Imperial Valley press., 1941-12-16
By Peter Edison
INSIDE
WASHINGTON

/ ing about proposals TO rCOrGanize
the defense housing Sctup. which is
! in considerable of mess, President
Roosevelt took time out at a re-
cent press conference to explain
/ briefly the peacetime advantages of
! having three or four governmental
agencies interested in improving
/ living conditions.
The inference was that during
/ the depression this was all right
| because il gave potential customers
better range of plans and mate
rialS TO choose from. competition
kept prices down, and the problem
was approached from different
points of view. In times like the
present. however. il was admitted
that greater unity could be secured
through having fewer agencies. and
that temporary consolidation of
housing agencies might have some
advantages
IN the case OF the nCusmg prob
lem. there have been 13 govern
ment agencies functioning in each
others way. In depression times
they were mainly interested i'll
permanent housing. In wartimes,
the emphasis is on temporary houS-
ing, and the situation Is teIIlD.y
complex because it's difficult to de-
termine how much of the temporary
housing facilities at defense plant
sites should be made permanent.
No one can tell what these plants
and their workers will be doing
after the war is over Anyway, in
the interests of national defense,
some of these 13 housing agencies
may be consolidated.
If you take this original theory
on the advantages Of several gov
renment agencies doing the same
kind of work in competition with
each other. and try to fit that
theory onto the blueprint of fed
eral governmental organization as
whole. you get some strange pat
terms. If it has been a fundamental
administration policy to have sev-
eral agencies doing similar work at
the same time and competing with
each other. then many things can
be, explained.
Take electric power. There is
| Federal Power Commission under
Leland OldS. There is a power
| division of the Office of Produc-
ton Management under j. A. kru9.
There are the various power author
neville. There is the Bureau of Rec
lamation in the Department of In
terror which builds Boulder Dams
and attached generating stations
and doesn't like the way the Fed
eral Power Commission shapes
power policies.
Take labor. The National Media
ton Board handles railroad dis
putes. The National Defense Media
ton Board handles industrial dis
putes that can't be settled through
the Cancellation Service of the De
partment of Labor There is also
a Maritime Labor Board, and the
activities Of the Wage and Hour
Division and the National Labor Re-
! lationS Board should not be over
! looked. nor the labor division of
OPM, under Sidney Hillman. The
war. however, may lead to some
labor consolidation.
Take the defense information SER
vices. Colonel Donovan's Office Of
| the Co-ordinator of Information
prepares material to be sent abroad
while the Federal Communication
Commissions broadcast monitor
service transcrlDes what comes III
from abroaod. The office of Nelson
Rockefeller, co-ordinator of inter
American affairs, prepares the mat
e-ial for South America. The Of
flee of Facts and Figures will,
eventually, advise all the other de-
Tense information services on the
material they issue for home con-
sumption.
The defense maze is the one that
confronts most visitors on business
to Washington. with the Army and
Navy actually letting the contracts,
OPM advising, Supply PriorltieS and
ALLEGATIONS Board supervising OPM.
which is really part of the Office
of Emergency Management organi-
zation that is responsible only to
the President.
Aiding small business are special
Army and Navy bureaus, Floyd W.
Odlums' OPM Division of Contract
Distribution, an OPM labor division
plant to promote pooling and bits
and pieces manufacture, special
section of the antitrust division
OF the Department of Justice and
a couple of congressional commit
tees thrown in.
If all this leaves you a bit con-
fused you're normal. Hitler, with
out having situations of this kind
in mind at all. coined good phrase
which fits the picture aptly-
Divide and rule"
WAR BULL'S-EYES
Japanese embassy in Washington
offered its passenger cars for sale
a few days before the war A tipoff?
One u S. Indian out of every 10
Of military age has joined the
armed forces. War has some bless
ings, anyway, for so great is the
demand for steel the number Of
pins in new shirts will have to be
reduced. And pencil factories can't
get those metal bands you break
your teeth on when chewing erasers.
Census Bureau reports the country
runs on 100000 wholesale houses.
Office of Price Administration
latest worry is about "camelhack"