The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-07
TUESDAY. DECEMBER 7, 1920.
The Great and Imminent Question
OF Cabinet Reform

The Great and Imminent Question
or Cabinet Reform
BY various esteemed friends and
readers The New YORK HERALD has
been asked recently 10 lend its voice
in favor of the establishment of a
Department of Transportation, with a
Secretary of Transportation as SIN
additional member of the Presidents
Cabinet the establishment of De-
partment of Aeronautics, with a Sec
rotary of Aeronautics; the establish
ment of a Department of Fine Arts,
with a Secretary in the Cabinet to
run the aesthetics of the Federal Gov
eminent; the erection of the pres
ent Bureau of Education into full
fledged Department of Public Educa-
ton, with q Secretary of Public Edu-
alton; and the formation of new
Executive Department to take charge.
OF such governmental affairs and In
terests as specially concern the women
voters of the Republic, with woman
representative in the Presidents
Cabinet.
There may have been other pro-
posals of a similar character which
we do not at the moment recall. All
this comes within a period OF not
many weeks; and the calls for the
amplification of the Presidents coun-
Gil table to correspond with the stu
pendous expansion of Federal activi-
ties Of all important kinds are so
numerous, and it may be said with
truth so natural that we feel our
selves impelled to venture certain re
marks Of general application on the
subject of Cabinet increase. in view
OF what the tendency forebodes to our
Governments administrative frame
work
The habit of regarding the present
Cabinet organization. meeting the
President at the White House for
conference, consultation and the dis
cussion and arrangement of policies,
rs an integral part of the Govern
ments machinery, has become fixed
in the public mind. Comparatively
few people remember, or stop to think.
that no Cabinet Is known to the Con
stitution. or, again, to the statutes en-
acted under constitutional authority.
The body, in this sense, Is extraeon-
stitutional. In the same sense it is
extraiegal. 1t is the product Of GUS
tom, convenience, probably of human
necessity; but as an advisory Execu-
tive council holding stated sessions
it is so far from being fundamental
that il could be dropped from the sys-
TEN without even an act Of Congress
abolishlng II. Such Is the fact about
It's legal status, whatever we may be-
ieye as to It's practical usefulness
and indispensability.
So far, indeed. Is 1t an extFaneous
growth that the word Cabinet does
not occur ia the Constitution Nor is
the word Secretary therein to be
found, meaning the head of an Execu-
tive Department Unlike the titles of
the President. the Vice-President, the
Judges. the Senators. the Representa-
tives, the Ambassadors or Ministers,
and even the Consuls Of the United
States, the Secretaryship of Depart
ment, now involving by mere force of
custom membership in the Cabinet
Is entirely statutory creation.
The creating authority. the Con
gress. In establishing the Treasury
Department, for example, could have
styled It's head Chief Commissioner of
Finance. IL could have designated
Law Chief instead Of an Attorney
General TO take charge of the Depart
ment Of Justice. II could have en-
titled the officer known as Postmaster
General by the less grandiose name OF
Superintendent of the Malls. 1t could
make these changes now, or any SINH
lar change Of title or function. If It's
wisdom suggested a reason for SO
doing. The Congress, by legislation,
could wipe out all the existing De
partments and substitute others, on Il
rearranged scheme Of distribution,
precisely as from time to time II trans
fers this Bureau or this Commission
or this Board from one Department
20 another for administrative con-
yenience. II could combine two or
more existing Departments into one
Just as It separated the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor into
two Departments in 1913, Depart
ment of Commerce and Department
Of Labor. thus adding a new Secre-
tary TO the already sufficiently large
number Of Secretaries sitting accord