing what is brought to him from his Department, and in seeing through such things as may arise in Parliament in connection with his Ministry. The Department itself is engaged in administrative work, and has little time, or perhaps little inclination, for devising reforms in the interests of the industry it represents. It may be argued by the Department that such is not the work of an administrative Department; and those relying on a Department for taking the initiative in any reform should consider whether they are entitled to do so.