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Federal Government may be better carried out when so grouped than if they are left in the Treasury, which is primarily a fiscal agency, and where the necessary relationships with other social security, employment, and educational activities now must be carried on by an elaborate scheme of interdepartmental committee work.

The National Youth Administration is transferred from the Works Progress Administration to the Federal Security Agency since its major purpose is to extend the educational opportunities of the youth of the country and to bring them through the processes of training into the possession of skills which enable them to find employment. Other divisions of the Federal Security Agency will have the task of finding jobs, providing for unemployment compensation, and other phases of social security, while still other units of the new agency will be concerned with the problem of primary and secondary education, as well as vocational education and job training and retraining for employment. While much of the work of the National Youth Administration has been carried on through work projects, these have been merely the process through which its major purpose was accomplished, and, therefore, this agency under the terms of the act should be grouped with the other security agencies rather than with the work agencies.

For similar reasons the Civilian Conservation Corps, now an independent establishment, is placed under the Federal Security Agency because of the fact that its major purpose is to promote the welfare and further the training of the individuals who make up the corps, important as may be the construction work which they have carried on so successfully. The Civilian Conservation Corps is a small coordinating agency which supervises work carried on with the cooperation of several regular departments and independent units of the Government. This transfer would not interfere with the plan of work heretofore carried on but it would enable the Civilian Conservation Corps to coordinate its policies, as well as its operations, with those other agencies of the Government concerned with the educational and health activities and with human security.

PART 3. FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY

In order to carry out the purpose of the Reorganization Act of 1939 I find it necessary and desirable to group and consolidate under a Federal Works Agency those agencies of the Federal Government dealing with public works not incidental to the normal work of other departments, and which administer Federal grants or loans to State and local governments or other agencies for the purposes of construction.

The agencies so to be grouped are: The Bureau of Public Roads, now in the Department of Agriculture; the Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division, now in the Treasury Department, and the Branch of Building Management of the National Park Service (so far as it is concerned with public buildings which it operates for other departments or agencies) now in the Department of the Interior; the United States Housing Authority, now in the Department of the Interior; the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (familiarly known as P. W. A.); and the Works Progress Administration (familiarly known as W. P. A.) except the functions of the National Youth Administration.

The transfer of both the Public Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration to the new Federal Works Agency would provide for both principal types of public works that have been carried on by the Federal Government directly or in cooperation with the State and local governments. I find that it will be possible to reduce administrative costs as well as to improve efficiency and to eliminate overlapping by bringing these different programs of public works under a common head. But, because of the differences that justified their separate operation in the past and differences that will continue in the future to distinguish certain phases of major public works from work relief, I find it necessary to maintain them at least for the present as separate subordinate units of the Federal Works Agency.

The present Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works is placed under the Federal Works Agency under the shorter name of Public Works Administration.

The name of the Works Progress Administration has been changed to Works Projects Administration in order to make its title more descriptive of its major purpose.

The Bureau of Public Roads is transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Federal Works Agency and as a separate unit under the name of

Public Roads Administration. This will bring the administration of the Federal roads program with its grants-in-aid to the States into coordination with other major public-works programs and other programs of grants and loans to the States.

The construction and operation of many public buildings is now carried on in two agencies which are consolidated under the new Federal Works Agency, namely the Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department (which is concerned with the construction of Federal buildings and with the operation of many public buildings outside the District of Columbia) and the Branch of Building Management of the National Park Service, of the Department of the Interior, which is concerned with the operation of public buildings in the District of Columbia. These two separate activities are consolidated in one unit to be known as the Public Buildings Administration. Improved efficiency, coordination of effort, and savings will result from this transfer and consolidation.

Then, also, there is transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Federal Works Agency the United States Housing Authority. The major purpose of the United States Housing Authority is to administer grants-in-aid and loans to local public housing authorities in accordance with its established standards of construction in that part of the housing field which cannot be reached economically by private enterprise. For these reasons, it should be grouped with those other agencies which have to do with public works, with grants and loans to State and local governments and with construction practices and standards. PART 4. FEDERAL LOAN AGENCY AND TRANSFERS OF INDEPENDENT LENDING AGENCIES

In order to carry out the purposes of the Reorganization Act of 1939, I find it necessary and desirable to group under a Federal Loan Agency those independent lending agencies of the Government which have been established from time to time for the purpose of stimulating and stabilizing the financial, commercial, and industrial enterprises of the Nation.

