PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



this group back into the departmental structure and they 

 have been in some instances successful. Witness the ex- 

 periences of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and 

 Minnesota. 



The establishment of a federal Department of Conser- 

 vation has also been urged but to date has received little 

 support in Congress. Representative McDuffie of Alabama 

 introduced a bill providing for such a department in ig2O. 61 

 It died in committee. A similar bill was introduced by 

 Senator Hawes of Missouri and Representative Garrett of 

 Tennessee in 1927 but with no better success. It was 

 brought forward again at the next session of Congress, and 

 again in 1931, but in neither case got by the committee 

 stage. 68 



Consolidation vs. Coordination: The reorganization plans 

 considered above have included a wide variety of plans: an 

 independent department of conservation, a conservation 

 commission outside the department hierarchy, a grouping 

 under an assistant secretary in the existing Department of 

 Agriculture, in the Department of Interior, or in a new 

 department of public domain and public works. 



It is probable that the most sensible is the proposal to 

 group the conservation bureaus under an assistant secretary 

 in the Department of Interior. The conservationists gen- 

 erally have a fear of the Department of the Interior because 

 of its bad record in the past. There have been a great many 

 scandals in regard to the misuse of the public domain ad- 

 ministered by that department. It is to be hoped that once 

 the department shows its ability and willingness to admin- 

 ister the public domain honestly, this fear will gradually 

 disappear. 



The proposal to bring the conservation bureaus together 

 as parts of a land utilization group in the Department of 



" H. R. 14747. 68 S. 306. 



