Evening star., 1953-04-05
By Allen Drury


The switchboard operators at
Third and independence streets
S.W. are going to have a slight
problem, starting April IL.
It's relatively easy to say:
Federal Security Agency"
But it takes a little more lung
power to manage:
Department of Health, Educa-
ton and Welfare!"
And that's what it's going to
be each time a light blinkS for
an incoming call. The Secretary
of Health. Education and We'll
fare says so.
The changeover from agency to
department which will come next
Saturday when President Eisen-
hower's Reorganization Plan No.
/ goes into effect will give a
lengthy title to an extremely able
little lady and an extremely big
organization.
Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby Of
Texas, Federal Security Admin
istrator since January, will be-
come the 10th department head
and the second woman Secretary
to sit in a Presidential cabinet.
The Federal Security Agency,
whose activities touch directly
more Americans than almost any
other arm Of Government, will
achieve the status warranted by
its Importance in an age of
steadily expanding social service.
Many Details Involved.
The details involved in this
transformation range from such
delicate matters as the title it
self-a matter for prolonged po-
litical cogitation-to changing
the agency seal. Not since March
4, 1918, when the Department
Of Commerce and Labor was split
into two separate departments,
has a completely new department
been created. FSA purists point
out that creation of the Defense
Department in 1949 represented
only a consolidation, and an un-
easy one at that. of the Army,
Navy and Air Force establish
mentS.
Their own consolidation, they
maintain. will streamline and
strengthen an agency which for
IA years has been a sort of glori-
ned "deSk-draWer" into which
Democratic administrations have
tossed every conceivable type of
government service they couldn't
find a place for anywhere else.
The FSA, as such, originally
was established on July /, 1899,
by President Roosevelt, to CEN
tralize the existing bureaus and
offices dealing generally with So
cial welfare. These included the
Ofdce of Education, Public
Health Service, Social Security
Board, United States Employ
ment Service, the Civilian Con-
servation Corps and the National
Youth Administration. The CCC
and the NYA were subsequently
abolished, the Employment Serv-
ice was transferred to Labor, but
many other functions were
added.
Activities Are Listed.
BY June 80, 1910, FSA had ac-
quired the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration, st. Elizabeth's,
Freedmen'S Hospital, Howard
University and the Columbia
Institution for the Deaf. Dur
ing the war many activities were
added, then whitfield away; at
one point FSA had $4,000 em-
ployes compared with its present
$1,000. Today it's list of affili-
ated activities is still impressive:
Federal Security Agency,
American Publishing House for
the Blind, Columbia Institution
for the Deaf, Food and Drug
Administration, Howard Uni
versity, Office of Education, Of
flee Of Vocational Rehabilita-
ton, Public Health Service. Gin
cluding the Bureau of Medical
Service. Bureau of State Serv-
ices, Freedmen's Hospital, and
the National Institutes of
HealtO, st. Elizabeths Hospital
and the Social Security Admin
iStration.
Through these offices almost
81 billion year goes to the
public in the form of social Sc
curity payments, old age and
survivors insurance, public