Reorganization

(Signed) "CALVIN COOLIDGE."

These words at the bottom of an executive order were the authority. As a result, on July 1, the Bureau of Mines, all except two sections, will no longer be part of the Department of the Interior under Secretary Work but will be part of the Department of Commerce under Secretary Hoover, himself a mining engineer.

This is step No. 2 in reorganizing the executive branch of the Government. Step No. 1 was the transfer of the Patent Office from the Interior to the Commerce Department. For many moons, there has been general agreement that there ought to be a reorganization to get rid of duplication, overlapping functions and a thousand and cue causes of inefficiency for which poor organization is responsible. A special commission drew up a law for reorganization, but Congress has not enacted it.

Inasmuch as the various departments and bureaus were set up by law, it requires another law to rearrange and simplify them. There is one exception. The Act creating the Department of Commerce gave the President authority to transfer to it other agencies of the Government engaged in statistical work, in research or in work connected directly with commerce.

Last week, Secretary Work gave reasons why the Bureau of Mines was removed to the Department of Commerce. "To avoid duplication of labor," said he. Heretofore the Bureau and the Department has each 1) maintained a service in domestic and foreign distribution of mining products, 2) collected statistics on mineral production, 3) collected statistics on production of explosives, 4) tested the strength of wire rope, 5) conducted research into the uses of mineral raw materials in manufacture, 6) carried on research into petroleum products, 7) conducted research into the use of raw materials in porcelain manufacture, 8) made fuel tests.