Evening Star Newspaper, December 20, 1932, Page 23

. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1932. BINGHAM CRITICIZES REORGANIZING PLAN | Independent Agencies Offer Major Question, He Says ‘ in Forum Talk. ; | The major que:tion in governmental | reorganization concerns itself with the possibility of limiting the operations of the larger independent agencies. Sena- tor Bingham, Republican, of Connecti- cut, said last night in an address in the National Radio Forum, arranged by | The Washington Star, and broadcest | over the coast-to-coast network of the | National Broadeasting Co. | Senator Bingham, who is chairman | of the Senate Econom: spoke through WRC, d ing the de- | velopment of th> m~ny agencies in the | executive branch of the Government,| and the present reorganization plan advanced by President Hoover. { Cost to Exceed Savings, | The principal independent g'mups‘ are untouched by this program, Bing- | ham said, and “whether or not the American people are seriously benefited by most of the proposals now being considered in the Congress is not so easy to determine.” He added that “one of the leading financial experts in the Government™ is authority for the statement “that the cost of carrying out the varicus will exceed any pessible savi tainly during the first year, b; a million dellars.” Summing up, he said: “The big problem still remains as to whether the administrative duties con- cerned with semi-judicial boards, like | Cemmittee, the Interstate Commerce Commission, | the cause of much criticism, Vet as a | tivities and cuties relating to rcads and | the Federal Trade Commission, the | matter of fact Congress seems to have | bridges in the Territory of Alaska. It Federal Radio Commission and others | in that category, might not be better | transferred to definite members of the | cabinet, the boards reduced in size and | restricted to judicial rather than ad- ministrative functions. That would ef- fect real economies, but it i3 still in the future. Text of Address. Senator Bingham's address follows: “During the political campaign just past both political parties recommended reorganization. The platform of the Democratic party contains the follow- ing plank: advocate an immediate and drastic reduction of governmental expenditures by abolishing useless com- missions and offices, consolidating de- partments and bureaus and eliminating | extravagance to accomplish a saving of | not less than 25 per cent in the cost of Federal Government.' The Republican platform contains the following: ‘We | urge prompt and drastic reduction of public expenditure and resistance to every appropriation not demonstrably necessary to the performance of the essential functions cf government, n: tional or local. Efficiency and ezon reorganization of Gove! ‘Both are clear and concise ani in accord with the wishos of the pecple of the United States. “The question of reorganization is not new one. In 1920 a Joint Ccngres- sional Committee on Reorganization was created by act of Congress. That comrmittee made certain recommenda- | tions. “The President has also sent to Con- gress very recently an important mes- | sage on this subject. There is not time | this evening to consider the historical | development of the executive branch of | the Government or the many interest- | ing details in the growth of the Federal administrative agencies. Nerdle: to st the cetails of form and organiz: tion in the many G ment depart- ments are constantly changing as the resuits of congressiol tive action. session of Congress enactment of legislation creating new | executive agencies, transforming old ones or imposing new or larger duties upon existing establishments. Hardly 8 year goes by when some executive department does not organize a new bureau or division for the purpose of carrying out new requirements of law. “The departments and establishments | are not more than the instruments made available to carry into execution the laws from time to time enacted by Congress. “In a sense, then, the executive branch of Government is a composite resulting from the action of successive Congresses each of which adds to or subtracts from the duties of exis bureaus and offices creates new* agencies as it pres new functions. It is but natural these circumstances to find some need for reorganization, involving the simul- taneous consideration of the work done by all services and such rearrangements as may be necessary to reduce duplica- tions of activities and to bring about | more effective administration. Irregularities Well Known. “The firregularities of organization | which exist in the executive establish- | ments today are probably well known | to every one who follows public affairs. | Unanimity of opinion in matters of de- | tail is not found among students of government, and, of course, could ot | be expected. But there is substantial agreement that attention should be given to the presence in certain depart- ments of bureaus or offices which per- form functions having little or no ap- parent relation to the major depart- mental purposes—the maintenance bj two or more departments of agencies which do work in the same or analogous flelds of activity, and the existence of a considerable number of governmental agencies outside the 10 executive de- partments. “In the main, these conditions are so evident that it dly necessary to discuss them at any length as matters of fact. The Treasury Department fur- nishes a good example of the condition first cited. It is the fiscal agency of the Government. But in addition to i fiscal bureaus it includes such patent non-fiscal establishments as the Public Health Service and the Supervising Architect’s Office. The War Depart- ment embraces a large organization engaged in public works cf a strictly civil character. The administration of national forests and of the Govern- | ment's public roads program is intrusted to