The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-08-10
TAFT UPSETS ROOSEVELT
POLICIES IN DEPARTMENTS

ton of legal Interpretation to an issue.
The Pres dent S support of his view
was possibly the most important single
act of his administration to date. II
is having n far reaching effect. II
means a change of policy in countless
details Of administration. Its innu.
ence upon the other departments has
already been noticeable.
Nowhere has this been the case
in n more pronounced way than in the
Department of Commerce and Labor,
over which Mr.. Nagel presides, Like
the Interior Department. it has n large
army of employees, with several very
large bureaus engaged in operations
that come very close to the people.
II has jurisdiction over immigration,
steamboat inspection, fisheries, census,
lighthouses, labor, manufactures, cor
porations. and the Coast and Geodetic
Survey. Each of these is represented
in the Department of Commerce and
Labor by bureau Most of these
bureaus have large forces of employees
and some of them, like the bureaus of
the Interior Department, have many
inspectors and special agents.
The furry over the administration
of the Census Bureau, was due to Sec.
rotary Nagel's strict Interpretation of
the law with reference to his author
ity He made the test promptly, as
did Secretary Nagel, was upheld by
the President, and whether in this
particular instance the decision, with
the resultant changes in the census
office at critical period. makes for
H. L. - Al,,
not, Secretary Nagel is now conducting
the bureau in compliance with the
more conservative school of legal in
depreciation.
This new regime is responsible, at
bottom, for the shakeup that has been
in progress in the Department of Com
merce and Labor in recent weeks and
which has extended down to the cler-
zeal force. The agitation there has
been more prominent than in the In
terror Department, but Secretary Bal
| linger's methods have been a little
| less demonstrative and, then, his De-
partment comes less into touch with
! the people of the East. Both Depart
ments have been engaged upon a deal
of new work, largely pioneer work, and
| during the last few years numerous
| bureau organizations have been built
up or extended with a view to carry
| ing out recently devised programs.
Much that holds true in this regard
of the Interior and of the Commerce
Departments applies also to the De
partment of Agriculture 1t, too, has
been shaken by the new order OF
things. But Secretary of Agriculture
/ hnc lri,, cd lie
| what, because of the onslaughts from
Congress and the criticisms of the De
partment' IS large expenditures and ex
| tensive operations in new fields. How
ever, the work of the Department OF
Agriculture is very popular with the
great and controlling farming con
stituency of the country and, all il
all, it is not so easy to reach it. On the
contrary much that the other two De
partments has been doing is unpopula
and it has been consequently less diff
ficult to inaugurate there the new
methods of conducting the public bust
ness.
In the older branches of the execu
tive part of the government, there ha
naturally been less bureau buildin:
and fewer departures upon new line
of activity. The State, Treasury, War
Navy and Postoffice Departments have
clearly defined functions and ar,
charged with the same duties now a.
half century ago. There has beer
curtailment and change in the Depart
ment of Justice, but much of it ha
grown out of changes in the Interio
and Commerce Departments, with whicl
the law offices of the government hav
had an abnormal amount of work dur
| ing the last five years.