Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-20

tary of the Interior by
| President Hoover 1t was
| generally assumed that this was just a
personal" appointment-that the Pres
| ident had chosen DR.. Wilbur not with
a view to his special fitness for the
place, and certainly not for partisan adj
vantage, but merely because he was an
old and beloved friend.
Not only is this view now entirely dis
sipated, but, with the crowding on DR..
Wilbur's shoulders Of task after task
Fknown to be close to the Presidents
heart the uniting in this department.
normally Of so little interest save out
In the public land country of the West
! of most of the humanitarian movements
, Of the Government, new light has
dawned on the original motives Of Mr..
Hoover in making this personal"
choice.
For years the Interior Department,
once we'll up among the most important
and wide-flung in its interest and i'm
portance, has been suffering from attri-
ton, now at the hands of some ambi-
tious head of another department, now
because Of what appeared to be a more
efficient organization of the entire Gov
eminent. and now because Of politics.
Hoover Shares in Work.
Herbert Hoover himself played a part
in this stripping Of the once great In
mining engineer, it was thought wise,
while he was at the head of the Com
merce Department, to transfer to his
guidance the Bureau of Mines, which
had grown to be one of the most i'm
portant parts of the Interior Depart
ment. For various reasons, including
public suspicion, 1t seemed advisable to
transfer the bureau to a department
which had the confidence of both the
general public and those who had busi-
ness to transact with 1t.
Formerly also the Patent once, one
Of the most important branches of the
executive end of the Government, was
dovetailed into the Interior organization.
This also was transferred to the rapidly
growing Commerce Department on the
theory that it had to do with business
and trade.
AS matter of fact, two whole depart
ments of the Government. Labor and
Commerce, were once administered I'M
der that of the Interior. First these two
divisions were taken out to form the
Department of Commerce and Labor,
which later was subdivided into two in
dependent departments. The Census
Bureau, of vast importance now that its
scope of iniQuity has been so tremen-
dously expanded from a mere count OF
the population, also was once part OF
the Interior Department Porto Rico,
In the days Immediately following its
acquisition, was also governmental
from there.
whiting Process Gradual.
So it has come about that the De-
partment of the Interior, in the early
days of the Government one of the
most important portfolios, has been
gradually whitfield down. Pensions,
once tremendous, have declined, and
when the World War created a lot Of
new pension business this was all put
into a separate bureau. The Geo.
graphical Survey has dwindled in i'm
portance as the country has become
thoroughly explored and settled. And
no new duties, for years, have occurred
to Congress or the Presidents as being
suitable for assignment to the Interior
Department.
So, until the oil scandals Jared the
country, 1t was rather unusual to find
two men out Of ten who could name