Evening star., 1924-06-03
Continued from First Paxe.).

uepd functions WhlCnl are
clearly extraneous and to assemble
under unified supervision all activf-
ties which are or should be in close
working relationship
The committees report emphasizes
that the departments at the present
time frequently embrace activities hav-
ing little apparent relation to the more
| important departmental purposes. An
| other condition, pointed out by the re-
port, which is almost a corollary, is
the location in different departments
or agencies whose work lies in the
same field. These conditions are no.
where better exempliffed than in the
case of those. establishments which
deal with medical, institutional and
educational questions, and which look
out for the interests Of veterans and
their dependents--a work which itself
has medical, institutional and educa- :
tlonai aspects of the greatest .irnpor-
lance.
Functions New Misplac~d,
The Treasury Department" states
the report. which is essentially the
fiscal branch of the government, has
supervision of the Public Health Serv-
ice, an organization which has no con-
nection with financial matters. The
Department of the Interior. whose
| primary interest has always been the
protection and disposition of the publ,c
CONAN. is required to perform a num-
Der OF functions entirely outside the
scope OF the departments jurisdiction
as 1t was originally conceived. The
bureau OF education and Howard Uni
Versity are agencies whose functions
are. patiently educational in character:
whiie ST. Elizabeths Hospital and the
Freedmen's Hospital are institutions
gwen over to the care and medical
treatment of various groups of govern :
ment benefciaries. The pension office
Is responsible for the payment Of serv-
| ice and disability pensions to certain
classes OF war veterans and their de-
pehdentS: an activity which involves
| 10 considerable extent the SUPERVISION
ana use OF medical star
| me proposal to set up a depart
ceeds directly from the fact that
the educational and health work Of
the government and the work which
| Ine government does on behalf of its
we! ce!1erans~With ;as,;, it's important medi-
| aspects-is big enough as it now
STANDS. and requires sufficiently
extensive machinery, even though il
IS dispersed among several depart
- rneats and Independent establish
menus. TO warrant it's concentration
| IN an executive department. deyoted
| excIusively to the management of
! these matters.
Institutinn for Deaf,
III addition to the public health
| service of the Treasury Department
ana the branches of the Interior De-
partment having educational or
| heaith functions or responsibility for
the care of Veterans, number of
agencies with similar purposes are
iound outside the executive depart-
ments. The Columbia Institution for
.he Deat is corporate organization.
honInaiIy connected with the In
Ierior Department, providing aca-
ueInIc education for deaf mutes. The
secretary of education and relief he
slHen the nominal supervision Of the
institution now exercised by the
secretary of the Interior.
Tne lndependent Veterans Bu-
reau, itself larger than most of the
executive departments, is the princi-
pal establishment for the care, assist
ance and treatment of veterans, The
veterans Bureau, in addition to pro-
vlolng insurance and compensation to
tensive hospital facilities for their
medical treatment. But consider
aoie number OF former service men
are given asylum and disqualification
by the National Home for Disabled
volunteer Soldiers, an, indspenden I
government organizations, with head
! quarters at Dayton, Ohio. with nine
branches in different parts OF the
country, and having a certain degree
OF 6 supervision of all state soldiers
from the federal government
! Veterans Bureau Function.
An important function Of the Vet
erans' Bureau is the vocational, as
well as the physical. rehabilitation
of disabled veterans. This results in
, a similarity between some parts of
the work Of that bureau and the
work Of the federal board for voca-
tional education, an inte ter1iepar tmentaI
agency which lends federal aid to
| state governments not only for the
promotion OF vocational education in
the public schools but also for the
rehabilitation of persons disabled in
lnoustry-a service identical to that
performed by the Veterans Bureau
ance OF military duty.
The federal board, on the other
hand, in it's function of establishing
vocatioRal> training courses in the
public schools, finds itself treadiag
On the heels OF the bureau of eduea-
tion, which serves as a national
clearing house on virtually all educa-
tional questions
Practically all the educational.
health and veterans relief agencies
committee finds, so that it seems
not merely logical but imperative
that they be put under the same de-
partmentAf control if duplication and
actual conflict of effort is to be
avoided.
BY the establishment of a depart-
n,ent of education and relief a place
will be found for these branches
where they can work in harmony
and where opportunity may be given
to amalgamate agencies with similar
purposes and functions and to effect
more logical distribution of prof.
ects among them.
Inalfes DeAnkte FisaA.
This action will insure q perma-
mont and definite field of operations
for the so-called educational and well
fare agencies of the government
the committee says; give better
representation in the cabinet to
the interests of veterans and to
the general interest Of the country in
health and educational matters, and
permit a more effective execution of
the work which the government may
undertake in these fields. Moreover,
by concentrating the educational and
health activities of the government
in single department, it will not
merely bring about the more effective
conduct of those activities, but will
facilitate the future development Of
the health and educational work Of
the government in accordance with
such policies as Congress- may from
time to time determine to an extent
that would not be possible should
these activities remain scatteFed
among a number of different depart
ments.