First Shuffle

All government directories became abruptly obsolete last week when President Roosevelt's first big Cabinet shuffle went into effect. Just before Congress adjourned in June, he sent executive orders for departmental reorganizations to the Capitol for approval. There was a short, stabbing outcry of pain from politicians but no positive veto action by House or Senate. Therefore by law the orders became automatically operative at the end of 60 days. In the name of efficiency and economy the President rang down the curtain on:

The Shipping Board as an independent agency. Contrary to popular belief, this board was not a War creation. It came into being Sept. 7, 1916 as a means of building up a U. S. merchant fleet. When War did come, it established a subsidiary known as Emergency Fleet Corp. (later changed to Merchant Fleet Corp.) which built and operated ships of every description. During its life the Shipping Board and its subsidiary received $3,652,991,915.13 in appropriations, had a book value of $288,523,053 at last report. Fleet Corp. built 2,316 vessels, lost 70, scrapped 18, sold 1,825 and ended up owning 344. Of the 105 German ships seized during the War, 69 including the Leviathan were sold. Under the Jones-White Act (1928) the Shipping Board loaned $122,573,485 for private U. S. shipbuilding (e. g. S. S. Manhattan, S. S. Washington). It was left operating 38 vessels on four small lines (American Pioneer, America France, American Republics, American Hampton Roads). Though always under fire for extravagance in its attempt to create a U. S. Merchant Marine, the Shipping Board closed its 17-year career without a major scandal and its functions were shifted to Ihe Department of Commerce.

The Prohibition Bureau, which came into being as a Treasury appendage on Jan. 16. 1920. Its direction ranged from the optimistic ballyhoo of Roy Asa Haynes through the sword-rattling of General Lincoln Clark Andrews to the do-nothing calm of Dr. James Maurice Doran. In 19.30 it was transferred to the Department of Justice. In 13 years it spent more than $100,000,000, took more than 250 lives. Last week its last director, Major Alfred Vernon Dalrymple, went bitterly out of office with familiar charges of "duplicity, double-crossing and double-dealing" against his subordinates. The Prohibition Bureau ceased to exist legally when it was swallowed up by the Justice Department's new Division of Investigation under John Edgar Hoover. All 1,800 Dry agents were dismissed, 1,000 rehired. Postmaster General Farley solemnly announced that enforcement would continue as before until Repeal.

The President's orders also merged the Labor Department's Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Naturalization, put 275 employes out of work. The Interior Department took over all military parks, cemeteries and monuments, including the Statue of Liberty which had been in the Army's possession since 1886. Abolished was that butt of many jests, the National Screw Thread Commission created in 1918 to standardize nuts & bolts. Establishment of a unified Treasury agency for all government purchases was postponed until Dec. 31.

Ardent Democrats had predicted that the President's reorganization would save the U. S. $25,000,000 per year. Last week the Budget Bureau realistically scaled this estimate down to $5,000,000.

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