Evening star., 1941-12-21
A Drastic Step

Inc transfer OF governmental
agencies from Washington to make
room for incoming defense workers,
a step involving great hardship for
those who will be forced to break up
their homes and separate from their
families, can be justified only on the
ground of absolute necessity. If 1t
be granted that this element OF ne
cessity exists, then it follows as a
matter of course that the utmost
care should be exercised to move
agencies whose transfer to other
cities will result in the least inter-
ference with the functioning of the
Government and the least hardship
to the individuals affected by the
change. Certainly there is room for
doubt whether these points were
given adequate consideration in the
transfers announced Friday night
by the Budget Bureau.
The order for the removal of the
Patent Office, which has been To-
Gated In Washington for more than
100 years, is the most questionable
of the twelve shifts now under way.
This agency is engaged in highly
specialized work. Virtually every
man in the Office Is scientist or
an expert in some particular field.
They are career men whose roots go
deep into the community life Of the
Nations Capital. There would be
little opportunity for adequate en-
ployment of their talents if they
should elect to remain here instead
of following the Patent Office to
New York, and, by the same token,
it would be extremely difficult to fill
their places with new employees.
Including the families and employees
of the six to seven hundred patent
attorneys, it is estimated that at
least 10000 persons would be af-
fected, directly or indirectly, by the
removal of the Patent Office. That,
on its face, involves dislocation OF
civilian life wholly out OF proportion
to the advantage which may be
expected to result from recovering
the office space used by the 1,450
persons actually employed in the
agency.
There are also physical problems
connected with moving the Patent
Office which may not have received
adequate consideration. Some four
months we're required to move the
office from the old building at
Seventh and F streets to the new
quarters in the Commerce Building,
which, incidentally, were specially
designed for the Patent Office. The
job OF transferring the agency to
New York certainly would prove
more difficult.
A few figures on this point are
significant. There are 109,086,635
patents weighing ALA tons, in the
Office. All these would have to be
moved. The transfer also would
involve moving 23,500 items Of furni-
ture and equipment, six to seven
thousand tons Of patent storage
cases and from ten to twelve thou
sand tons of other storage equip
ment. II these physical obstacles
were not enough to raise serious
doubts as to the wisdom of this move,
there is the further problem of what
the office is to do about its printing,
which now must be handled by the
Government Printing Office, and the
question of appeals to the Court of
Customs and Patent Appeals and
suits against the Commissioner of
Patents, which must be heard at this
time in the District.
Despite all these considerations, it
may be taken for granted that the
employees of the Patent Office, as
well as those in the other agencies
affected, will move and move will
ingly if their sacrifice really is
necessary to the war effort. But
employees in the older and more
firmly rooted agencies should not
be compelled to pull up stakes and
move If that involves greater sac
riflces for them than would be the
case in some of the newer agencies
Nor should they be transferred If
other agencies, from the standpoint
of efficiency, could be moved more
easily, and on this score it seems
self-evident that the removal OF q
century-old agency would involve
far greater problems than in the
case of one which came into being a
year or ten years ago.
It also might be asked whether all
possibilities of securing relief by
transferring employees from non
defense to defense agencies have
been exhausted. Certainly there is
nothing in the record to indicate
that this has been done. Another
pertinent inquiry involves the ques-
ton OF whether these transfers are
to be temporary or permanent. In
official circles 1t is said that this
phase Of the matter probably has
not been considered and that no one
could answer 1t anyway. Yet this
obviously, is a vital matter to en-