(e) He shall furnish such information relating to expenditures and accounting to the bureau of the budget as it may request from time to time.

SEC. 313. All departments and establishments shall furnish to the comptroller general such information regarding the powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions, and methods of business of their respective offices as he may from time to time require of them; and the comptroller general, or any of his assistants or employees, when duly authorized by him, shall for the purpose of securing such information have access to and the right to examine any books, documents, papers, or records of any such department or establishment. The authority contained in this section shall not be applicable to expenditures made under the provisions of section 291 of the Revised Statutes.

SEC. 314. The Civil Service Commission shall establish an eligible register for accountants for the general accounting office, and the examinations of applicants for entrance upon such register shall be based upon questions approved by the comptroller general.

SEC. 315, (a) All appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, for the offices of the Comptroller of the Treasury and the six auditors are transferred to and made available for the general accounting office, except as otherwise provided herein.

(b) During such fiscal year the comptroller general, within the limit of the total appropriations available for the general accounting office, may make such changes in the number and compensation of officers and employees appointed by him or transferred to the general accounting office under this act as may be necessary.

(c) There shall also be transferred to the general accounting office such portions of the appropriations for rent and contingent and miscellaneous expenses, including allotments for printing and binding, made for the Treasury Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, as are equal to the amounts expended from similar appropriations during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, by the Treasury Department for the offices of the Comptroller of the Treasury and the six auditors.

(d) During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, the appropriations and portions of appropriations referred to in this

section shall be available for salaries and expenses of the general accounting office, including payment for rent in the District of Columbia, traveling expenses, the purchase and exchange of law books, books of reference, and for all necessary miscellaneous and contingent expenses.

SEC. 316. The general accounting office and the bureau of accounts shall not be construed to be a bureau or office created since January 1, 1916, so as to deprive employees therein of the additional compensation allowed civilian employees under the provisions of section 6 of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, if otherwise entitled thereto.

SEC. 317. The provisions of law prohibiting the transfer of employees of executive departments and independent establishments until after service of three years shall not apply during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, to the transfer of employees to the general accounting office.

SEC. 318. This act shall take effect upon its approval by the President. Provided, That sections 301 to 317, inclusive, relating to the general accounting office and the bureau of accounts, shall take effect July 1, 1921.

CHAPTER XIV

UNNECESSARY OR OPTIONAL FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

Unnecessary or Optional Functions.-The functions which have been discussed in the preceding pages are the functions which must necessarily be exercised to insure the existence of government; in addition to these, all governments of the modern era exercise many other functions in their attempt to promote the general welfare and prosperity of their people. These latter functions we may call the unnecessary or optional functions of government.

Lack of Uniformity: Principles for the Exercise of Optional Functions.-No absolute uniformity with regard to the optional functions exercised by governments exists in practice to-day. Some governments own and manage their railroads, others do not; nearly all central governments manage the post office; some governments control and administer the telegraphs and telephones, others leave these to private ownership and management; within a single great state we may see differences in practice, as in the United States, where the Panama Canal is constructed by the central government, the so-called Barge Canal in New York by the commonwealth government, and the Cape Cod Canal by private capital. The only principles determining whether or not a government shall exercise certain of these optional functions are: (1) that a government should do for the public welfare those things which private capital would not naturally undertake, and (2) that a government should do those things which by its very nature it is better equipped to administer for the public welfare than is any private individual or group of individuals. How far these

principles are applicable in concrete instances is to be determined by the statesmanship of those at the head of the separate governments.

Classes of Optional Functions.-In considering the present practice with regard to optional functions, we may, for convenience, distinguish five general classes: (1) Public Works; (2) Public Education; (3) Public Charity; (4) Industrial Regulations; and (5) Health and Safety Regulations.

I. PUBLIC WORKS

Public Works.-In the class of public works are to be included all those industries which have been removed by a government from private control and management to its own control and management in accordance with one or other of the principles stated above. As has been emphasized, governments differ in the extent to which they have considered these principles applicable; thus, for example, governments uniformly control the coinage and currency in their respective countries and establish and maintain lighthouses, but on the other hand governments differ radically in the extent to which they go in the control of railroads, water supplies, forests, etc.

I. Finances. Modern governments uniformly control the coinage and issue of currency of various kinds. Nothing is more important to insure the stability of business relations than a fixed standard of exchange; and no individual or group of individuals is in a position to insure such a fixed standard. In minting its metal currency and in printing its paper currency to represent the precious metal stored in its vaults, and in punishing severely any attempt to counterfeit such currency or to reduce the value of such currency, a government is but guaranteeing to its citizens a fixed standard of exchange and thus facilitating the prosperity of the country.

In addition to its function in coinage, certain governments, notably England and the United States, have established and now maintain savings banks (commonly called postal savings banks, because operated with the agency of the post office

department). These savings banks have offered to the people a place of deposit for their money which is as secure as the nation itself. Although the rates of interest are lower than in the privately managed savings banks, the absolute security of the principal against mismanagement or dishonesty has made such banks very popular.

2. Communications.-Almost uniformly, modern governments control and manage the public postal service of their respective states. Such control and management is so familiar to us to-day that we are tempted to forget that not many generations ago the transmission of mail matter was in the hands of private business concerns. Governments have taken the postal service over on the ground that they, by their nature, are better fitted to insure the necessary safety and speed of delivery than are any private concerns.

The same considerations that led governments to take over the postal service have led them in several notable instances to take over also the other important means of communication; namely, the telegraph and telephone service. A distinct advantage accrues to governments owning the telegraph and telephone service of the country, in that in case of war an immediate and absolutely effective censorship can be established over all the means of communication. At the present time Germany, France, Belgium, and England are among the important governments which own and manage this service. State ownership has been proposed in the United States, but the enormous expense involved in taking over the companies - has been one chief argument against so doing.

3. Transportation.-Arguments similar to those used for government ownership and management of the postal, telegraph, and telephone services have led Germany into the government ownership and management of railroads. The government of Italy also owns and operates its railroads, but the considerations in that state leading to such governmental ownership were different from those in Germany. Owing to the peculiar shape of, and land conditions in, the Italian