REORGANIZATION PLAN NO. IV OF 1940
Eff. June 30, 1940, 5 F.R. 2421, 54 Stat. 1234, by act June 4, 1940, ch. 231, §4, 54 Stat. 231, as amended Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85-726, title XIV, §1401(c), 72 Stat. 806; Sept. 13, 1982, Pub. L. 97-258, §5(b), 96 Stat. 1068, 1085
Prepared by the President and transmitted to the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, April 11, 1940, pursuant to the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1939, approved April 3, 1939.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Section 1. Transfer of Dominican Customs Receivership
The functions of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of the Interior relating to the Dominican Customs Receivership are transferred to the Department of State and shall be administered by the Secretary of State or under his direction and supervision by such agency in the Department of State as he shall designate.
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Sec. 2. Approval of Compromises
The functions of the Attorney General relating to the approval of compromises made in accordance with the provisions of section 7 of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act [ 27 U.S.C. 207 ] are transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be exercised by him or under his direction and supervision by such officer in the Department of the Treasury as he shall designate: Provided, That exclusive jurisdiction to compromise cases arising under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act [ 27 U.S.C. 201 et seq.] which are pending before the courts or which have been or may hereafter be referred to the Department of Justice for action shall be vested in the Attorney General, and may be exercised by him or by any officer in the Department of Justice designated by him.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Sec. 3. Disbursement Functions of United States Marshals
[Repealed. Pub. L. 97-258, §5(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1068, 1085. Section transferred functions relating to disbursement by United States Marshals to the Department of Justice to be exercised by United States Marshals under the supervision of the Attorney General. See 31 U.S.C. 3321.]
POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT
Sec. 4. Functions of Postal Disbursements
[Repealed. Pub. L. 97-258, §5(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1068, 1085. Section transferred functions relating to disbursement of all postal revenues and all other funds under the jurisdiction of the Post Office Department, the Postmaster General, and the Board of Trustees of the Postal Savings System to the Board of Trustees as to postal savings disbursements and to the Post Office Department as to all other disbursements involved.]
Sec. 5. Transfer of Interbuilding Messenger Functions
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Sec. 6. Certain Functions of the Soil Conservation Service Transferred
The functions of the Soil Conservation Service in the Department of Agriculture with respect to soil and moisture conservation operations conducted on any lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior are transferred to the Department of the Interior and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of the Interior through such agency or agencies in the Department of the Interior as the Secretary shall designate.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Sec. 7. Transfer of Civil Aeronautics Authority
[Repealed. Pub. L. 85-726, title XIV, §1401(c), Aug. 23, 1958, 72 Stat. 806. Section transferred Civil Aeronautics Authority and Air Safety Board to Department of Commerce, consolidated their functions into Civil Aeronautics Board, and provided for exercise of rule-making, adjudication and investigation functions of Board independent of Secretary of Commerce.]
Sec. 8. Transfer of Weather Bureau
The Weather Bureau in the Department of Agriculture and its functions are transferred to the Department of Commerce and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Secretary of Commerce: Provided, That the Department of Agriculture may continue to make snow surveys and to conduct research concerning:
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Sec. 9. Transfer of Certain Functions Relating to Enforcement of Wage Payments on Public Construction
The functions of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior under section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934, entitled "An act to effectuate the purpose of certain statutes concerning rates of pay for labor, by making it unlawful to prevent anyone from receiving the compensation contracted for thereunder, and for other purposes" (48 Stat. 948) [now 40 U.S.C. 3145 ], are transferred to the Secretary of Labor and shall be administered by him or under his direction and supervision by such agency in the Department of Labor as the Secretary shall designate.
UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISSION
Sec. 10. Transfer of Nautical School Functions
The functions of the Secretary of the Navy with respect to furnishing, maintaining, and repairing vessels for the use of State marine or nautical schools and with respect to administering grants of funds for the support of such schools are transferred to and shall be administered by the United States Maritime Commission. Jurisdiction over vessels, apparel, charts, books, and instruments now loaned to State marine or nautical schools is transferred from the Secretary of the Navy to the United States Maritime Commission.
FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY
Sec. 11. Transfer of Certain Interior Department Institutions-(a) Saint Elizabeths Hospital
Saint Elizabeths Hospital in the Department of the Interior and its functions are transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. The annual report required to be submitted to the Congress by the superintendent of the Hospital shall be submitted through the Federal Security Administrator. The annual report required to be furnished to the Secretary of the Interior by the Board of Visitors shall be furnished to the Federal Security Administrator.
Freedmen's Hospital in the Department of the Interior and its functions are transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator.
The functions of the Department of the Interior relating to the administration of Howard University are transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. The annual report required to be furnished to the Secretary of the Interior by the president and directors of the University shall be furnished to the Federal Security Administrator. The Office of Education shall continue to make its inspections of and reports on the affairs of Howard University in accordance with the provisions of existing law.
The functions of the Department of the Interior relating to the administration of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf are transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. The annual report required to be furnished to the Secretary of the Interior by the president and directors of the Institution shall be furnished to the Federal Security Administrator, and the annual report of the superintendent of the Institution to the Congress shall be submitted through the Federal Security Administrator.
The functions transferred by this section shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator through such officers or subdivisions of the Federal Security Agency as the Administrator shall designate.
Sec. 12. Transfer of Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration in the Department of Agriculture and its functions, except those functions relating to the administration of the Insecticide Act of 1910 and the Naval Stores Act [ 7 U.S.C. 91-99, 121-134 ], are transferred to the Federal Security Agency and shall be administered under the direction and supervision of the Federal Security Administrator. The Chief of the Food and Drug Administration shall hereafter be known as the Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 13. Transfer of Functions of Heads of Departments
Except as otherwise provided in this Plan, the functions of the head of any department relating to the administration of any agency or function transferred from his department by this Plan are transferred to, and shall be exercised by the head of the department or agency to which such transferred agency or function is transferred by this Plan.
Sec. 14. Transfer of Records, Property, and Personnel
Except as otherwise provided in this Plan, all records and property (including office equipment) of the several agencies, and all records and property used primarily in the administration of any functions transferred by this Plan, and all personnel used in the administration of such agencies and functions (including officers whose chief duties relate to such administration and whose offices are not abolished) are transferred to the respective agencies concerned, for use in the administration of the agencies and functions transferred by this Plan: Provided, That any personnel transferred to any agency by this section found by the head of such agency to be in excess of the personnel necessary for the administration of the functions transferred to his agency shall be retransferred under existing law to other positions in the Government service, or separated from the service subject to the provisions of section 10(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
Sec. 15. Transfer of Funds
So much of the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds available for the use of any agency in the exercise of any function transferred by this Plan, or for the use of the head of any agency in the exercise of any function so transferred, as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget with the approval of the President shall determine, shall be transferred to the agency concerned for use in connection with the exercise of the function so transferred. In determining the amount to be transferred the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may include an amount to provide for the liquidation of obligations incurred against such appropriations, allocations, or other funds prior to the transfer: Provided, That the use of the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, or other funds transferred by this section shall be subject to the provisions of section 4(d)(3) and section 9 of the Reorganization Act of 1939.
Message of the President
To the Congress of the United States:
One year ago the Congress directed the President to investigate the organization of the Executive establishment and to submit plans for such transfers, consolidations, and abolitions of agencies as were found necessary and desirable.
Shortly thereafter I submitted Reorganization Plan No. I which improved the over-all management of the Executive branch. This was followed by Reorganization Plan No. II which effected a better allocation of certain agencies and activities among departments. Although these two plans have been in effect less than a year, their benefits have already been gratifying. I have found the task of coordinating the work of the Executive branch less difficult. Many improvements in service have occurred, and substantial economies have resulted.
Reorganization Plan No. III, recently submitted, is a third step which will improve intradepartmental management through internal adjustment in certain agencies.
I am now proposing a fourth reorganization plan which provides for a number of interdepartmental reorganizations. These changes are designed to increase efficiency in the administration of Government services by a more logical grouping of certain functions and by a further reduction in the number of independent agencies reporting directly to the Chief Executive.
