The Washington times., 1921-03-06

to stand pat" on the eO-40 plan and
is not pressing the question OF set
Ting q permanent tax policy. The
problem. however. will have to be
tackled before long,
The reorganization OF the Federal
departments was forced upon the at
tention of the sixty-sixth Congress by
the Mccormick bill introduced last
December. The measure. combining
all the engineering bureaus of the
Government under a Department OF
Public Works. and all the labor and
health activities Of the nation under
q Department Of Public Welfare. and
abolishing the Department Of the In
terior, II now hanging fre In the Sem
ate. II awaits the work of the RE
organization commission OF the House
and Senate. which will get down to
work In the near culture. Widespread
changes In the Federal establishment
are In contemplation, affecting the
welfare of all the Government work
ers.
Ever since the Joint Reclassincation
Commission completed its work last
year Its report has laid In the archives
OF the Senate Appropriations Com
mittee, unacted upon. 1t IL generally
believed that the Jones bill putting
into effect the recommendations Of
that commission II dead, but the Ques-
ton of reclassihcation is now more
pressing than ever. and the leaders In
near future. Recently there has been
a determined effort by the friends Of
reclassincation to revive the Jones
bill by discharging the Committee on
Appropriations from its further con-
alteration. but so far II has been un-
availing.
The chief reason for the defeat Of
the Nolan-Johnson minimum wage
bill for Federal employees is the op-
position OF Senator Hoke Smith of
Georgia. who has blocked every effort
Of Senator Hiram johnson to have
II considered. 1t will undoubtedly be
considered at the coming special ses-
sion-for Hoke Smith will no longer
be . member OF the Senate.
SCHOOLS MUST WAIT.
Senator Curtis, one of the powers of
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
first raised the, hopes OF the friends
Of the Washington schools and then
disappointed them, with regard to the
construction Of more local public
schools. 1t was his original plan to
provide for the urgent need of new
school buildings in the city by max
ing the District surplus funds in the
Federal Treasury available for their
| construction. He abandoned this,
however, when ne found tina .he
building costs in Washington were
what he considered to be unduly high,
and the District bill as reported from
the Appropriations Committee carried
an item only for the purchase OF the
sites of these urgently needed build
ings.
1t is hoped that during the consid-
GRAFTON. Of q deficiency measure at the
coming special session some provisi On
for the erection of these buildings will
be made, inasmuch as building costs
are now believed to have been mate
rally lowered.
Among the major pieces OF legisla-
ton passed by the Sixty-sixth Con-
gress are the following:
The Cummins- Esch transportation
act.
The Jones shipping bill.
The Gronna cold storage act.
The Cummins- -Esch act returning
/ the railroads to private operation, and
the Jones merchant marine bill paw
ing the route to the operation Of Gov
ernment shipping by private COM
panies are too well known to require
detailed explanation. The Gronna cold
storage act provides for the protec-
ton of the nations food supply by
limiting the time in which foodstufs
can be held in cold storage to one
year. and providing for their proper
labelling. so that the public may know
what it Is buying.