the Department of Agriculture, al- tfiough on their face these matters seem to have but an indirect relation to the major functions of that cepartment. And so it goes. There is hardly a de- partment which does not have some administrative task or other which has no apparent connection with the larger | problems absorbing its chief interest “It should not be supposed, however, that these cases i represent structural defe larities which necess inated in orcer to pave the way to effective administration. In the case of the War Department and the De- | partment of Agriculture the facts are not so clear. There are those who be- lieve strongly that much or all of the civil engineering work of the War De- ment should be permitted to remain in its present status, and also there are those who believe that the pres- ence of the Bureau of Public Roads and the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture is amply justified on theoretical as well as practical grounds. One of the most perplexing matters resented by the feorganization problem to determine the proper action to be taken in such instances as these. “The joint committee gave it as its view that the greater number of the present independent bureaus, offices and commissions should be permitted to retain their present status. Their | reasons were as follows: “‘In view of the popular impression that for the most of these independent | establishments there is little or no justification in necessity, it is worth While briefly to consider the motives which have actuated Cengress to in- | gus% certain functions to establish- | though the commission has certain in-} | Discusses Reorganization TOR HIRAM W. BINGHAM. ments free from the control of the cffi- | cers who head the ex2cutive depart-| ments and have places in the Presi- | deni’s cabinet. Althcugh the exist- | ence of the large number of cgencies of this kind has been in recent vears | acted with much consistency in their | creation. Its reasons for providing these independent organizations have | not always been the same, but they | appear to have been always forceful | and in most cases entirely sufficient. Single Field of Work. “‘In the first place. some agencics | have been set up outside the executive departments in the interests of pre- serving a principle which has becn re- peatzdly mentioned in this report—that each department should, £o far as prac ticable, be restricted to a single field of work. ~This was unquestionably the | reason which made the Department of | Labor in 1888, and in more recent times | the Veterans’ Administration. In such | cases Congress has decided, with much | reason, not to confuse the administra- | tion of the work involved by putting it under some executive department whose primary interests lie in an entirely dif- | ferent direction. | *“In the second place, many agencies | have been set up o de the jurisdic- tion of any executive department for the reason that they are cesigned to attend to th> c of two departn In these cases 5 has zutk ed a form of er- g on in which 1l the departm-nts concerned have an equal voice. There have been and still are many indepen- dent establishments or commissions of | this type. The office of the superinten- dent of the State, War and Navy De- partment Building was placed under the control of a commission composed of the secretaries of State, War and Navy. The Federal Board for Voca- tional Education, responsible for carry ing out a program to encourage voca- tional education in the trades, com- merce and manufactures and agricul- ture, is composed of the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Com- issioner of Education, ex officio, to- er with three appointive mem resenting. respectively, the labor in tercsts of the country, the manufactur- ing and commercial Inter agriculiural interests. ““That it would be proper to intrust | the functions given to agencies of this type to any single department is in | most cases doubtful. The criticism | would usually appear that the interests | of certain departments were unneces- sarily and improperly subordinated to the control of the particular depart- ment selected. Furthermore, no econJ‘ omy is iavelved. In {he third place, certain func- tions have been undertaken by the Government which pertain exclusively | ch details of administration as the recruitment of civilian personnel for executive agencies, the regulation of disbursing and accounting and the pro- curements of \ cutive departments and _establish- | ments alike, to any single department. | particularly a dcpartment which itself | functions primarily as an operating unit. This explains the independent status of the Civil Service Commission, charged with the examination and cer- tification of candidates for employment in all branches of the executive service, and its direct responsibility to the Pres- ident and to the Congress. And the same theory has justified the indepen- dent Bureau of Efficiency, created to | study the personnel needs of all depart- ‘ments, look into their methods of busi- ness and investigate the duplication | and overlapping of their work; the Gen- eral Accounting Office, responsible for the audit and settiement of the revenue and expenciture account arising in all departments; and _the Government | Printing Office, which supplies the need of all branches, including Congress, for printing.’ | I. C. C. Act Is Cited. “The most powerful of the indepen- | dent establisnments of the Government owe their existence to a still different | consideration from the three which; have been discussed. From time to time ‘ | Congress has delegated to the executive | branch certain functions with both legislative and judicial aspect, necessi- | tating for their satisfactory perform- #nce the employment of the board or | commission form of organization. The first important instance of this kind is | found in the interstate commerce act of February 4, 1887, creating the Inter- | state Commerce Commission and giving | it broad powers to regulate transporta- | tion rates in interstate commerce. Al- | vestigative and administrative duties which might conceivably be as well per- formed by a bureau located, say, in the | Department of Commerce, yet its more consequential functions are legislative— | fixing transportation rates—or judicial, hearing and acting upon complaints. Powers of this kind could not be be- owed upon any single authority, such s the head of an executive department, without giving rise to general distrust and dissatisfactio “By some it has been suggested that | the establishments like the Interstate Commerce Cemmission should be given | departmental affiliation, without, how- ever, destroying the form of their or- ganization as it now stands. These suggestions may be dismissed with the comment that the principle” involved requires the complete independence of all organizations having quasi-judicial functions from even the appearance of arbitrary control. Short of terminating their work altogether, there seems to be no alternative to continuing estab- lishments of this type, among which may be mentioned, in addition to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, the Feceral Trade Commission, the Shipping Board and the Railroad Board of Mediation. “In theynew recommendations re- cently made by tha President a total of 58 executive agencies and parts of agencies have been grouped or consoli- cated. The number of inde] dent agencies has been reduced by abdut 15. No estimate has been made of the ex- tent of the economies which will even- tually result from the proposed plan. In many cases it is obvious that there will be no economy at all. In 17 or 18 | [ uai chaoge is mage of a bureau: in other words, the bureau is| retained in the department where it | now is, but is regroupsd under a new assistant secretary. This is the case| with the Bureau of Reclamation, with | the Geological Survey and with the ac- | is also true with the Office of Educa- tions Howard University, the Columbia Institution for the Deaf. the Bureau of Indian Affairs. St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Freedman's Hospital and the National | service, all of which are already in the Department of the Interior. A number of commissions are deprived of duties, powers and functions erred to one or the of the departments, but the com- sions are required to serve in an advisory capacity. There may be a| slight saving in expense in doing away | with one cr two clerks: on the other | hand, some of the commissions are not | likely to continue interested in services | of a purely advisory capacity. For in- stance, the administrative duties. po ers and functions of the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission are trans- ferred to the Department of the Inte- rior and the commisison is to serve in an advisory capacity to the Secretary of the Interior. Now the Arlington Memo- rial Bridge Commission consists of sev- eM1 very distinguished officers of the Government. Its chairman is the Pre: ident of the United States himself. The cther members are the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, the chairman of the Scnate Committee on Public he chairman of the n on the same subject. It is rather amusing to find the highest officials of the Government, incluiing the President, placed by an executive order in &n advisory capacity to a member of the cabinet. Like the mem- bers of many other commissions, these | commissioners receive no salary for | their activities. The commission was | created by the Congress with the idea of securing services of the most emi- nent officials in our Goverpment and glving them power to mak& important decisions. It is difficult to see what is to be gained by taking away from them that power and requiring them to < ¥ capacity to Diffi~ult to See Gain. “The same holds true of the Rock Creek ana Potomaz Parkway Commis- | on. The members of the commission are three cabinet officers, including the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Agricul- | ture. To be sure, their dutles are very nearly completed, in any event. But it | is difficult to see what can be | served from depriving them of their administrative duties, powers and func- | tions until the parkway is completed. | “The George Rogers Clark Sesqui- | centennial Commission is another one of the commissions which has been de- | prived of its duties, powers and func- tions and left in an advisor; ‘The m: ers of this commission receive no salary. They consist of three S-na- tors. 2 Rep! tatives and a num- ber of distinguished citizens, mostly from the State of Indiana. They have had the cuty of directing the construction | of the memorial to George Rogers Clark | at_Vincennes, Ind. Here again it is difficult to see what is gained by taking | away from them the duty of directing the building and dedication of this | monument and giving them merely an | advisory status. The Mount Rushmore | Memorial Commission is of a similar character. “The National Capital Park and Planning Commission has been given by the Congress a number of very im- rtant duties, powers and functions. from them under this new proposal and the commission 1is merely to serve in an advisory capac- | ity to the Secretary of the Interior. | The members of the commission include | the chief of engineers of the United States Army, the Engineer Commis- sioner of the District of Columbia, the director of the National Park Service, the chief of the Forest Service, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia and the chairman of the House Committee on | the District of Columbia and several | distinguished citizens. They receive no | salary and do their work for the satis- | faction it gives them in beautifying the | Nation's Capital. If you remove this satisfaction and give all