The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-12-09
orOwth Of PresIdent,s Cabinet.

Washington, D. G., Dec, s.--The
proposed creation Of a Department Of
Public Welfare, whose secretary shall
have a seat in the Presidents cabinet.
will increase the number of cabinet
officers to eleven. While this is near
ly three times the number of mem
bers In President WashIngtons first
cabinet il is still considerably below
the number of ministers in some
ether countries. The present British
ministry comprises no fewer than
twenty members, while that Of France
Is almost he large
When the Federal government was
established it was decided. after very
careful deliberation, to place the ad
ministratlon of the different depart
ments when created under officials
appointed by the President and con.
fi-med by the Senate AT first there
were but three such departments, the
Department OF State. the Department
of the Treasury, and the Department
OF War The heads of these three
departments, together with the Attor.
ney-General, appointed by Washing
ton, were his immediate advisers and
came to be known as the Presidents
cabine.
In 1898. in the administration OF
President John Adams, Congress es-
tablished the Department of the Navy,
and thus a fifth cabinet office was
created In lS49, in the administra.
ton of President Taylor Jackson the
Postmaster General was elevated in
rank and made a member of the cabi-
net, The Department Of the Interior
was created in lS49 to take charge CT
Indian affairs, which had been under
control OF the War Department, and
Of the public lands, which had been
under the Treasury Department To
this new department were assigned
also the Pension Office from the War
Department the patent Office from
the State Department, and several
other bureaus.
For many years thereafter the num-
Der Of cabinet officers remained un.
changed, and It was thought there
would be no further additions to the
Presidents official family Each of
the seven departments administered
affairs over which the Federal gov.
ernment had absolute control under
the provisions OF the Constitution
Changing conditions, however, were
in the course of time to bring further
additions to the cabinet The Bureau
Of Agriculture had been created in
1862, and few years later the Bur.
eau OF Education was given birth II
was soon recognized that agriculture
could not obtain the recognition
which its Importance in relations tc
national welfare justified without be
ing represented in the Presidents
cabinet thereby being enabled to OBJ
tain directly the attention of Con
gress Accordingly the agricultural
interests Of the country started q
movement for the establishment of q
! Department of Agriculture, with {
secretary in the Presidents cabinet
at its head
The opponents of this movement
argued that inasmuch as the Fedora
government had not been granted au
thority by the Constitution to oontro
agriculture 1t was illogicat If net un
constitutional to create such de
partment, But Congress failed to SO,
the matter in this light and in 1885,
the Department of Agriculture wa
created, the Federal government ther,
by establishing precedent for ma
tional recognition and promotion
without national control
The next addition to the cabine
came during the administration o
President Roosevelt, when the De
partment of Labor and Commerce wa
created Early in the administra
tion Of President Wilson in 1913, TIL
duties of this department we're sepa
rated and assigned to two cabinet OF
fcials, which increased the number o
the Presidents official advisers L
ten