The agencies to be grouped in the Federal Loan Agency are: The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the Electric Home and Farm Authority, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Housing Administration, and their associated agencies and boards, as well as the Export-Import Bank of Washington. Since 1916 the Congress has established from time to time agencies for providing loans, directly or indirectly, for the stimulation and stabilization of agriculture, and such agencies should in my opinion be grouped with the other agricultural activities of the Government. For that reason I find it necessary and desirable to accomplish the purposes of the act to transfer the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation, and the Commodity Credit Corporation and associated agencies to the Department of Agriculture.

ECONOMY AND EFFICIENCY

One of the five purposes of the Reorganization Act of 1939 is "to reduce expenditures to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government." This purpose is important in each phase of the plan here presented. The Reorganization Act prohibits abolishing functions-in other words basic services or activities performed. Therefore the reduction in expenditures to be effected must necessarily be brought about chiefly in the overhead administrative expenses of the agencies set up to perform certain functions. The chance for economy arises therefore not from stopping work, but from organizing the work and the overhead more efficiently in combination with other similar activities. Only the Congress can abolish or curtail functions now provided by law.

The overhead administrative costs of all the agencies affected in Reorganization Plan No. I is about $235,000,000. This does not include the loans they make, the benefits they pay, the wages of the unemployed who have been given jobs; it does not include the loans and grants to States or, in short, the functional expense. It does include the overhead expense of operating and administering all these agencies.

The reduction of administrative expenditures which it is probable will be brought about by the taking effect of the reorganizations specified in the plan is estimated as nearly as may be at between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000 annually, a substantial lowering of the existing overhead. Certain of these economies can be brought about almost immediately, others will require a painstaking and gradual readjustment in the machinery and business practices of the Government. 240136-41-3

Any such estimate is incomplete, however, without reference to the corresponding savings which will follow in the States and cities through the recommended consolidation of the Federal services with which they cooperate, and the improved efficiency and convenience which will be felt by citizens all over the Nation-many of whom will be able to find in a single office many of the services now scattered in several places. These economies will undoubtedly exceed the direct savings in the Federal Budget.

It will not be necessary to ask the Congress for any additional appropriations for the administrative expenses of the three consolidated agencies set up in this plan, since their costs will be met from funds now available for the administrative expenses of their component units. Actually new expenses will be only a fractional part of the expected savings.

Neither on this Reorganization Plan No. I nor on future reorganization plans, covering interdepartmental changes and intradepartmental changes, will every person agree on each and every detail. It is true that out of the many groupings and regroupings proposed in this message a few of the individual agencies could conceivably be placed elsewhere.

Nevertheless, I have been seeking to consider the functional origin and purpose of each agency as required by the reorganization bill itself.

If in the future experience shows that one or two of them should be regrouped, it will be wholly possible for the President and the Congress to make the change. The plan presented herewith represents 2 years of study. It is a simple and easily understood plan. It conforms to methods of executive administration used by large private enterprises which are engaged in many lines of production. Finally, it will save a sum of money large in comparison with the existing overhead of the agencies involved.

I trust, therefore, that the Congress will view the plan as a whole and make it possible to take the first step in improving the executive administration of the Government of the United States.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 25, 1939.

REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. II

Effective July 1, 1939, by paragraph 115–29 of this volume.

Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, May 9, 1939, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1939, approved April 3, 1939

PART 1. DEPARTMENTS

SECTION 1. State Department.-Transfers and consolidations relating to the Department of State are hereby effected as follows:

(a) Foreign Commerce Service and Foreign Agricultural Service.The Foreign Commerce Service of the United States and its functions in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce and the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States and its functions as established by the Act of June 5, 1930 (46 Stat. 497), in the Department of Agriculture are hereby transferred to the Department of State and shall be consolidated with and administered as a part of the Foreign Service of the United States under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of State.

