Evening star., 1944-05-22

1dI pcbtel Ie-
suits. A
The situation
which 1t is de- Frank r. Kent.
signed to correct is this: When q
Government agency or department
needs legislation from Congress,
heretofore the procedure has beer
for the Government head to draft
a bill and arrange for its introduc-
ton. Then the Government heads
have to appear separately before
the committees Of House and SEN
ate to explain the provisions anG
purposes of the bill and be SUBJ
jected to cross-examination on its
merits and dement's.
This would not be so bad if there
were only one committee but al.
ways there are two and very often
four committees - two In. each
branch-through which the bill has
to pass.
This means that the Government
heads are literally run ragged
rushing from one committee hear
ing to another, going over the same
ground with two, three or four
chairmen, each one of whom has
a different slant, finds new objec-
tions and is susceptible to different
suggestions.
The fearful wear and tear upon
the unfortunate Government heads
of running this kind of gantlet is
obvious. The distressing thing. of
course, is the complete lack of CO.
ordination or consultation among
the committees. Things the Senate
committees accept without ques-
tion may be rejected emphatically
by the House committees. Or it
may be the other way around.
No Rule to Avoid Conflict.
There is no rule by which con-
f11cts can be avoided or tangles
Strengthened except through pro-
longed and tiresome hearings. The
results, inevitably, are bad. In the
end, nine times out of 10, a lop-
sided bill emerges which is highly
unsatisfactory to everybody. 1t is
a horribly wasteful and inefficient
system as hard on the committee
chalrmen as it is on the Govern
ment heads. And bad, indeed, for
the public interests.
In the course of such a procedure
suspicious are bred, irritation pro-
NOTED and bad feeling engendered
largely because men become ex-
hauSted by needless repetition and
the utterly useless expenditure of
energy. AS result of his own ex-
perience an idea for improving this
state OF affairs has been evolved
by Mr.. John M. Hancock, co-author
OF the Baruch plan for the difficult
task OF unwinding from a wartime
economy to a peacetime economy.
The man who is putting the idea
INTO effect Is Mr.. Will L. Clayton.
appointed by the President as Sur
plus Production Administrator. I'm
Ger the Baruch- Hancock plan.
To do the job to which he has
been assigned-particularly that
part involving termination of con-
tracts-Mr. Clayton needs certain
legislation from Congress. This
legislation will have to be approved
by four different committees-to
wit, the Senate Finance COMMITTEES.
the Senate Military Affairs Commit
tee, the House Ways and Means
Committee and the House Military
Affairs Committee. Besides MIR.
Clayton, the heads of several other
governmental agencies are affected
by the legislation.
Now the idea advanced bv Mr.
Hancock was that instead of follow
ing the old form of going from com
mittee to committee, each one of
which would kick new holes in the
governmental draft, Mr.. CLAYTON.
with the cooperation and approval
OF the chairmen of all four COM
mittees, should hold in the Office of
the War Mobilization Board a series
OF unique conferences.
These conferences have begun
On one side of long table sit Mr.
Clayton and the other agency heads
with an interest in this matter On
the other side sit the counsel of the
various committees and such COM
mlttee experts as they choose to
bring.
Cash Laid on Table.
All the important committees of
Congress are equipped with counsel
ana experts upon whom great re-
nance Is placed. At these confer
ences the agency heads acquaint the
counsel with exactly what they
want and why they want it. The
counsel. in turn, lay before the
agency heads the limitations which
Congress imposes and explain exact
ly how far the agency heads can
go and why they can 90 no farther
Thus, at once, the agencies are re-
strained from asking more than
they can get. They avoid putting
forth things to fight for that merelv
lake up time and clutter I'D the
committee scenery. On the other
hand, the committee counsel oct a
clear understanding of the reasons
Tor the proposed bill and-even more
1mportant-of the men behind it.
With everybody represented at
THESE conferences and all the cards
laid on the table, it does seem that
IL should be relatively easy to ar
rive at an agreement with the good
1aith on both sides established
Ahe hope is that as a result of the
Clayton conferences, at their con-
clusion the committee counsel. being
IN accord, can write the bill them
seives-and write bill that, in ad-
dltion to satisfying themselves and
thelr committees, will satisfy the
heads of the Government agencies
Ii 1t does work out that way it
would Saer,a i,,touiua... - <. ~, ~