The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-14
WILL WAR RISK INSURANCE WORK
 CHANGE HANDS?
Senator Shoot Thinks It Ought To-Bi11 Now Be-
 ing Considered.

Washington, D. C., Jan. 13-Mem- bers of the United States Senate, for the last several days, have been tn- dustriously studying Senator Shoots ng-heralded bill to scrap" the Bureau of War Risk Insurance to sec whether 1t lives up to his assured promise that it will increase efficiency and decrease expenditures. The bill, which Is in direct opposition to reso- 1utions adopted by the American Le- zion at it's Minneapolis Convention, abolishes the Bureau and scatters its functions among eight separate gov ernmental departments or Bureaus.
 Should the measure pass, the War and Navy Departments and the Coast Guard would have charge of the ad- ministration of a1lotments and all 1owances, according to Senator Shoot; Commissioner of Pensions, adjudica- ton and payment of claims of com- pensation; Post Office Department, administration of Military and Naval Insurance features, and Shipping Board. administration of Marine In- surance features. n addition, Q committee of five members from the Treasury, War, Navy, Interior and Post Office Departments, would su- pervise the distribution of files, rec ords, papers, furniture, etc., of the present Bureau.
 Whether a compact Bureau under one head with a single department for files and records could not func- tion more efficiently than a number of little bureaus is the question up- permost in the minds of the senators
 who are studying Senator Shoots new plan.
 In lengthy address defending his bill, Senator Shoot laid special stress on the great saving in expenditures which would result if the Bureau of War Risk Insurance was "scrap- ped" When asked if the added work thrown on other departments would not cause them to increase their staffs
 he admitted that, if his measure
 passes, the Postma aster-General es-
 inmates for thirty-two hundred addi-
 tional employees to do the work" and
 both the War Department and the Navy DepartInen ent would require an
 additional number of employees to the extent of 2,15o." In light of the fact that the Bureau of War Risk Insurance recently has adopted and is putting into effect plans for the elimination of thousands of clerks many Senate Member fear that the Republican leaders plan would work with reverse English and increase rather than decrease the number ot governmental employees. Senator Shoots plan has not beer before the Senate long enough .tc attract nationwide attention an6 | members have not been able to 1earr how the country at large regards it They recall, however, that delegate. 1 representing more than 100000 ex 1 service men at the Minneapolis Con. vention of the American Legion, an l ticipating such an attempt to "scra D. 1 the bureau, adopted the folIowins resolution, in which extension, + 1 it's powers, rather than it's abolition, l was urged:
 1 "Cwe) request that Congress b. l urged to grant authority to tn. | Bureau of War Risk Insurance to es i tablish fourteen regional offices. an, ] to urge upon all Government agen cies having to do with discharged ex service men, the necessity for havins
 all Of their offices under one roof"