Evening star., 1938-04-27
E.B.L. WILL CUT
SCOREFROMROLL
Five Field Offices Will Be
Closed on Account of
Short Funds.

Closing of five field offices, dismissal
OF more than score of employees in
Washington and furloughing to half
strength Of personnel in the field have
been ordered at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation because of insufficient
funds" it was learned at the Depart
ment Of Justice today.
J. Edgar Hoover. director Of the
F. B. l., already has closed Offices of
his G-men in Hartford, Conn, and
Phoenix, Ariz.. and today he ordered
abandonment of the field service in
San Juan, P. r. The Offices in Homo
lulu. T. H.. and in Juneau. Alaska, are
to be closed in the near future.
The financial stringency is due
largely to emergency expenditures
necessitated by the Ross. Levine and
Fried kidnapings and by exhaustive
investigations of violence in Harlan
County, KY. and corruption at the
polls in Kansas City, Mo.
Far in Arrears.
The drastic curtailment has been
ordered in spite of the fact the bureau
is far in arrears in routine work and
employees are forced to work overtime
In many Offices.
More than 6,7Oo cases have piled
up in Washington and in the field
divisions of the F. B. I. because of
pressure Of urgent cases, such as kid
napings, bank robberies and other
crimes requiring immediate attention
of agents.
At appropriation hearings Mr. Hoo
yer, in response to committee ques-
tions, testified the bureau will need
1892 440 more than the amount al
lowed by the Budget Bureau-s60 043,-
20o-in order to keep up with the work
in the fiscal year beginning July l
next The appropriation bill, as finally
passed, kept the F. B. l. appropriation
to the sum recommended by the Budg-
ct Bureau, but authorized use of
s65, 900 of that amount for current de-
f1ciencies. Thus the sum available for
the next fiscal year would be S., ,e78, 200,
which is s2l,800 less than the current
appropriation.
At the hearings Mr. Hoover said the
bureau has 618 agents, whereas 722
are urgently needed to keep abreast
Of the rapidly accommodating cases.
Although the bureau is pinched for
funds. it returned to the taxpayers
last year 81 for every dollar expended,
taking into account fines, recoveries
and other savings.
Mattson Force Reduced.
It was learned today the number of
agents detailed to investigation of the
Mattson kidnapping in the Seattle
area has been reduced from 20 to 8.
A similar reduction has been made in
agents assigned to the pending Levine
kidnapping case.
Unforeseen emergencies along the
crime front have left the bureau more
than $4,000 in the red this year.
The $65,000 credit from next years
appropriation will reduce this debit to
$105,00O. Dismissals, furloughs and
closing of Offices will have to be made
to take care of the remaining deficit,
it was explained.
Bureau employees ran up more than
100000 hours Of overtime during the
past year. as compared with $4,000
hours the year before. Mr.. Hoover
told congressional committees this
overtime situation is "deplorable" and
dangerous" but cannot be avoided
because of the demands of this type
Of work
It was learned today the bureaus
staff of agents has been seriously de-
pleted by designations due to offers Of
more lucrative positions elsewhere In
the Government or in private indus
try. A number of agents have been
attracted by higher salaries offered by
the Securities and Exchange Commits
sion, the Social Security Board and
other Federal agencies.