Accordingly, I am transmitting herewith Reorganization Plan No. IV, which, after investigation, I have prepared in pursuance of section 4 of the Reorganization Act of 1939 (Public, No. 19, 76th Cong., 1st sess.) approved April 3, 1939; and I declare with respect to each reorganization made in this plan, that I have found such reorganization necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes of section 1 (a) of the act:
The plan I now transmit I shall describe briefly as follows:
Department of State
The Dominican Customs Receivership is transferred to the Department of State from the Division of Territories and Island Possessions in the Department of the Interior. The State Department is the most appropriate agency to supervise this activity which involves relations with a foreign government.
Treasury Department
The plan transfers to the Secretary of the Treasury the function of the Attorney General of approving out-of-court settlements-technically termed compromises-of cases arising under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act which have not, prior to compromise, been referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution. The present requirement that the Attorney General approve all compromises results in a cumbersome, time-consuming procedure which the small amounts involved do not warrant. The proposed handling will be simpler, less likely to cause delay, and consistent with the procedure now followed in compromises arising under other acts which the Treasury Department administers.
Department of Justice
Executive Order No. 6166, issued June 20, 1933, provided for the centralization of the disbursement function in a Division of Disbursement in the Treasury Department. The resulting increase in efficiency has amply demonstrated the wisdom of centralizing disbursement work. In effectuating the plan, however, I have found it necessary to postpone its application to United States marshals because of the unusual character of their disbursing work in serving the courts. Experience indicates that this arrangement should be continued. I am proposing, therefore, the permanent transfer of the disbursement function of United States marshals from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice.
Post Office Department
It has also been found desirable to continue permanently in the Post Office Department the disbursement of Post Office funds. The special character of the work of this Department, involving disbursements in thousands of post offices throughout the Nation, requires here, as well as in the case of the United States marshals, a departure from the sound theory of central disbursing. With its far-flung facilities, the Post Office Department is better equipped to carry on this work than the Division of Disbursement.
Another proposal affecting the Post Office Department relates to the transportation of mail and other material between departments. In the early colonial days, the interchange of correspondence and messages was by the simple hand-to-hand method. Gradually a more systematic device became necessary to transport messages, with the resultant evolution of the postal service. Business and private citizens in general have made use of that service, and today we have in our Post Office Department the most efficient organization of its kind in the world. However, here in the Capital City, the Federal Government, instead of utilizing fully the resources of the Post Office Department to maintain its mail and messenger service, has permitted a multiplicity of interdepartmental messenger services, each serving its own department, bureau, or agency. This duplication of services is uneconomical and results in a constant crisscrossing and overlapping of personnel and equipment, all engaged in a common activity. I am sure that the average citizen in Washington, as well as officials of the Government itself, have wondered at this paradox whereby the Federal Government is failing to make the fullest use of one of its own agencies which is specially equipped to render a simple, centralized service for all the other agencies. This reorganization plan proposes to do exactly that; to provide for the transportation of mail, documents, packages, and similar material between all buildings occupied by Government offices on a regularly scheduled basis of sufficient frequency to meet the reasonable and normal requirements of these offices and to reduce to a minimum the constant dispatching of messengers on so-called urgent and emergency errands. This service will be available on a reimbursement basis to the agencies exempted by the Reorganization Act.
Department of the Interior
I propose to transfer to the Department of the Interior the activities of the Soil Conservation Service relating to soil and moisture conservation on lands under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department. With respect to private lands, the soil-conservation work of the Federal Government is primarily of a consultative character and can best be carried on by the Department of Agriculture through cooperation of the farmers throughout the country. In the case of Federal lands, this work includes the actual application by the Government of soil-conservation practices and is an appropriate function of the agency administering the land.
