The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-07-21

How 1t Operates
By William Bruckars
INDEPENDENT AGENCIES


l. come such a gigantic thing that
only those who have daily contact
with II In all of It's forms readily rec
ognize Its magnitude. Consequently,
there has developed throughout the
country feeling on the part of thou
sands that there are lot of govern
mental agencies whose existence Is
not justified. There are others who are
not certain the government ought to
be as big as 1t is, but they retain an
unquestioning faith in those they
elect to represent them.
There is plenty of ground for the
feeling in each instance. The govern
ment certainly is doing lot of things
that the Fathers of the Country did
not contemplate, but which asture poll
ticians since have conceived. Many
of these functions ought never have
been started; vast numbers Of them
ought to be done away with now, but
the law of averages has worked again
and some Of the things the government
Is now doing represent services which
the country needs and which its citi-
zenry finds Of value In one manner
or another.
In the course of examining the gov
ornamental structure In detail as I
have had to do in preparing these dis
cussions, I located q total Of SO agen-
cies operating independently Of the
established departments over which
cabinet members preside. They spend
a total of about S60,000,000 each year,
exclusive of the vast sum-S985, 000.-
00O-paid out by the veterans admin
istration which has been discussed
separately. So 1t would seem that
there was sufficient reason for that
Tennessee woman who, having read
criticisms of the great number of bu-
reaus, boards and commissions, wrote
to the President. saying that she could
use one of the useless bureaus" and
would be willing to pay the freight
charges on It IL one were shipped to
her.
Most of these Independent Offices
spend less than a million dollars q
year apiece. Some Of them cost only
a few thousand year, but there are
some whose annual cost to the tax
payers range much higher. Surely,
none questions the value of the radio
commission in these days when we all
enjoy extracting things from the air,
nor Is there a question as to the prin-
ciples actuating creation of the fed
eral power commission. The board
of tax appeals amounts to court and
serves taxpayers and the government
alike.
But there Is the shipping board and
the United States tariff commission
and the federal trade commission and
the bureau Of efficiency, two or three
commissions to adjust disputes grow
ing out of boundary questions between
the United States and its neighbors,
the national screw thread commits
sion, any number of memorial and
battle monument commissions, boards
for this and boards for that. The
tariff commission was created on the
theory that the tariff question would
Dc IdhcH Oul VI DOllllSS, Jul
did not want that to happen. The
federal trade commission was estab-
lished to protect the little fellow against
the octopus of business, but there is
school of thought that believes II
started nowhere and continues on that
course.
There are such groups as the civil
service commission who, If politicians
kept hands off, might establish fed
eral service that would contain only
satisfactory workers eventually, and
the joint committee on printing that
would hold down government costs Of
printing except that the government
departments and members of the house
and senate are continually clamoring
to stock the country with printed ma
terial.
A board Of mediation was set up
to settle railway labor disputes, but
there Is little doubt that It could be
dispensed with along with two scores
of other agencies
Maintenance Of such organizations
as the Smithsonian institution is ac-
cepted as a normal function of gov
eminent, for 1t preserves to posterity
a physical record of what has hap
pened and is educational, purely. At
the other side Of the Mall from the
Smithsonian in Washington, however,
is beautiful building that serves as
headquarters Of the Pan-American
union.
1t is supposed to knit the nations
of the two Americas 1t has accom-
plished some things, but 1t has failed
In many.
Then, there are several agencies rep,
resenting wartime-hangover, such
as the alien property custodian, the
War Finance corporation, the railroad
administration. They are existing be-
cause all or this time has been re-
quired, and more, to wind I'D their
affairs. There are the new agencies,
too, the Reconstruction Finance cor.
poration and the Federal Home Loan
bank board, the first strictly an emer-
gency relief corporation and the Sec
ond a permanent addition to the ma
TONS financing unit. Good undoubted-
ly has come from the first and the
establishment Of the Home Loan bank
system is generally recognized as a
move In the right direction, and 1t
must be remembered respecting these
two that. theoretically at least, neither
is to result in added burdens for the
taxpayers for the money they pay out
Is in the form of loans and is repay
able.
@. 1892. Western Newspaper Union.
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