The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-15

M 1t was admitted that greater unity fewer agencies, and that temporary could be secured through having consolidation of housing agencies might have some advantages.
 In the case of the housing prob lem, there have been i3 government agencies functionlng in each others way, Tn depression times, they were mainly interested in permanent housing. Tn wartimes, the emphasis is on temporary housing and the situation is terribly complex bee cause It's difficult to determine how much Of the temporary housing fa. cilities 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 B housing agencies may be ConSoli- dated.
 STRANGE
 PATTERN
 If you take this original theory on the advantages of several govef'n- nent agencies doing the same kind Of work in competition with each other, and try to flt that theory on. to the blueprirt of federal govern- mental organization Gs q whole, you get some strange patterns. If it has been Q Fundamental administration policy to have several agencies do- ing similar work at the same time and competing with each other, then many things can be explained.
 Take electric power There is a Federal Power Commission under Leland Oids. There Is q power di- vision Of the Office Of Production Management under J. A. Krue. There are the various power au- thoritics, Tennessee Valley and Bonneville There Is the Bureau Of Reclamation in the Department Of Interior 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 besettled through teh Cancellation Service Of the Dc- partment of Labor. There is also c Maritime Labor Board, and the activities of the Wage and Hour Division and tho National Labor Relations Board should not be ovor- locked, nor the labor division Of | oPM, under Sidney Hillman. The war, however, may lead to some | labor consolidation.
 Take the defense Information services. Colonel Donovans Ofiice Of the Co.ordinator Of Information | prepares material to be sent abroad while the Federal Communications Commissions broadcast monitoring service transeribes what comes in from abroad. The office of Nelson Rockefeller, co-ordlnator Of inter- American affairs, prepares the material for South Ameriea. The Oftlce of Facts and Figures will, eventually, advise oil the other de- fenSe information services on the material they issue for home con- sumption. f
 Training of defense workers was split up between oPM's labor divi- sion, . training within industry program. the WFA, the Office of Education, the National Youth Ad- miniStration and the CCC camps. The youth relief programs are now about to be consolidated or otherwise liquidated,
 GETS COMPLICATED
 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 Priorities and Allocatiois Board supervising OPM, which is really part of Office Of Emergency Management organiza- ton that is responsible only to the President.
 Aiding small bushes are special Army and Navy bureaus, Floyd w. Odlun's oPM Division of Contrast Distribution, an OPM labor division | plant to promote pooling and bits and pieces manufacture, special section of the anti-trust division of the Department Of Justice and e couple of congressional committees thrown in.
 If all this leaves you @ bit coY- fused, you're normal. Hitler, with out having situations of this kind in mind at all, coined a good phrase which fits the picture aptly-"Divide and rule"