The History of Public Administration
Wilson gives a justification for why the science of administration had not gained traction in the periods before the 9th century. He claims that there was not an exact need for administration at the time, for it would have served little purpose at the time and such there was more emphasis placed on politics to the detriment of administration. He alludes to this when he states in page 99, that The functions of government were simple, because life itself was simple. Government went about imperatively and compelled men, without thought of consulting their wishes. There was no complex system of public revenues and public debts to puzzle financiers; there were, consequently, no financiers to be puzzled (Wilson, 887, p.99). He however explains that this prioritization of politics over administration created inefficiencies which pervaded into the 9th century, hence why he
states administrative tasks have nowadays to be so studiously and systematically adjusted to carefully tested standards of policy, the reason why we are having now what we never had before, a science of administration (Wilson, 887, p. 200).
The Subject Matter of Public Administration
The field of administration is a field of business. It is removed from the hurry and strife of politics; it at most points stands apart even from the debatable ground of constitutional study. It is a part of political life only as the methods of the counting-house are a part of the life of society; only as machinery is part of the manufactured product. But it is, at the same time, raised very far above the dull level of mere technical detail by the fact that through its greater principles it is directly connected with the lasting maxims of political wisdom, the permanent truths of political progress (Wilson, 887, p. 20).