Show Bruc karts kares washington digest government reorganization plan fails to merge similar agencies presidential plan will perpetuate all agencies created in last ten years 9 taxpayer will save little from proposed consolidation move by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press bid washington washing ton D 0 washington As I 1 have often observed in these columns our federal government is such 1 a huge octopus that it Is difficult for one individual to gain a correct perspective of the machinery that is to say it Is mighty hard to sit down thumb through the list and say which wh 1 c h agencies en c 1 are e worthwhile and w which h t c h ag are re 1 just u s es a another ther set of jobs the thing is incomprehensible and so it Is that when mr roose hoose velt exercising powers for reorganization zat I 1 an of the government given him by the last congress submitted plan no I 1 the other day few there were who grasped the scope of the move equally it is true that few persons were able even af after ter study to point out all of the good points and all of the bad points so ED complex Is plan no 1 1 I believe however after talking with many authorities it should be said that there are both good and bad points and nobody ought to be so silly as to deny the statement the preside presidents ants executive order has hag established three new major units of government they are the federal security agency the federal works agency and the federal loan agency into these three groups it is proposed to bring some 20 boards bureaus and commissions some great some unimportant but most of which in the last few years have been dangling at loose ends south carolinas sen james F byrnes whose bill to place relief administration back in the states hands Is according to mr bruckart jeopardized by president Roosevel ts governmental reorganization plan for unifying and strengthening federal relief agen clAs nearly all of them have been responsible S pon sible directly to the president or to the president and congress many of them worked at iss ss purposes many overlapped and there was the atten attendant dan it jealousy conflicts I 1 of authority foolish resentment at each others attempts to function it was evident that mr roosevelt hoped the corralling of these maverick agencies would add to the efficiency of the machinery that must bs be accepted as the fact fabbe because cau se he told congress there would be a s saving av of only about annually the anemic taxpayer therefore gets nothing out of the picture ic ture faults will accompany virtues in mass move but what of those who previously headed the independent dangling wandering type of bureau or board or commission the plan proposes to make them subject to a now new boss somebody in between them and the president it does nothing more than that close examination of plan no 1 seems therefore to amount to a bodily transfer of each of these setups taking with them all of their faults as well as all of their good qualities at the same time it is possible that such a grouping g will accomplish something not visible on its surface when several agencies now operating in their own spheres are brought under one general head there Is a chance that some of the overlapping of work will be eliminated I 1 mentioned at the outset the difficulty of discovering these conflicts it if they are brought er therefore someone surely will find them and eliminate them it if that is done as it should be there is just a twinkling light of a possible saving to the taxpayer one should always remember however that thai tew few government agencies once created have ever been abandoned the jobholders are the best lobbyists hobbyists in the world which brings us to the one definite objection that I 1 have heard about the presidents plan no 1 that objection is that nowhere in it is there any effort made to reduce the scope of government or to express the same ame thought in an affirmative man ner plan no I 1 will perpetuate with out exception every agency created in the last 10 years under the guise of emergency legislation relief tor for the destitute and busness reform that Is the one factor to which criticism ought to be appi applied there Is no doubt in my mind at all that the presidents advisors in drafting the consolidation plan or the president himself dodged responsibility I 1 suppose it maya may have I 1 been too much to expect yet it does seem a better job could have been done in that direction why for or example was the reorganization of Us this phase of government activities worked out with nothing to show in the way of abolition ot of some of these numerous agencies it appears to me that if he eight or ten separate units that have been brought into the federal security agency were so closely related then some of those units could have been disbanded and such functions as necessary could have been lodged in the jurisdiction of the remaining bureaus the same observation applies to the federal works agency and the federal loan agency federal relief system remains sore spot I 1 believe the creation of a federal works agency will accomplish a great deal of good but it does not solve one of the festering sores now and long since showing on the body politic I 1 refer to the federal relief system while there will probably be no more of the fighting over the backyard back yard fence like tomcats tom cats as did secretary ickes and harry hopkins hopking op the plan no I 1 does nothing to wipe out the pernicious political racketeering that hopkins permitted as head of nor does it keep government money from being literally forced down th the e throats of towns tor building public power plants or for other uses only to create debt upon the shoulders of those taxpayers as harold ickes did there is nothing in the program either that will eliminate the use of federal funds either through or in spreading the effect of federal policies into state govern ments I 1 have written before of how federal officials actually govern states or counties or municipalities by laying down rules which must be met before the money has been handed over it is certain therefore that as tar far as public works is concerned and as far as public relief from the led fed eral treasury is concerned mr roosevelt has accomplished almost nothing at all except to make the heads of the two units report to one administrator who in turn will report to the president this makes it appear moreover that a real need exists tor for passage of the bill drafted by senator byrnes south carolina democrat and onetime one time staunch new dealer that would place relief back in the hands of the states concerning a federal loan agency however there ought to be praise that is there can be better administration adm in i better ordination coordination co of policy it the president selects a sound man to serve as its head security agency Is plans hot potato the federal security ag agency ency if we have to have such stuff is the hot potato of the whole collection in plan no 1 into that group there will be placed the social security board the nat national I 1 onal youth administration the civilian conservation corps the united states employment service the public health service and the office of education just why such things as the public health service and the office of education should be tossed into that madhouse no one s seems e ems t to 0 know 0 w under the reorganization act congress has 60 days in which to examine the presidents plan and approve or disapprove that is to say congress must vote a resolution ot of disapproval within two months or the plan becomes operative there the slightest chance that it will be rejected one reason the proposal wil not be rejected it if there was ever any chance of it is that one of 0 the republican members of the house played dumb represent Re representative presen tatlyn asber of new york could not wait he introduced a resolution ot of re ejection on the day following submission ol of the plan no 1 and he has just as much chance of accomplishing his purpose as a snowball has in the nether regions I 1 do not inter infer that the presidents proposal ought to be rejected that thai might be the conclusion after experts have gone through it with a fine toothed comb on the surface h however ow mr taber provided no basis of pre prestige tige for the republicans by his ac act t nor did he demonstrate his hi value as a national legislator As foi republican tactics especially ov on bu such c h m otters matters as government beor they ought to lo distin distinguish guist between issues and making noise i 1 have a suspicion that mr resolution was as much welcomed welcum eri by democratic leader rayburn at a it was disliked by the republican Republic ai side of the he house certainly it wil pr provide ovide h measure of democrat Deora tj solidarity Ne union |