Evening star., 1938-03-23
Reorganization
Continued From First Page.)

Byrd declared brought down the dis
pleasure of high officials on the con-
troller general were listed by the Vir-
ginian as follows:
Refusal to sign warrant for $685.
900 to construct a factory at Reeds
vile, w. Va, early in the Roosevelt
administration, because it was to be
allocated from the National Recovery
Act and given to the Post ONCE De-
partment.
Reversal Is Charged.
Refusal to permit $4,000, 900 to be
spent for the proposed shelter belt of
trees in the West. Senator Byrd said
the reason for this refusal was that
the appropriation was made for loans
for relief in stricken agricultural areas.
He listed several other specific allot-
ments in recent years that were dis
approved by the controller generals
ofice.
At the outset the Virginian again
declared that when the General Ac-
counting Once law was being written
in 1921 it had the support Of Senator.
Byrnes Of South Carolina and Ma
jority Leader Barkley Of Kentucky,
leading the fight for the pending bill.
He said Vice President Garner. then a
member Of the House. not only urged
it. but was one of the House conferees.
Mr.. Byrd said the House was so
anxious to make the controller general
an independent official that it orig
inally proposed life tenure of office.
The Senate wanted a seven-year term
and compromise was reached on IS
years. The Office has been vacant since
former Controller General McCarl
completed his term the latter part Of
1896.
In a hectic afternoon of continuous
roll call votes yesterday, the opponents
failed in drive to exempt Is i'm
portant agencies Of Government from
the Presidents general power to re-
group bureaus.
In the case of the Veterans Admin
istration, they failed by only one vote
to write in specific exemption. Two
separate attempts were made to safe
guard this agency, first on motion
to exclude the entire bureau, which
was lost in a tie vote, II to II. Then
move to prevent transfer of any of
its functions elsewhere failed on an
other tie, 80 to 38.
Senator King. Democrat, of Utah
moved a reconsideration, but this mo-
ton was laid on the table, 38 to 36.
The Veterans Administration votes
represented the high-water mark of
opposition strength.
Forest Service Move Beaten.
Earlier in the day the motion to
exempt the Forest Service, which was
expected to poll the heaviest strength,
was defeated, SO toss. In this case,
however, friends of the Forest Service
had been given to understand 1t would
not be taken out of the Agriculture
Department even without the exemp-
ton.
A motion to exempt the Biological
Survey was beaten on . roll-call vote,
~ to 20.
After these test votes had failed,
Senator Clark, Democrat, of Missouri,
gave up hope Of victory for other
exemptions he had proposed and per-
mitted them to be voted on without
record votes. One by one exemptions
were offered for 13 other agencies, but
promptly shouted down by administra-
ton forces. The agencies were:
United States Employees Compensa-
ton Commission, National Mediation
Board, Railroad Retirement Board,
Bureau of Animal Industry, National
Park Service, Tariff Commission, Rec
lamation Bureau, Bureau Of Public
Roads, Bureau Of Investigation, Soil
Conservation Service, Tennessee Valley
Authority, Bureau Of Chemistry and
Soils and Bureau Of Agricultural Eco
nomics.
Later the Senate rejected, 80 to 20,
the motion of Senator Byrd to re-
quire the President to attach to each
reorganization order q statement Of
the amount the transfer would save.
Senator Byrnes contefded the bill al
ready requires the President to set
forth any appropriations transferred
with an agency, and any upspent bal
ances returned to the Treasury.