362 State Papers and Addresses

True, there may be no unaminity of opinion among the group and on many con-
troversial matters there may be wide differences but this only serves to prove
that the more thoroughly and widely a given subject is discussed the more likely
we are to find the proper answer.

Believing that we might be benefited if we could visualize the situation
which gave rise to the origin of this Advisory Council, I conducted a search
of records of the late Governor Albert C. Ritchie to get as much factual
data surrounding the enactment of law in 1922 as possible. It may be of
interest to you to have his own comments on this subject. They were contained
in an address he made at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, on December 14,
1922, before the Governors' Conference there in session. He discussed in detail
the re-organization of the State Government and, at considerable length, ex-
plained the re-arrangement of the subdivisions of the State which, incidentally,
was made after outside advice had been procured.

Governor Ritchie there referred to the provision for the creation of the
Governor's Advisory Council and, to use his own words it was, "composed of
thirteen important officials of the State who will meet with the Governor peri-
odically for the purpose of considering State policies, finances and conditions. "
And considering what benefits flow from such a group as this, furnishing
the composite knowledge of a given proposition, I was struck by the reasoning
revealed by a Governor-elect of thirty years ago who, in 1910, was addressing
the Governors' Conference, which body was in its infancy. His name was
Woodrow Wilson and he had not yet been inaugurated as Governor of New
Jersey. The Conference was being held at Frankfort, Kentucky, on November
29, 1910, and he there said "Our main object is counsel, sober and deliberate
conference upon questions and problems of State upon which we would if
possible, be guided by a full knowledge and by clear principles of action * * * If
these conferences become regular events, carried forward from time to time
as an habitual means of working toward common ends of counsel and coopera-
tion, it will be most beneficial. I do not know how better to define it than by
saying it is an habitual and systematic way of doing something which calls for
cooperation and a certain union in action!"

Governor-elect Wilson then went on to emphasize how States must be
made efficient instruments, wisely used in the regulation of economic conditions
which have been organized upon a scale and must continue to exhibit them-
selves upon a scale, that is nation-wide, no State being more than a part of
the territory which they cover.

But let me at the outset attempt to make one thing clear. In re-organizing
this Advisory Council, I have no intention of seeking to divide any of the
responsibility which, by law, devolves upon me as Governor. The duty of
deciding upon various State problems rests squarely on the Governor and I
am entirely willing to assume that responsibility and to let the burden rest
right there. But, in attempting to solve certain fundamental questions of
general State import, it stands to reason that these enumerated department
heads can be of inestimable assistance in outlining their experiences and in
furnishing information and data coming to them in the discharge of their
official duties.

It is not my purpose to have the Advisory Council meet with the regularity
and frequency of certain boards and commissions of the State. Neither do I
think it was intended by the law to have it pass upon a large volume of the