Students have engaged in lively controversy over their nature and validity. The principles of administrative responsibility are frequently equivocal; and though mutually incompatible, they are often equally applicable to the same administrative situation. To appreciate the general nature and importance of administrative responsibility it is necessary to understand the significance of bureaucracy in the modern state. Logically, of course, constitutional government presupposes a functioning bureaucracy; for until an administrative machine exists there cannot be efforts to subject it to popular influence and control. It has been popular in the past for American political scientists to assume that administrative officials are responsible only for the execution of policy and not at all for the formulation of policy. An administrative agency should be responsible for maintaining, developing, and applying such professional standards as may be relevant to its activities.