Show t Changing Times Call for rt f l P. P F Creation of US U.S. U. U S. S Bureaus J J r Various Interests Favor Special Agencies For Own Problems Patrona Patronage a Plums it i Sought by Political Parties t f 1 J By BAUKHAGE HAGE k- k r i News Analyst and Comment Commentator tor Service Union Trust Building r i Washington D D. D C. C t I The TIle much much mooted question of k states rights as against the over over- r- r centralization of government in Washington which Washington which is lumped ne neatly into the one word bureaucracy Is due for a thorough airing in the coming corning political campaign The recent debate in the senate over especially in the contest over whether the federal government should administer the unemployment nt payments during the change aver from war production to civilian production is a good ex ex- ex- ex ample I l There will be much sound and J. J fury much thundering in the index c on this subject Little will be found to have been accomplished when the dust settles For in this question we behold an interesting paradox New Dealers as well a as Republicans left- left wingers as well as wingers right-wingers deplore deplore de- de deI the growing centralization of power in the federal government asa asa as asa a threat to democracy And yet all of them when they sit down to look at the facts admit privately that there Is little or no chance of checking checkIng checkIng check- check Ing this trend The very groups which oppose the tendency toward the creation of more federal machinery and denounce de- de denounce the bureaucrats the loudest are insistent that enough of the bureaucrats who handle their specIal cIal Interests be spared whenever the axe threatens to fall It is upon this little inconsistency that President Roosevelt always bangs his rebuttal whenever Senator Senator Senator Sena Sena- tor Byrd and other critics of his lavIsh lavIsh lavish lav lav- ish government spending call for a reduction of the government pay pay- roll Of course the war badly disturbed dis dis- dis h l Curbed the traditional democratic in institution institution institution in- in of checks and balances and lifted private enterprise right out bythe bythe by bythe the hair and sat down in its place with the brutal indifference wh which ch is associated with Mars The federal government today finds itself doing business on a scale larger than all peacetime enterprise put together Some of these activities are bound to stick when normal times finally return but the trend toward bureaucracy started even before that According to Alfred Bingham who has written a book called The Practice of Idealism which you ought to read whether you can agree with it or not the trend toward bureaucracy Is due largely to two of five revolutions which he says are going on now Bingham says that revolution re- re stilts from the up pent-up pressure of delayed social change He believes that like water power it can either sweep in a destructive flood over peaceful cities and farms or it can be controlled and turned to beneficial use Revolt of Common Man Encourages Bureaucracy The first of the revolutions he names and one of those which has encouraged bureaucracy and increased increased in in- increased creased the demands on the federal federal federal fed fed- eral governments government's s manpower is the revolt of the common man Of course that revolt has been going on lustily with the start It got at the barricades in Paris and the events which occurred between Lexington and Yorktown but the depression of y 11 1929 moved it ahead quite a peg in inthis inthis this country to say nothing of what wha t happened after World War I all aU over the world including the birth o of f communism fascism and all their freak off otT Bingham says it w was s the call o of f the common man for social and economic economic eco cco- security which was one of th the two chief causes of the growing centralization centralization cen cen- of government He cites cite 5 s as two examples the labor group grout which demanded that their interests interest r be looked after and the farmers The l labor bor department which ha had d been a part of the department o of f commerce since 1903 was created create c d a separate unit in 1913 Bingham Bingha m says that the vast organization unI under un un- I d der r the department of ox agriculture was was the result of the insistence b by p ti farmers that agriculture be recognized recognized and assisted i The second revolution the demands demands de de- t mands of which brought about add addi additional 1 federal activity according to t o I Bingham was the technical revolution revolution revo rev a o lution another name for the industrial Industrial indus trial revolution which has made mad e mass production and md all the wonders won ders of the machine age possible dollar Billion-dollar corporations required require d 1 some government control various s industries notably those producing g and using the automobile and th the e airplane called for highway and skyway skyway skyway sky sky- way encouragement regulation an and d dt guidance The huge department o ol of t commerce with its many activities conducted to aid business became a separate entity in 1903 and ha has s grown steadily since And right here we might asser assert t tu that the common man and if you OU u J will the less common man worker farmer artisan executive or entrepreneur entrepreneur entre entre- although he joins merrily merril y in the chorus denouncing the th e bureaucrats in general doesn't wan want t the particular bureaucrat who i is s I x ready to help his particular interest interest interest inter inter- interi est disturbed If he does no not t actually demand the services o of ot t ta such a bureaucrat he may cr create ate a situation which his competitor o or r those who may become his victim 1 insist must be controlled by the gov gov- govi f eminent Of course Mr Bingham's answer r to all this is that a growing expansion ex expansion ex- ex exi of governmental powers i is s all right so long as it Is self govern self ment Without debating that question question ques ques- tion lets let's see exactly how badly th the e bureaucrat is really hated haled But you will find that there ar are e I bureaucrats and bureaucrats You will find no complaint about abou t the civil servant who carries out th the e decrees of the peoples people's duly elected d representatives provided those decrees decrees decries de de- crees cries have been sponsored not t tsay to o ot say lobbied through congress a at t said complainants complainant's request Let us consider the following statement statement statement state state- ment concerning one bureau presumably presumably pre pre- administered if it I read my Webster aright by bureaucrats Federal aid in building an and d maintaining highways as carried carrie d out under Republican administrations and since continued is a sound and comparatively harmonious pro pro- g gram ram GOP Has Some Kind Words for Bureaus Federal responsibility regarding regard ing agriculture should be directed d to such economic stabilization n through disposition of surpluses assurance assurance as of fair market prices Who says this The 26 Republican Republica n governors assembled in St. St Louis early this month to back Mr Deweys Dewey's presidential campaign They represented we opine b but both th h the common man and lil likewise t the he uncommon ma man i And if you want further support for tor Mr Bingham's thesis that the tin e leaders in the world of technology the men who own the machines and an d I i supervise their operation like some som S of the bureaucrats note the statement statement statement state state- ment from authentic sources that after the war industry is going to encourage the perpetuation of some of the functions of the OPA and the because it is thought they can help stabilize Industry On the other side of the medal again just to preserve a nice balance balance balance bal bal- ance what about the GI Bill ol ot Rights That law puts into the hands of the federal government the administration of the greatest welfare program ever framed I I take it that high low and middle are aIe willing to pay for the bureaucrats bureaucrats bureau bureau- I tt to run this program out ol of the federal treasury It was passed unanimously by congress So it goes We can boil down the debate in congress over unemployment insurance insurance insurance ance and the effort to put the administration administration ad ad- ministration ration of the payments into the hands of the states into a much more immediate and practical question question ques tion than the broad principle of ol states rights rights- centralization of government gov or the growth of racy It is a simple matter here hereof of whether the administration luny any administration handing out the benefits directly sets up L the e office of of- fice flee holders who do the handing out or whether the state governments government state political machines assume these gracious functions In other words who gets the political s sup support sup p. p port part in return Im I'm sorry but that's the way it t is |