(b) Functions of the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Agriculture transferred to the Secretary of State; exceptions.-The functions of the Secretary of Commerce with respect to the Foreign Commerce Service and the functions of the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to the Foreign Agricultural Service (other than functions with respect to such services pertaining to activities in the United States and to the compilation, publication, and dissemination of information) are hereby transferred to, and shall be exercised by, the

Secretary of State, except and provided that under regulations prescribed by the President

(1) The Secretary of State shall cause to be made such investigations relating to commercial and industrial conditions and activities in foreign countries and such other specific investigations relating to foreign commerce as the Secretary of Commerce shall determine to be in the public interest, and shall report to the Secretary of Commerce the results of, and the information secured through, such investigations. He shall also cause to be made such investigations relating to world competition and demand for agricultural products, to production, marketing, and disposition of such products in foreign countries, and to farm management and other phases of agricultural industry in foreign countries, and shall conduct abroad such activities (including the demonstration of standards for cotton, wheat, and other American agricultural products), as the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine to be in the public interest, and shall report to the Secretary of Agriculture the results of, and the information secured through, such investigations and activities.

(2) The Secretary of Commerce may from time to time when he deems it in the public interest designate any officer in his Department to render temporary service under the provisions of, and subject to the conditions named in, section 5 of the Act of March 3, 1927 (44 Stat. 1396).

(3) The Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time when he deems it in the public interest designate any officer in his Department to render temporary service under the provisions of, and subject to the conditions named in, section 2 of the Act of June 5, 1930 (46 Stat. 498).

(4) The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Agriculture may each designate an officer in his Department, acceptable to the Secretary of State, to serve in the Department of State as liaison officer in connection with the administration of the foreign service of the United States.

(5) One officer in the Department of Commerce designated by the Secretary of Commerce and acceptable to the Secretary of State and one officer in the Department of Agriculture designated by the Secretary of Agriculture and acceptable to the Secretary of State shall be added to the membership of the Board of Foreign Service Personnel for the Foreign Service.

(c) Status of Foreign Service Officers.-Foreign Commerce Service officers and Foreign Agricultural Service officers who by reason of transfer to the Foreign Service of the United States and by appointment according to law acquire status of Foreign Service officers therein shall not be included in the total number of officers in such Service for the purpose of determining the percentage limitation established by section 10 of the Act of February 23, 1931 (46 Stat. 1207), as amended.

(d) China Trade Act Registrar.-Such officer of the Foreign Service as the Secretary of State shall make available for that purpose may be authorized by the Secretary of Commerce to perform the duties of China Trade Act Registrar provided for in the Act of September 19, 1922 (42 Stat. 849), under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce.

(e) Foreign Service Buildings Commission.-The Foreign Service Buildings Commission and its function are hereby transferred to the Department of State. The Commission shall exercise advisory functions, but all other functions (including administrative functions) shall be exercised under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of State by such division, bureau, or office in the Department of State as the Secretary shall determine.

SEC. 2. Treasury Department.-Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the Department of the Treasury are hereby effected as follows:

(a) Bureau of Lighthouses.-The Bureau of Lighthouses in the Department of Commerce and its functions are hereby transferred to and shall be consolidated with and administered as a part of the Coast Guard in the Department of the Treasury.

(b) Director General of Railroads: Office abolished and functions transferred. The office of Director General of Railroads is hereby abolished. The functions and duties of the Director General of Railroads are hereby transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury to be exercised and performed by him personally or through such officer or officers of the Department of the Treasury as he may authorize. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby designated as the agent provided for in section 206 of the Transportation Act, 1920 (41 Stat. 461).

(c) War Finance Corporation abolished.-All of the functions property, and obligations of the War Finance Corporation not heretofore transferred by statute to the Secretary of the Treasury are hereby transferred to the Department of the Treasury. The War Finance Corporation is hereby abolished and the Secretary of the Treasury shall complete the winding up of its affairs and shall dispose of its assets in accordance with the Act of March 1, 1929 (45 Stat. 1442), not later than December 31, 1939.

SEC. 3. Department of Justice.-Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the Department of Justice are hereby effected as follows:

(a) Federal Prison Industries, Inc.-The Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (together with its Board of Directors), and its functions are hereby transferred to the Department of Justice and shall be administered under the general direction and supervision of the Attorney General.

(b) National Training School for Boys.-The National Training School for Boys and its functions (including the functions of its Board of Trustees) are hereby transferred to the Department of Justice and shall be administered by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, under the direction and supervision of the Attorney General. (c) Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Boys abolished.-The Board of Trustees of the National Training School for Boys (including the consulting trustees) is hereby abolished.

SEC. 4. Department of the Interior.-Transfers, consolidations, and abolitions relating to the Department of the Interior are hereby effected as follows:

(a) Functions of the National Bituminous Coal Commission transferred. The functions of the National Bituminous Coal Commission (including the functions of the members of the Commission)

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