Evening star., 1937-01-10
SPRAWL|NG R. A.
WILL Be UNIFIED
Coordination of Units Under
Agriculture Department
to Be Major Job.
BY BLAIR BOLLES.


One of the major feats planned Tor
this Winter in Washington is the re-
settlement of the Resettlement Ad-
ministration, which has been removed
from the long list of emergency
agencies by its incorporation in the
Agriculture Department.
This sprawling giant not yet two
years old has 2,750 lawyers, engineers
sociologists, economists, researchlsts
publicists, photographers, stenog-
raphers, typists, filing clerks, recep-
tionists and messengers working fof
It in IS buildings in the District-not
to mention 1O,890 employees in the
field.
The problem is to squeeze the also
under one roof, which may be the
roof of the Barr Building, 9l0 Seven
teenth street. Not an employe is tc
be lost in the shuttle, however. II
resettlement's chieftains have then
way. Former Administrator Tugwel
said 1880 men and women was the
rock-bottom pay roll if r. A. is te
function we'll.
Resettlement typewriters are banged
now in the bath rooms and ball room
of the baroque mansion at 2020 Mas
sachusetts avenue, where Mrs. Evalyr
Walsh Mclean once entertained the
worlds great, and in the Railways OF
the Arlington Hotel, l040 Vermont
avenue, where Representative Tlnk-
ham, Republican, of Massachusetts
the champion hunter of leopards IN
British East Africa, insists on living
with his trophies of the jungle chase
Activities Scattered.
r. A. administrative headquarters
are in the Barr Building, which used
to be the home of the Republican Ma
tional Committee. The organization
workers 90 through their PAGES in the
Washington Building. the Ouray
Building, the Maryland Building
Temporary Building F, the Mather
Building, the Garry Building, the
Adams Building, at 1920 G street, al
1928 G street, at 1922 New York ave-
nue.. at 2216 M street and at Thiro
and Bryant streets northeast.
From this array of Offices r. A
reaches its fingers into the affairs ol
some 100000 persons, to whom 1t ha:
lent money or given money, whom il
has housed and whom it has resettled
whose debts it has adjusted and whose
worn-out unproductive land it ha!
bought for reforestation, parks Oh
game preserves.
Putting all his business under Secre-
tary Wallace makes his Department o1
Agriculture the second biggest depart
ment and the biggest user of money
for salaries and research. if reliet
agencies and the cost of the nationa'
defense is eliminated. Only the Treas.
ury Department steps ahead Of il
among the normal agencies.
Once this department was SLOW
moving headquarters for patient
scientists which offered newspaper!
information on little more than sol
practice and improved seed develop.
ment. Now publicity on its doings
pour out by the ton from four offices
whose chiefs salaries are $4,000
$4,000, $500 and $4,000. They expect
to spend about 100000 in the coming
fiscal year on making known theil
agencies activities.
The budget before Congress for tht
fiscal year 1885 allots Agricultur,
s553,512,955 to make its wheels g
around The Treasury gets $2,176,'
s42.210; Navy. s562, 62,425,7o9; War
S466, 730, ,448. Next in line is the In
terror Department, s72,896, ,604.85.
Transferred to Agriculture.
ReSettlement became an arm of Ag'
riculture January !, the day after
Rexford Tugwell left Washington te
enter the molasses business. but il
was Tugwell who made possible the
merger. For almost a year he cam
paigned for the amalgamation. He
was interested in the perpetuation OF
r. A., and its life as an independent
office, financed with w. P. A. money
was to end June 30 And what money
N. n IldO was W UC opNilt Wy ECUi u
ary l.
The Agriculture Department, ac-
cordingly, now has $4,000 employees
on its rolls, 9,455 of them in Wash
ington. The Treasury has 1857 jobs
here: the Interior Department, 6.574;
Commerce, 4.5O4; War, 1855; Navy
2.433; Justice, 1871; Post Office
1,670; Labor, 1,15l; State, 873.
Integrating the work of r. A. with
Agriculture is the chief current ad-
ministrative concern of Wallace. His
office and the Office of ReSettlement
Administrator Alexander expect 1t
will be 10 weeks before plan Of CO.
ordination is ready. How long it will
take to resettle r. A. in one home is
the problem of Arthur B. Thatcher,
the principal administrative officer OF
the Tugwell-founded agency. He 1,
working on the question now.