Curiously enough, commentators on American political institutions have never produced a systematic analysis of our administrative system except from the point of view of the lawyer. Until the last few years even the text books have obstinately closed their eyes to this enormous terrain, studded with governmental problems of first magnitude and fascinating interest; and even today they dismiss the subject with a casual chapter. But certainly no one pretends that administration can still be put aside as a practical detail which clerks could arrange after doctors had agreed upon principles."

p. ix: Preface, lead paragraph - Introduction to the Study of Public Administration, 1926