Department of Commerce
One of the purposes of the Reorganization Act is to reduce the number of administrative agencies and thereby simplify the task of executive management. We have made substantial progress toward this objective under previous reorganization plans. I am now proposing another step in this direction by placing the Civil Aeronautics Authority within the framework of the Department of Commerce. Reorganization Plan No. III, which deals with intradepartmental changes, draws a more practical separation between the functions of the Administrator and the Civil Aeronautics Board. In Plan IV, which is concerned with interdepartmental reorganization, I am bringing the Authority into the departmental structure. The Administrator will report to the Secretary of Commerce. The five-member Board, however, will perform its rule-making, adjudicative, and investigative functions independent of the Department. In the interest of efficiency it will be supplied by the Department with budgeting, accounting, procurement, and other office services. As a result of the adjustments provided in Plans III and IV, I believe the Civil Aeronautics Board will be able effectively to carry forward the important work of accident investigation heretofore performed by the Air Safety Board. In addition to the effective and coordinated discharge of accident investigation work which this transfer will facilitate, economies in administration will be possible.
The importance of the Weather Bureau's functions to the Nation's commerce has also led to the decision to transfer this Bureau to the Department of Commerce. The development of the aviation industry has imposed upon the Weather Bureau a major responsibility in the field of air transportation. The transfer to the Department of Commerce, as provided in this plan, will permit better coordination of Government activities relating to aviation and to commerce generally, without in any way lessening the Bureau's contribution to agriculture.
Department of Labor
The plan transfers to the Secretary of Labor the functions of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior relating to the enforcement of the minimum-wage provisions in contracts for Federal construction. The Secretary of Labor is responsible by law for the determination of the prevailing wage rates included in Government contracts and should properly have complete responsibility for their enforcement.
United States Maritime Commission
I propose to transfer to the United States Maritime Commission the functions of the Secretary of the Navy relating to State marine and nautical schools. These schools are devoted to training young men for junior officer positions in the merchant marine. The general responsibility for developing facilities for the training of merchant marine personnel is vested in the Maritime Commission. The proposed transfer will thus permit closer coordination of the nautical schools with the training work of the Maritime Commission.
Federal Security Agency
The Federal Security Agency has as its major purposes the promotion of social and economic security, educational opportunity, and the health of the citizens. The functions of Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Freedmen's Hospital, Howard University, and Columbia Institution for the Deaf plainly come squarely within these purposes. Consequently, I find it necessary and desirable in pursuance of the objectives of the Reorganization Act to transfer to the Federal Security Agency the responsibilities of the Interior Department relating to these institutions. The work of Saint Elizabeths Hospital and Freedmen's Hospital is much more akin to the activities of the Public Health Service in the Federal Security Agency than to those of any other Federal establishment. Similarly, Howard University and Columbia Institution for the Deaf can derive more benefit from association with the Office of Education in the Federal Security Agency than with any other Federal organization.
I further propose to transfer to the Federal Security Agency the Food and Drug Administration with the exception of two activities intimately related to the work of the Department of Agriculture. The work of the Food and Drug Administration is unrelated to the basic functions of the Department of Agriculture. There was, however, no other agency to which these functions more appropriately belonged until the Federal Security Agency was created last year. I now believe that the opportunity for the Food and Drug Administration to develop along increasingly constructive lines lies in this new Agency. There is also need for coordination of certain of its functions with those of the Public Health Service. To accomplish these objectives, the plan establishes the Administration as a separate unit within the Federal Security Agency.
Economies
Functions may be transferred or consolidated under this Reorganization Act, but the abolition of functions is prohibited. Congress alone can curtail or abolish functions now provided by law. Savings must come from administrative expenses which comprise only a small fraction of Federal expenditures. This precludes the making of large reductions in expenditure through reorganization plans. The major achievements in reorganizations under this formula must inevitably be found in improved management and more effective service. However, some savings in administrative expenses will be possible under this plan. I estimate the immediate annual savings at approximately $300,000.
Future Reorganization Needs
The reorganization plans thus far submitted do not exhaust the transfers, consolidations, and abolitions that may be necessary and desirable. Some changes that now appear to have merit require further study. It is the responsibility of the President as Chief Executive to see that needed adjustments and improvements in administrative organization are made. But this he cannot adequately accomplish without proper statutory authority. The present Reorganization Act entirely exempts some 21 administrative agencies from consideration. Furthermore this act expires on January 20, 1941.
I strongly recommend the reenactment of the Reorganization Act, without exemptions. The structure and management of our Government, like the activities and services it performs, must be kept abreast of social and economic change.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
THE WHITE HOUSE, April 11, 1940.