Imperial Valley press., 1942-03-08
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

WASHINGTON. March 6 - MAY
b. Senator Gerald P. Nye of Coo
pcrS.own y d has PUT his fin
zcy on one Of the things wrons
with government. administration
Qa-5.ag Office OF Civilian d
trusc Ductto. James NJ lands be
Tore Senator Hairy Flood ByrG>
economy committee. Nye started
c,,Ccking ND on The background oi
some of thc OCD personnel l.
IOCD's division ui operations, Nyc
CHARGED that Of the eight top staff
men. five came from the admins
,ra,iyC division OF WPA. one from
thc Department OF Agriculture. one
lrom emergency relief. In the fire
defense division. one man came
rCm PWA. oae trom WPA, ono
rom Treasury and one from cmcr-
.eucy relief administration.
What THIS illustrates. if anytime,
E, tia, government administration
.as become So complicated II Is Il
protcs ,Ion in itself like efficiency
,\pcrtine The difficulty and the
danger IS that the mechanics. the
framework. the rcd tape OF govern
mcut administration tend to be
| 1ivcu more Importance than the
| loh to be done.
Again in the case of OCD. Dean
Lands was put on the spot before
| Senator Byrd'S committee when
| Senator MIllard f. TYdingS asked
| how many OCD employees had aC-
| tuallv handled a fire bomb. The
| Dean didn't know. but guessed that
~ the civil defense division, per
hapS 60 per cent had actually held
bombs in this hands. InCidentallN.
IS an example CT utter tutility, one
| Of Dean LandiS's accounts of local
defense council meeting in New
ENGLAND is topS-a lecturer was try
M to explain to a group OF defense
workers how to put on a gas mask
without having gas mask to dem
onStrate with. Congress, YOU know.
us, 60, around to appropriatina
money for civilian Gas masks =
couple of weeks ago.
| NELSON HEAD MAN NOW
Fortunately, YOU should be pleas
cd to know that not all Of the
governments wartime agencies have
been set up on the formula that
Senator Nye puts the finger on.
When the Office OF Censorship
was set up, it was stated at the
TOD with newspaper and radio men
who knew the media with which
they had to deal
When the war production ma
chinery was set up. So-cal!cd
holding COMPANY" the Office Tor
Emergency Management. was Great
cc lust to comb the red tape OF
government procedure out OF the
Lair of the civilians called TO WaSN-
;.,oton 70 boss tho job OEM is MT.
Government Bureaucracy. run by
src~iallst in government paper
work. WAYNE Coz Thc real WORK "i
war production is now bo@Sed BY
DcuaId VI. Nelson If Inc had to
bother With official government
routine. he wouldn't get anything
else done.
/ The point in common with all
,~eec young and undOubtcdlY aole
administrators is that their back
around is almost entirely in govern
n.ent In other words, they know
t.cir way around Washington. the
bCuleyards. back alleys and byrathS
through the fields OF red tape.
Dean Lands himself admitted that
I'M making his rpOrganiHatlon OF ne
CCD hcadqua"tcrs he brought INTO
rI, organization som" of the smart
,alng men he h4d known III So
cl..itic, and Exchange Commission
dnd Federal Trade Commission,
With which ne had previous con-
rrctiGnS. Il was brought out that
CD had in lis organization ~
executives on what is called nom
r,lmbmSiblc loan" from other GOV
cruncnt departments. What that
means is that the other depart
ncntS pay their salaries. but OCD
/ payS thcir travelling expenses.
i PLACES FOR PALS
That is typical Washington When
the government SrtS mp a now de-
partmcut or neW program OF amy
knd-Sav fire defense. for example
-tHc llTSl requisite i 10 |'l 'pii''-
on who knows government and
rot NECESSARILY anyone Who knows
! ANYTHING about fire profession The
administrator for a program Of this
/ kid must be a man who knows
Low to make up a budget hoW TO
yet civil service classification clear
cd. how to make an organization
Chart how 10 get office space and
furniture how TO oDen an office.
The administrator looks around
tGI some Of his pals, the good guys
l.. knows in other departments of
government a d minis,ratiOn He
Knows how to 90 about getting
them transferred or loaned from
tier department to his Fir, thing
YOU know. he has his organization
# Uc needs technical consultants
h., Knows how TO get them appoint
-, on per diem or WOr without
rrInDcnSation-basl
You can make uD EoIr own mind
ST., TO @hcthcr ,hat, q lie mc,h0d
brought out By Senator Mo IS the
Way TO run a government