Evening star., 1927-10-20
HOOVER AND WORK
SPONSOR MERGING
OF PUBLIC WORKS
Division in interior Depart.
ment to Be Sought When
Congress Meets.
ENGINEERING COUNCIL
TO BACK PROPOSAL
Plan Substituted for Former Plea
to Organize New Branch
of Government.

partmcnt, under an assistant secre.
,arv. who must be an engineer. will
he urged upon the incoming Congress
IN substitution for the previous plc.
posa 10 establish de partmLnt Of
public works or engineering. to take
the place of the existing Interior De-
partment.
This move to consolidate al Of the
principal engineering activities OF The
Government in one unit under 4 tech
nically trained administrative officer
is sponsored by the American Ehsi.
neering Council. has the support OF
Secretaries Hoover and Work and win
he brought before Congress for action
in a bill to be introduced by Repre-
sentative Adam NJ Wyant of Penn
sylvania. VINO fathered the ea tlier
measure for coordination of engineer
ing functions.
Affects Many Bureaus.
All Federal agencies engaged In
river and harbor work. road construc-
ton, park development and recls
ton and irrigation projects would be
unit. This would drastically affect the
following existing bureaus and other
agencies:
Rivers and harbors division of the
Army Engineer Corps; Bureau of Pub.
lie Roads. Department of Agriculture;
Office of the supervising architect,
Treasury: Office of public buildings
and public parks of the National Capi-
tai. War Department; Inland Water.
ways Corporation, War Department:
Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway
Commission. Commission of Fine Arts
and the Office Of the architect OF the
Capitol.
Strenuous objection to- the original
suggestion resulted in adoption of the
new plan, which retains the Interior
Department. but gives it far
reaching division embracing all pub
lie works. now divided among many
departments and bureaus.
The council. it Is announced by It's
president, Dean Dexter s. kimball of
Cornell University, has recognized
political expediencg- without sacrific-
ing the essential principle involved in
centraiZiny ami placing ON busi-
ness basis the enormous public works
functions of the Government with
and inefficiency have been associated.
. Adoption of the measure. accord
ing to the engineers will mean sav-
iDgs annually of millions of dollars,
create a modern industrial organiza-
ton and constitute big advance in
accomplishing the administrative re-
forms begun under President Hard
ing.
To puSh pVooran,
The new legislative program of the
engineers, with whom are allied so
other national organizations, has,
Dean kimball said. been sanctioned
by letter ballot of the administrative
board Of the American Engineering
Council, composed of 80 national and
local engineering societies
Plans TO further this program are
being discussed publicly at two.day
meeting of the board in York, Pa,
under auspices of the York Engineer
ing Society.
The most striking feature Of the
new engineering policy is the aban-
donnent of the idea of abolishing tho
Interior Department, whose structure
has been denounced repeatedly as
archaic and wastefuI. The depart
nent, established during the early
days of the Republic. when interior"
applied to the region west of the AL.
leghenies, will. therefore. be con-
tinued.
The engineers contend that they
never have advocated the crea ton of
a new Federal department. They have
decided, however. that TO insist on
the change of name. even though no
new department was contemplated, is
politically unwise.
They felt. Dean kimball said. that
both Congress and tie administration
would he opposed To he formation of
department OF public works; hence
ar effort in that direction would be
futile
This attitude" il Is declared in q
report to be presented to the board
at York by J. w. Wallace of this city,
executive secretary of the council. "iS
no doubt in part due to efforts being
made TO create three new departments
namely, education, health and conser-
vation.
Bitter Fight Seen.
Although the proposed department
OF public works did not contemplate
a new department. it was undoubtedly
as equivalent to such ac-
ton. Hence the administration and
Congress were reticent, feeling once
the gafe was partially opened there
might he an avalanche. Secretary
Work is opposed to changing the
narle Of the Department of the In.
terror"
Under the new scheme. the new
division of public works would be
by an assistant secretary Of
pubic works. who shall be an engi-
neer. This division. which. il was
declared by Mr.. Wallace, has the ap-
proval OF Secretary Work. will en-
brace all Of the Federal agencies
with public works func-
tions.
Secretary of Commerce Hoover.
the report stated. also has indorsed
this plan, and both ne and Secretary
Work are expected to make strong
speeches in behalf of its enactment
into law.
The inclusion of rivers and har-
bors in the new Wyant measure was
voted in the face of anticipated OPP
position from the engineer corps of
the Army.
In essence. the plan sponsored by
the engineers, i'm accordance with the
of Secretaries Hoover
and Work. is stated in the report OF
Executive Secretary Wallace as fol-
lows:
ITO establish in the Department of
the Interior a major division OF public
works wherein would be concentrated
all of the agencies of the Federal
concerned with public
works This includes all OF the trans
ferse contained In the WANT bill Of
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