Evening star., 1932-07-17

ton and lack of coordination increased
with each session of Congress.
LIVE years after the World War new
agencies of Government were still
being created, and at a rate greater than
before the war Every President since
Theodore Roosevelt has had something
to say about this, but they did not pre-
pare detailed plans for a remedy. That
job remained for Herbert Hoover. Hay
ing observed the condition and made up
his mind that it was of first-rate impor-
tance, he would naturally prepare a plan
for relief
1t is also characteristic of him that he
has presented the subject, not alone from
the point of view of the taxpayer inter-
eSted in saving tax dollars, but primarily
from the point of view of the hundreds
of thousands of citizens who are con-
stantly in direct contact with these over
tapping agencies of Government The
cost of them reaches higher total than
the waste of tax dollars. In addition to
money, they lose time, and, worst of all,
the bad organization frequently results
in denial of justice. No one else has
ever stressed these phases of the prob
lem. In the last analysis they are of
more Importance than the direct waste
of tax dollars.
President Hoover's favorite example of
the confusion resulting from the Topsy-
like growth of the Government relates
to Government aids to navigation. In
an address before the Council of Engi-
neers in Philadelphia on April 16, 1921,
he said:
1T must be sore trial to the hardy
mariner to obtain his domestic charts
from the Department of Commerce, his
foreign charts from the Navy Depart
ment, his nautical almanac from the
Naval Observatory and, in some circum-
stances, his sailing directions from the
Army. In fog he may get radio direc-
tions from both the Navy and Commerce
and listen to foghornS and look for lights
and buoys provided by Commerce. If he
sinks, his life is saved by the Treasury.
He will anchor at the direction of the
Army, who rely upon the Treasury to
enforce their will. His boilers and life
boats are inspected by the Department
of Commerce; his crew is certificated by
one bureau in Commerce, signed off in
the presence of another, inspected at
sailing by the Treasury, and on arrival
by the Department Of Labor"
Many foolish bases for reorganization
have been proposed. One of the most
common is the proposal to assemble per-
sonnel and equipment in groups accord
ing to type. For example, all research
to be under one head; all airplanes to be
under one head. Strange as it may seem,
President Hoover has found it necessary
to warn against this fallacy repeatedly.
II wish to emphasize that in reorgani-
zation the important thing is to assemble
the various functions of government
according to purpose" he said on Janu-
ary %, 1924, in his testimony before the
joint committee of Congress on the re-
organization of the administrative
branch of the Government Some OF
these groups will be large enough to
comprise an entire department, such as
the Army or Navy. Others are not large
enough to warrant the establishment of
special departments with the accom-
panying addition to the cabinet. It is
therefore necessary to establish three or
four of the lesser sized groups in some
of the departments.
"THESE secondary groups should be
headed by assistant secretaries who
would, in the ordinary course. be chosen
because OF their fitness. For underSecre-
taryShipS men of experience and national
standing could be obtained, and they
would greatly strengthen the whole
organism both in administration and in