Evening star., 1933-06-12

TINE full text Of the statement o
Senator Robinson Of Arkansas
majority leader in the Senate
i explaining the advantages of tn,
Presidents executive order or
reorganization of Government agencies
| follows:
Projects for reorganization in the
executive agencies which would secure
greater efficiency of operation with re-
| ductions in expenditure have been sub
mitted in large numbers from many
| sources both within and without the
Government. These suggestions, deal
| ing not only with mere bodily trans
fers of bureaus from one department
to another, but also going into basic
principles of distribution of work, have
required an immense amount of study
and consultation with many officers and
agencies of the Government.
1t was the desire of the President
to submit at this session Of Congress as
early as practicable a complete inte-
grated plan. The march of unexpected
and emergent events and the necessity
Of giving primary attention to measures
calculated to meet economic conditions
has made it literally impossible to give
to the matter of reorganization that full
measure of study and consideration
which 1t deserves.
Faced With Two Alternatives.
In this contingency the executive was
faced with the alternative of deferring
the presentation of reorganization mat
ters altogether, or of presenting Ger
tain selected ones, the desirability of
which could be established within the
limits of time available for their con-
Sideration. To have followed the for
mer course would have postponed for
considerable period of time all of the
economies to be derived from these
measures. To follow the latter course
makes it impossible to allow the ampli-
tude of time for consideration by Con-
gress which the executive earnestly de-
sired. Balancing the relative disad-
vantages between these two courses, it
has seemed the more in the public in
terest to follow the latter course and
thus to realize the very considerable
economies which the items of reorgani-
zaion now possible of Endorsement will
yield
The Executive is the more encour-
aged to the latter course because it Is
DelleVed that the matters of reorgan-
lzat1on to which it has been possible to
sirability is the least debatable.
In detail, the reasons for the various
measures are as follows:
Section 1-Procurement.
Practically every agency of the Gov
ernment now makes purchases. In
doing so they very frequently compete
against each other. The economy of
centralized purchase was long ago
established in business enterprises. It
cannot be questioned that the same
economy Is possible in the Government
service. In the execution of this cen
tralization sane course naturally will
be followed. 1t is not the intent that
the centralized purchasing agency will
purchase specialized articles which are
peculiar to a particular department.
To state an extreme, for example, the
Navy obviously will continue to pro-
cure battleships. As to such specialized
purchases the central purchasing agency
Will exercise only a co-ordinating and
information assembly function. In
brief, it will undertake purchasing Of
products used in common by several de-
partments and simply lend whatever
OF its advice and cooperation may be
useful to other kinds of purchasing.
The same observations apply to con-
struction work Buildings of a more or
less standard nature will, in general, be
constructed under the supervision of
the procurement division; buildings of
a specialized nature will continue to be
constructed by the agency using them
In connection with supplies which
are in common use, the procurement
division will naturally undertake such
warehousing and distribution functions
al
In addition, in order to assure
economic use of surplus properties of
the Government, the procurement di-
vision will have charge of such surplus
and viii apply them to all requirements
before purchasing similar materials.
Section 2. National Parks, Buildings
and Reservations.
The administration of national parks
monuments, cemeteries and other reser-
vations, and of public buildings Is of a
similar character. Generally speaking,
such administration involves problems
of maintenance and operation which are
akin throughout. These problems of
maintenance and operation rather OBJ
viously can be more economically ad-
ministered if under single organiza-
ton.
What has been said above applies to
those facilities which are not devoted
to the use of any particular agency.
Buildings used solely by the Post Office
Department, for example, should be
administered most economically by that
department, and therefore the order
provides that facilities employed in the
work of a particular agency may be
administered by that agency.
The order abolishes certain commits
sions which carried on particular aspects
of this work. The necessity for such
commissions which existed in the abb
sence of any centralized administration
of buildings and reservations disappears
with the organization of such an agency.
Section 8. Investigations.
To the extent that the Bureau OF
Prohibition deals with permits for the