The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-12-03


done. I think everyone agrees with
that statement. Mr.. Roosevelt is in
a position to do it. He is one of
the few Presidents of recent years
who has been in position to do it.
He is in that position because of
the tremendous majority his party
possesses in house and senate and I
think it can be said unequivocably,
if Mr.. Roosevelt cannot do it or
does not do it, it never will be done.
1t goes without saying that there
are scores of unnecessary agencies
now in existence, most of them the
children of the New Deal. There
is overlapping; there is conflict of
jurisdiction and there is a super
abundance of ideas from every
source that affect or influence OPP
erations of other agencies. 1t is a
tangled skein and the untangling is
going to be difficult job The whole
setup is shot through with politics
and politicians and to decapitate po-
Itical patronage is a man-sized job.
The job now may be made even
worse in this regard by the fact
that never in history have there
been so many shades of opinion in
congress. The natural result of this
sort of thing is that the various
groups of blocs insist on carrying
out particular pet schemes and
those pet schemes nearly always
mean a new governmental bureau,
commission or what have you.
AS far as present conditions have
developed, none can foretell exactly
what Mr.. Roosevelt has in mind
concerning the new government
structure. 1t goes without saying,
of course, that the major depart
ments, each headed by a cabinet
officer, will constitute the basic
framework of whatever co-ordina-
ton or consolidation Mr.. Roosevelt
eventually proposes. But it is out
side of this framework where the
real coordination is needed. It is
among the countless alphabetical
soup agencies that the pruning knife
and the axe must be welded with
utter abandon. A lot of needless
and, in many cases, irresponsible
government policies are worked out
here. 1t is among these agencies
as well where waste in the form of
reckless spending and badly con-
ceived programs has taken place
to the greatest extent under the
Roosevelt administration.
Such coordination and consolida-
ton as the President attempts,
-. therefore, can &C
NeiIeT Tor complish a very
Taxpayers great deal in the
way of budgetary
reforms and relief for the taxpayers
if the job is undertaken seriously.
Indeed, as the situation now shapes
up, elimination Of about so per cent
of these so-called emergency agen-
cies and complete eradication o!
their parasitic policies constitute an
important approach to balancing
of the Treasury budget.
Since this is a fact, it must he
recognized that the proposed cor.
solidation movement has obstacles
outside of political patronage. Pol
iticians enjoy spending money end
when they see various of their pet
bureaus or commissions going the
way of all flesh, they naturally will
be frightened and it will take all of
the strength Mr.. Roosevelt pos
sesses to keep them in line when
they realize that money is being talk,
en- out from under their very noses.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Roosevelt can
reorganize the government. He has
329 Democratic representatives in
the house and rs Democratic sena-
tors. Against this legislative strength
of the party in power are 80 Re
publican representatives and II Re
publican senators, minus three or
four senators who wear the Reprb-
lican label but who are New Dealers
at heart.
If Mr.. Roosevelt is serious about
this government reorganization and
if he wants to force it through, I
have no doubt at all that he can
gain public support for his program.
I have no doubt at all that if he
were to 60 on the radio and deliver
an address about the plan, there
would be such deluge of mail to
representative and senators from
their constituents that they would
not dare oppose the scheme. There
would be more than one reason for
support of the President in this ac-
tivity. Next to the fact that people
out through the country generally
hate bureaucrats and red tape in
their government, the important
reason for the support which Mr..
Roosevelt surely could have would
come. from the taxpayers who are
beginning to realize what the fed
eral government is costing them.
That is one job that the Republic
cans did in their campaign to elect
Governor Landon of Kansas. They
made the country tax conscious and
it is an influence that is going to
rise up and haunt the New Deal
administration and members of con-
gress for some months to come.
AS conclusion, then, it seems to
me that Mr.. Roosevelt has pre-
pared a test for himself whether
he conceived it on that basis or
otherwise. Unless he drives through
a serious consolidation and elimina-
ton of needless agencies, many
doubts are going to arise as to his
sincerity.