Evening star., 1921-03-11
RE0RCAN|z|NGPLAN
OUTLINED IN BILL
Mccormick Measure Would
Abolish Interior Department
and Create Two.

The bill for the reorganization of
the government departments. written
by Senator Medill Mccormick, repub-
tained the views of many of his col
leagues in the Senate, will become
th4 basis for the administration re-
organization bill. it was announced
today. after the senator's bill had
been submitted to Secretary of the
Treasury Mellon.
This bill as it stands abolishes the
Interior Department and creates in
its stead two new departments. one
to be known as a department of pub
lie works and the other as a depart
ment of social welfare. 1t divests the
War and Treasury< departments OF
functions not germane to the nation
al defense or the national finance
and in general co-ordinates the ex-
listing agencies which, now are scat
tered throughout thc:4whole govern
ment organization. ~
Effect Of the Measure.
The net effect of the bill would be
to add one more executive depart
ment to the government machinery.
the department of public welfare. If
the existing Department of Interior
should give way to a department of
public works, Mr. Fall, the new Sec
retary of the Interior. would. it is
expected. be made secretary of the
department of public works. A wom-
an. it is asserted, would probably be
made secretary of the department o.
public welfare should such a depart
ment be established
The Mccormick bill seeks to bring
together in the department of public
works all important engineering and
building services of the government
now scattered among various depart-
ments and it authorizes the secretary
of public works to make such changes
in the organization df these exist
ing agencies as will increase their
efficiency and lead to economy in ex-
Army officers now de-
tailed on engineering works would
continue to hold their present assign
ments for, three months after the
measure goes into operation in order
to give the secretary of public works
suf1icient time to make an appro-
pirate consolidation or rearranga-
ment of those agencies without in,
terrupting important work.
Campaign Promise Cited.
The new administration is confront
ed with campaign promise that
uSpei tiHSHl VI PUBIC welfare or So
cial welfare would be established. and
that this should be essentially
Womans department. Senator Nc
Cormick. through his bill. has pre-
pared to assemble in this new DEPART
ment the various welfare agencies of
the government, such as the womans
bureau in the Department of Labor
the pension bureau in the Department
of the Interior, the public health sery-
ice and the bureau of war risk in
surance in the Treasury Department.
and the vocational training board
which at present is an Independent
agency. When this bill was prepared.
it is understood, the author did not
have in mind that woman should
be placed at the head of the denart-
ment.
Aods 10 commerce Department.
The Mccormick measure. in addi-
ton to creating the two new denart
ments, proposes an enlargement Of
the functions and activities of the
department of Commerce. Specifically
1t proposes to transfer the foIIowin~
bureaus. offices and branches to Mr.
HooVer's department: From the De
partment of Agriculture. the weather
bureau: from the Department of the
Interior. the patent office: from the
Department of the Treasury. the coast
guard service: from the Department
Of War. the lake survey office: from
the Department of the Navy. the
photographic Office and naval OH
servatory: from the Department Of
War, the inland and coastwise water.
ways service.
Secretary Hoover of the Department
If Commerce is thought to have in
mind a larger transfer than is provid-
ID in the bill now before Secretary
Mellon. 1t is reported that he he
ieves the public could be better
;erved if the consular service were
to the Department of
Commerce.
Abolition of Currency On1ce.
If the Mccormick bill should be ac-
.eptcd by the administration the Of
leo of the controller of the currency
would be abolished, and the functions
II that office transferred to the Fed
.ral Reserve Board. The Secretary of
he Treasury would be the only ex-
,fficio member of the Federal Reserve
3oard and the membership of that
,oard would be decreased from seven
o six persons An additional Secre-
ary of State would be provided, who
would have Jurisdiction over insular
,ffairs. and the alien property custo-
liam and the division of secret service
would be placed under the Depart
nent of Justice.
The bureaus. Offices and branches of
CONTINUED on page 9, column 81