ABSTRACT
The logic of integrating the budget into a single system and document developed and executed under a chief executive was in part a negative reaction to the alleged extravagance, imbalance, and corruption associated with fragmentation among semiindependent agencies, legislative committees, and political bosses. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 was thus a product of a larger reform movement. To a considerable extent, it was modeled upon ideas and developments at other levels of government; and it was stimulated and pushed by persons many of whom drew their ideas and arguments from experience at other levels. The Taft Commission and President Taft himself had given the initial kickoff to a national budget system, but several factors inhibited any immediate legislative action on their recommendations. In July 1912, the month after the commission recommendations urging adoption of a national budget were transmitted to Congress, Taft attempted to introduce this reform by administrative fiat.
