The New York herald., 1921-07-24
CABINET TO REMAIN
With TEN MEMBERS
Reorganization Committee
Adds One, but C0nsolidates
Army and Navy.
FINDS 90 ACTIVITIES
Congress Survey Groups
Federal Branches Under
Economical System.
NAY SAVE S5O0,000,0 900
Propaganda Strong for Sepa-
rate Department of Public
a. Education.
FINDS 23 ACTIVITIES
MAY SAVE s5OO,oOO, 900

rate Department of Public
A. Education.
New York Herald Bureau,
Washington. ID. O.. July 23.
The man in spangled tights with the
circus who juggles red rubber balls
and china plates and battered silk
hats all at the same time has nothing
whatever on Walter F. Brown of
Toledo, Ohio, who is doing much the
same sort of thing with the various
Government departments and indie
pendent agencies.
Mr.. Browns tanbark ring is a none
too large Office on the sixth floor in a
building occupied by the United States
Bureau of Efficiency, which, by the
way, is having little to do with the
gigantic work of Government reorgan-
ization intended to speed up the SER
vice and bring down the cost to The
taxpayers. 1t is only a stones throw
from the White House, to which Mr..
Brown has entire as nobody else. an
evidence of the personal interest Presi-
dent Harding is taking in the work.
A Business Machine.
AS chairman of the Congressional Joint
Committee on Reorganization Mr.. Brown
is President Hardings personal repro
sentative. The Senate has three mem
bers on the committee and the House
three. so that there are seven ON the
board. which viii put on new footing
the biggest business enterprise in the
world. the United States Government
now with an annual turnover in excess
of $4,000. 100000.
All around In front of Mr.. Browns
eesk, set in the corLer of the room as
signed to him. are charts, mysterious
looking affairs. some of them drawn
With ink and others blueprinted from
originals lost in the shuttle. They offer
graphic evidence Of the cumbersome
governmental machine which Mr.. Brown
and the group of Legislators assisting
him are trying to Timber up by eliminate
ing the bad from the good and putting
an end to duplication of effort.
OuL Oh lllS ldJlBic WI. ANiOWit anu tAAS
other members ef the committee hope to
create a smoothly running, far less ex-
pensive Organization. along modern busi-
ness lines, such as have been factors In
the success of organizations like the
United States Steel Corporation and the
Standard Oil Company
Mr.. Brown can hardly be regarded az
an efficiency engineer. He Is. instead. a
rather hardboiled business man. full OF
practical ideas and willing to put them
into effect In such a fertile field. There
are a thousand and. one elements to be
considered. for the Governmental system,
has been IN the process of building for
more than 140 years, and II cannot be
taken apart and remorlded without the
greatest care.
Twenty-three Lines OF Work.
In proceeding with the reorganization
survey il has been determined that
broadly the work of the Government Is
along twenty-three lines:
Administrative service. fiscal affairs
national defence. criminal Investigations
prosecution and defence of suits. Colo
nial AMI territorial government. foreign
relation s. postal service and communica-
tions in general, regulation OF commerce
assistance to navigation. regula ton on
banking. promotion of industry. promo
tion of trade, development OF agriculture
labor problems. public health, public ed
ucation. administration of the public do
main. conservation of the natural re-
sources. public works. relief and recon
struction Of war veterans. primary sta
tistics and immigration and naturaliza-
tion.
These comprehensive subjects have
been set down on chart. and then
the Government departments have been
dissected to see which of them are
directly concerned with the particular
item In mind, in order that evid ence
of duplication may be obtained. There
ds no desire to increase the number of
departments. There are ten al present
and there will be ten when the re-
organizs tion is complete. An increase In
the number OF departments would mean
further complication and an addition
TO the size of the Cabinet. which, ii
generally Is agreed, Is large enough.
Mr. Browns juggling process has gone
along sufficiently far to indicate tha,
two new departments seem necessary to
house special activities that naturally
would fall together. The Department OF
Public Welfare. which President Har-
ding has been urging for a long time
and which he recommended to Congress
in his first message Is 20 be one OF them
anu titr ONhtl ~ W Dt tAeutf a. coiHpitNtiy
reorganized Department of the Interior
or a Department OF Public Works
Whatever the name--that Is not impor-
tant---its function will be the same, the
regulation and the administration OF pub
lie affairs within the territorial limits
OF the United States and In the terri.
torial possessions.
Tho method proposed TO keep the num-
ber of new departments down TO ten is
the consolidation of the War Depart
ment and the Navy Department. into q
Department. OF National Defence.
Departmental Organization.
Under the scheme tentatively worked
out the departmental organization, then,
would be as foilows
Department OF State--Charged with
the conduct of foreign affairs, the issue
OF passports the publishing OF the laws
OF Congress and amendments TO the
Constitution.
Jreasury-Charged with the collection
az taxes. payment Of the public debt and
all other fiscal affairs of the Govern
ment.