The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-03-29

ever before. i'm view of the tendency of
governments to regulate the incoming and
outgoing cable business by the issuance
of cable permits containing provisions that
are absolute. The international confer
cnce on communication, which has been
held here, has opened the eyes of the gov
eminent officials TO the many abuses to
which the American merchant may be sub
Ject unless free communication Is as
Sured. The department of state has been
handling the international phases of the
controversy. but il requires, in addition.
specialists in communication and the mo-
ment the wireless Is introduced into the
discussion, as it inevitably must be, the
navy department has jurisdiction or else
the department of commerce, if domestic
commercial stations are involved. There
i no agency which can survey the whole
matter of communications. cables. wire
less telegraph, telephones and protect the
public from exurbitant rates At present
the consumer must appeal to an already
oyerburdened interstate commerce com
mission TO get justice on the matter of
communication rates.
Secret Service Badly Confused.
Perhaps the most serious situation
which the Harding administration is
anxious to cure involves the secret ser
vice, the bureau of investigation of the
department of justice. the inspection ser
wee of the postoftice department. the naval
and military intelligence bureaus and
other investigating machinery. At pres
ent practically every department has its
own system of detecting fraud or viola
ton of law. This means an unhomogen-
eOus group of government investigators,
operating indiscriminatingly without gem
eral supervision by any ona 1t Is a fact
that the rivalry between the bureaus has
heretofore prevented consolidation and in
past the secretary of the treasury, who has
had jurisdiction over the secret service
n IA IA TfanI lKr 70
with the department of justice bureaus
as did the attorney general 1t has been
true of both Republican and Democratic
administrations. Mr.. Harding's oppor-
tunity lies in the fact that his cabinet
secretaries are in receptive state of mind
now. because they have not become en-
meshed as vet in government red tape or
internal jealouSieS. 1t is a favorable mo-
ment for consolidation. The trouble. of
course. IL that no bureau thinks the other
sufficiently competent to be made the par
ent bureau. Somebody will have to decide
that question and either put in charge of
the governments various agencies the
best detective or investigator and organ
lZer IN the government service or select
the most efficient bureau and put under
its wing all the other Investigators The
passion for coordination can. of course.
be carried too far, and the opponents of
some of these plans insist that lust be-
cause newspapers and magazines both use
white paper and the printing press is no
reason why they all ought to be grouned
under the same management and that the
various bureaus in the government have
made for efficiency in the long run be-
cause of the specialists they develop. Sc
cret service operatives say they know
cOunterfeiting better than others. De
partment of justice Investigators insist
they know how to handle intricate cases
involving violations of the trust laws,
land so the whole discussion proceeds.
Sometimes the arguments pro and con
are made by the friends of the job seeker
and it then becomes doubly difficult for the
chief executive and his cabinet to make a
decision.
Just now Mr.. Harding and his cabinet
are being beset by exactly this problem
and the capital is watching intently for
the outcome of the campaign for consoli-
datiOn.