Evening star., 1945-12-23
denomination Law


President Truman clearly is under
no illusions in signing the new re-
organization legislation which gives
him sweeping powers to revamp the
departmental structure. As his state
ment on the measure phrases it, the
President expects substantial i'm
proVements in the organization and
management of the Government" to
result, but he has no hope of &C
complishing the saving of "at least
rs per cent" suggested in the terms
OF the act. Substantial economies,
as he in effect points out, depend on
controlling the purse strings-and
that is the province of Congress.
There are other economies to be
considered, however, even if they
do not lend themselves to precise
measurement in dollars and cents.
1t would be an economy if, without
large reductions in expenditures, the
quality and the expedition of ad-
miristration of Government pro-
gram were improved. It is to be
hoped that the President and his
advisers will be able to take advan-
tage of opportunities, available in
the new reorganization statute, for
that type Of improvement in Gov
ernment administration which lies
in more adequate supervision and
coordination of the operations of
agencies and activities now scattered
throughout the service.
One of the objectives of the re-
organization plan is to reduce the
number of separate agencies directly
responsible to the President by
bringing them within existing de-
partments or by combining some of
them into smaller number of new
agencies. Accompanying this move,
there should be supplied a specific
type of coordination at level below
the President and Congress but
above the present level of agency
heads. The British government,
through its cabinet Office, or secre-
tariat, has made progress in this
direction which became the envy of
our own Government executives who
observed its functioning during the
war.
The British secretariat, nonpolicy
making and without executive pow
ers, achieves a measure of CO.
ordination between the different
agencies which we have never been
able to obtain in Washington. Our
cabinet officers and heads of indie
pendent agencies often learn for the
first time of executive policies by
reading about them in the news
paper headlines. Decisions respect
ing such policies should be auto
matically communicated throughout
the executive branch as a matter
of course and the Presidents assist
ants should have the machinery to
facilitate conformity with executive
policies by bringing them immedi-
ately to the attention of all agencies
affected. In the same field, pre-
liminary work in the systematic
preparation of pertinent data, and
interagency conferences, should pre-
cede demand on the President for
policy decisions.
The new law does not give the
President all the authority he asked,
and also exempts some agencies
from its provisions, despite Mr.. Tru-
mans recommendation to the con-
trary. It still leaves him with broad
powers, however-subject to congress
sional veto, as he suggested-and no
doubt these will be exercised to the
best advantage. The task he faces
is one with which Presidents since
the time of Taft have grappled, with
little to show for their efforts. It is
to be hoped that more success will
attend this attack on a perennial
problem.