The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-05-07
A NEW DEPARTMENT
Is Wanted by Various officers at Washington
for Public Business.

IOr HEOllC Duolutoo'
Especial to THE HERALD--Examiner Dispatch.I
WASHINGTON, May 5.-The proposition to
establish another executive for the super
vision of public works will be forcibly
urged upon the new Congress. A number
of the treasury officials and the army and
navy officials believe that itwould result IN
an Improvement of several branches Of the
service, and will be ready to state their
views to a congressional committee. if in
yited to dosO The new legislation, if there
is any. will be somewhat on the line of the
hin Introduced by the late Representative
Townsend, of Illinois, in the last Con
gress. This bill provides for department
of industries and public works." charged
with the supervision of the public business
relating to the following subjects: Agrl-
culture, labor, information on the subject
Of labor, Improvement of rivers and mar
bors, coast and geOdetic survey, geological
survey, construction of public buildings,
lighthouse establishment, naval obserYa-
tions, patents for inventions, steamboat In
spectOr service, interstate commerce COM
mission, fish and fisheries.
The head of the department is to receive
the same salary as the secretaries OF the
other executive departments, and to have
the usual assistants. Those who are at
present interesting themselves in the mat
ter propose some notifications OF this plan,
but intend to adhere to its main features.
The bureau of agriculture has already been
created a separate department and will be
left undisturDed. 1t is not unlikely that
the bureau of public business will be given
a permanent establishment and attached to
the new department The present plan of
offering a bureau of every census results
in delays. confusion and lack of uniformity,
l,lT aaarat n
avoid.
Senator Cullom of Illinois, introduced in
the last Congress a ''bill for the establish
ment Of q bureau TO be known as the bureau
of harbOr and water ways, and for other
PURPOSES He proposed to establish under
the war department bureau with the
above title, 10 be officered by corps of
civil engineers, consisting of chief and
four associates at Washington and
with division chiefs in different parts
of the country. The chief and assO
ciates at Washington were to form an ad-
visory board for the division chiefs and the
heads OF executive departments. The
country according to Senator CullOm's
plan, was to be divided into ten or eleven
engineering divisions. the river and harbor
in each to be under the chief
of the division. Its likely that some fea
lures of this measure will be incorporated
into the bill establishing the department OF
public works. 1t would certainly seem de-
sirable that, if such department is to be es
tablished, it should be done before another
great public building is erected here.
Nearly all the departments are cramped,
many of the bureaus are scattered in build
ings leased from private owners, and it
would simplify matters when a new build
ing is erected to have it devoted exclusively
to one department, and the present depart
ment buildings relieved of some OF their Oc-