UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington 25, D. C., January 21, 1953.

MEMORANDUM No. 1320

ADMINISTRATIVE GROUPING OF DEPARTMENT AGENCIES

To All Employees:

To me it is a great, although unexpected, honor to have been asked by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as Secretary of Agriculture. I approach the task humbly, realizing the grave and far-reaching responsibilities I have assumed. I assure you I am fully aware of the important contribution the employees of this great Department have made to its accomplishments, and to the service it has rendered to agriculture and to the entire Nation. It is a pleasure to be associated with the many hard-working, conscientious employees in the Department who over many years have built up a tradition for effective public service. I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as I possibly can in the months ahead. We can all be proud of the men who have been asked to assume positions of leadership on the Department's staff. They are men of competence, with years of successful experience. Most of them are serving at great financial sacrifice because they have a deep sense of public duty and a desire to be of service to agriculture.

As public servants, we must recognize the duty and responsibility we have to serve the public efficiently and well. The people of this country have a right to expect that everyone of us will give a full day's work for a day's pay. They have a right to expect that we will find more effective and economical ways of doing our job. In these times of unprecedented public debt and continued high Federal expenditures, the public rightfully expects us to put forth even greater effort to effect savings in Government operations and to reduce public expenses. Fulfillment of this responsibility will require the undivided loyalty and support of every agency head and employee in the Department. We must work as a team if we are to meet the problems that lie ahead and render the greatest possible service to the farmers of America, the entire agricultural industry, and to this great and good country we love so much.

A very careful study of the organization and activities of the Department indicates the need for better and more effective coordination of the various functions and activities. With this in mind, and as an initial step toward improved coordination in departmental direction and management, agencies and functions of the Department shall be grouped as indicated below, effective immediately. Commodity marketing and adjustment (agencies listed report through Mr. John H. Davis):

Commodity Credit Corporation

Commodity Exchange Authority

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

Production and Marketing Administration, except the Agricultural Conservation Programs Branch which is hereby transferred from that Administration to research, extension, and land use

Agricultural credit (agencies listed report through Mr. R. E. Short):

Farm Credit Administration

Farmers Home Administration

Rural Electrification Administration

Research, extension, and land use (agencies listed report through the Assistant Secretary):

Agricultural Research Administration

Bureau of Agricultural Economics

Extension Service

Forest Service

Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations

Soil Conservation Service

Agricultural Conservation Programs Branch 2 (transferred from PMA)

Departmental administration (agencies listed report through Mr. Richard D. Aplin):

Hearing examiners

Library

Office of Budget and Finance

Office of Information

Office of Personnel

Office of Plant and Operations

1 Including flood prevention and land and water utilization.

For an interim period this Branch will use facilities and field services of the Production and Marketing Administration in carrying out the agricultural conservation program.

Agency and office heads within each group will report to their respective group head. Group heads and the Solicitor will report on all functional and operating matters to the United Secretary.

The Secretary and the Under Secretary meeting jointly with the major group heads and the Solicitor will consider matters of policy determination and longrange planning. Periodically, and as special circumstances indicate a need, all agency as well as group heads will meet to discuss subjects of general interest.

This organizational arrangement will make possible closer coordination of related activities, and will centralize responsibility for consideration and determination of operating problems and other matters requiring departmental attention within each group.

Except as modified by the provisions of this memorandum, existing Secretary's memoranda, the Department regulations, and other related documents will, unless and until changed by the Secretary, continue in effect.

I know that I can count on strict adherence by agency heads to the lines of authority prescribed herein. A chart of the organizational arrangement is attached. EZRA T. BENSON, Secretary.

PERTINENT SECTION OF PRESS RELEASE

A press statement on the above announcement carried the following heading: "The United States Department of Agriculture, Largest of All the Nation's Civilian Agencies, Swollen Into a Huge Bureaucracy of 20 Agencies and Bureaus in the Last 20 Years, Is Getting a Major Overhauling.' However, there was no such expression in the Secretary's memorandum to the officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture.

COMPARATIVE SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATIONS AND PERSONNEL, AGRICULTURE AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS, 1940-53

Mr. WHITTEN. Also, I would like to ask, Mr. Chairman, that we put in the record at this point a comparison of the personnel and appropriations of the Department of Agriculture since 1940 with those of other departments of the Government. I believe this information and comparison would be of interest to all.

Mr. ANDERSEN. You mean you would like a résumé comparing the Department of Agriculture through the years?

Mr. WHITTEN. Yes, a comparison since 1940 with the other departments and agencies of Government. As we all know that comparison is very favorable to the Department. We had the figures last year, but I would like to have them brought down to date.

(The information is as follows:)

Comparison of appropriations and employment of Department of Agriculture with other civilian departments (regular annual appropriations)

NOTE.-Employment figures of all departments other than Agriculture taken from Civil Service Com mission reports for June 30, 1940, and June 30, 1952.

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