their duties | and powers to a cabinet officer, to whom [ they serve only in an advisory capacity, | it is easy to see that you take away | from them the importance of their task and the desire to serve, since they have no real responsibility. It is difficult to | see how any savings can be made by the transfer. Furthermore, as in the case with quite a number of others, the cost of making the change must be carefully considered. The loss of time and effort in training new officials to take new responsibilities, loss of time in transferring files, office equipment, etc., all make it seem as though any savings, during the first year at least, would be more than wiped out by losses and additional cost. “The Bureau of Public Roads is transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior. Here again there is no sug- stion of any saving, and only the Tossibility of loss of time and expense in getting adjusted to a new environ- ment, “Perhaps the most important sugges- tion made in the new recommendation for reorganization is taking most of the non-military activities now administered by the chief of engineers of the United States Army, including the work on rivers and harbors, flood control work and various commissions connected with the Mississippl and the St. Law- rence River waterway, also the Inter- oceanic Canal Board, and transferring them all from the War Department to the Department of the Interior and requiring the commissions and boards to serve in an advisory capacity to the Secretary of the Interior. Some of these commissions consist almost en- tirely of Army officers, who receive no l.f you can’t shop in person, you can read the ads and Shop By Telephone | first additional pay for their work, but have certain very grave responsibilities .in connection with their duties on the commission. People in the States where the activities of the Army engineers are matters of daily knowledge have learned to respect the judgment of the Engineer Corps and have learned that their decisions are not dependent upon local politics. and -that their work is done in a highly efficient manner. Naturally they are loathe to see the duties of the Army engineers trans- ferred to a department of the Govern- ment which has for decades frequently, if not usually, been under a distin- guished personal or political friend of the President of the United States. It is the feeling on the part of some that this transfer would eventually result in greatly increased cost. At the same time it is quite evident that it would seem to be entirely logical to place the construction of all the various public works of the Government under one official. Indeed, that was recommended in the economy bill when it come out of the Senate Economy Committee in the last session of Congress. No Economy Involved. “It is suggested in the new proposal that a merchant marine division be established in the Department of Com- merce and that it include the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Bureau of Navi- gation, Steamboat Inspection and the Bureau of Lighthouses, all of which are now in the Department of Commerce, to which would be added the Hydro- graphic Office of the Navy Department, the Naval Cbservatory of the Navy De- partment. the United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation | and the Inland Waterways Corporation of the War Department. Certainly all of these changes are in line with eff- clent administration. even though there is no economy involved in the transfer | and a certain amount of additional ex- pense might be incurred during the year. There is, however, serious difficulty involved in regard to the In- land Waterways Corporation. The in- corporator is the Secretary of War, the chairman of the board is a major gen- eral on the active list of the Army, and it is a little difficult to see how they would fit in to the Department of Com- merce. “The great incependent offices and commissions where the commissioners recelve large salaries and perform & variety of administrative and sem judicial functions are not touched in the proposal of the President. The In- ' terstate Commerce Commission, _the Federal Trade Commissicn, the Fed- eral Radio Commission, the Federal Re- serve Board, the Tariff Commission, the Federal Farm Board and the United States Shipping Board are among those commissions whose duties and salaries remain as they are. “It is unfortunate that, owing to the legislative situation, the present pro- posal for reorganization and regroup- ing could have not come from the President during the early part of his administration, rather than just as he, is leaving office. i “Whether or not the American peo- ple are serlously benefited by most of | the proposals now being considered in the Congress is not so easy to deter- mine. I am told by one of the leading financial experts in the Government that the cost of carrying out the vari- ous proposals will excced any possible savings, certainly during the first year, by possibly a million dollars. And that does not take into consideration the loss of interest and good will now re- ceived by the Government from mem- | bers of a considerable number of com missicns. members who receive no sal- | ary and only have the satisfaction of | seeing the work well done. Perhaps the | Congress was wrong in establishing | thase little honorary commissions which consist sometimes of distinguished citi- zens and other times of Government officials. Be that as it may the big problem still remains as to whether the administrative duties concerned with semi-judicial boards, like the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Radio Commission and others in that cate- gory, might not better be transferred to definite members of the Cabinet, the ! boards reduced in size and restricted to judicial rather t'han administrative | functions. 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