REORGANIZATION OF FEDERAL AGENCIES 159 



ciples, one functional, the other geographical. Applying the 

 functional pattern, the Bureaus of Fisheries, Biological Sur- 

 vey, Mines, Public Roads, Education were established ; while 

 applying the geographical pattern, the Bureaus of National 

 Parks, Forests, Reclamation, the General Land Office, and 

 Insular Affairs were set up with complete jurisdiction which 

 cut across functional activities within the areas they ad- 

 ministered. 



Thus, while there existed a bureau to handle fisheries 

 problems, the National Parks Service or the Forest Service 

 might legally, if they wished, maintain their own fish hatch- 

 eries and fish experts within the areas entrusted to their 

 jurisdiction. Fortunately, the inherent defects of this ad- 

 ministrative structure have, in large measure, been remedied 

 by working agreements between the various bureaus involved 

 so as to avoid just this type of duplication of work. 39 Al- 

 though this method avoids the evil temporarily, it does not 

 solve the problem. 



To make the situation more complicated, there are some 

 bureaus charged with the duty of representing special groups 

 such as the Office of Indian Affairs, the Children's Bureau, 

 and the Women's Bureau. These bureaus are not estab- 

 lished upon either the geographical or the functional prin- 

 ciple, but rather upon that of group representation. 



Administratively, the federal bureaus have been grouped 

 together in the ten executive departments with some regard, 

 usually but not always, to placing bureaus having like func- 

 tions in the same department. On the whole, however, it 

 has been a rather haphazard proceeding and there are many 

 illogical groupings. The various bureaus that deal with 

 conservation of wild life, for example, are found scattered 

 among three departments Agriculture, Commerce, and In- 

 terior. It has been seriously urged that a general reorgan- 



39 See page 133 above for example of such working agreements. 



