Evening star., 1939-05-14
Merger Plan No. 2 Streamlines
Americas Bid for World Trade
Roosevelt Concentrates in Department of State
Direction of Campaign Against Foreign
Commerce Restrictions
By CrSf0n B. Mullins.

Transfer to the State Department of
the foreign staffs of the Commerce and
Agriculture Departments under Presi-
dent Roosevelt's reorganization plan No.
streamlines the American foreign serv-
Ice for a new, enlivened campaign of
trade expansion abroad
Competing against Great Britain,
France and its other friends, as we'll as
Its theological enemies, the United States
now consolldates its forces for more di-
rect and effective attack on trade re-
strictions and upon barter trade through
out the world.
Henceforth, the United States Govern
ment will present single, unified front
against not only incursions into Amer
teas foreign markets by the totalitarian
states but against oppressive govern
mental regulations which throttle Amer
lean expectation to many lands
Exchange controls, quotas, barter agree
ments, all the fantastic evolutions of the
depression years, bar the path of Amer
ican goods into countries which have
been, and could again be, excellent mar
kets for American exporters
Cuts Straight Path.
1t is more effectively to break down
these barriers and to temper their effect
that the Government is doing away with
1.-The divisions separating its foreign rep
resentatlves, divisions which have re-
suited in a confused and chaotic ap-
proach to foreign governments, need
lessly complicated by duplication of eff
fort on the part of both Commerce and
State Departments.
Before the reorganization now going
into effect, the State Department for
eign service often found itself officially
handling commercial matters in foreign
countries at the very time that Com
. merce Department representative was
acting, with his official yet non-repre-
sentative capacity on the same matters.
This, State Department officials have
contended. served only to nullify the ef-
forts of the commissioned representa-
tives of the American Government-con-
sular and diplomatic officers.
The State Department foreign service
grew along two paths from the begin
nings of the Government until 1924 when
the consular and diplomatic services were
united by the Rogers Act. Diplomatic
officers had been concerned chiefly with
political, consuls with commercial and
= economic matters. In the new single
service every officer of the foreign service
concerned himself with all phases of for
eign relations, fitting himself for either
diplomatic or consular posts.
Protection abroad Of American inter-
49, : I, l.,,+
Nation ana Its commerce and finance,
always has been the most important
function of Foreign Service officers 1t is
function which could not be shared
with representatives of any other branch
of the Government because of the eX-
Cluslvely representative character of
State Department officers.
The first departure from unity in the
foreign activities of the Government oc-
Cured in 1914, when Congress appro-
priated 100000 to send commercial at
taches to the chief diplomatic missions.
These men were to limit themselves to
commercial industrial and financial .e-
porting supplemental to the reporting
activities of the State Department.
Irade bOOmS service.
The boom in American foreign trade
otter the war and the expansion of the
functions of the Foreign Commerce Serr-
Ice to embrace trade commissioners and
assistant trade commissioners led to
passage in 1927 of the Hoch Act, which
provided statutory basis for the CONNER
cial industrial and financial activities
.f
continued thereafter with these men
supplying American business more ami
more with day-to-day information to
supplement the reports of State Depart
ment officers. Hitherto confined to for
= eign capitals, their activities spread TO
ether important cities outside capitals
until the coordination agreements were
instituted in 1881 to eliminate the dupli-
cation of effort between State and Com
merce Departments One of the first
steps taken was to limit Commerce off
GERS to work in the capitals of the
countries where they were stationed.
In 1888 the Foreign Commerce Service
underwent its first major reduction with
the discharge of more than $50 field Off
GERS and drastic curtailment of the func-
tons of the service. The revised CO.
ordination agreement which followed
this slash in personnel stripped Com
merce officers of most of their functions
OF preparing market surveys and All
swering inquiries from American busi-
nesSmen and limited them to prepala-
tlon of abstract economic reports. Por-
tionS of these functions were restored
however, in the 1887 and 1888 revisions
OF the coordination agreements, but the
State Department retained most of its
commercial functions.
Although the coordination agree
ments eliminated most of the overlap
ping between the two services the dupli-
T cation of approach continued, Com
merce officials endeavoring by their in
formal status to smooth out difficulties
for American trade at the same time