36 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



go in fixing and regulating the details of organization within 

 the various units of government created, is a matter which 

 lies wiiolly within the discretion of that body. In practice, 

 however, there seems to have been no uniform policy. In 

 some instances great care has been taken to provide, in ad- 

 vance, the exact type of organization, and to fix not only 

 the duties and powers of the head of the department, but 

 also those of his subordinates as well. In other cases, the 

 department head has merely been intrusted with certain 

 powers or charged with certain duties and the organization 

 of the machinery necessary for carrying these into effect has 

 been left almost entirely to him. However, when a per- 

 manent organization is formed as a result of administrative 

 action it generally receives legislative sanction, either ex- 

 pressed or implied, by the subsequent appropriation of 

 money for its continuance.'' 



In the law of 1862, providing for the establishment of the 

 Department of Agriculture, very little was said about the 

 kind of organization that was to be effected. Only two 

 officers were mentioned — a Commissioner of Agriculture 

 and a chief clerk. One duty of the latter was to appoint, as 

 Congress from time to time made provision therefor, chem- 

 ists, botanists, entomologists and other persons skilled in the 

 sciences pertaining to agriculture. As the work of the De- 

 partment expanded such persons were appointed. Gener- 

 ally, the only congressional approval obtained for such ap- 

 pointments was the appropriation of funds for the payment 

 of additional salaries and expenses upon the recommenda- 

 tion of the department head. In a similar manner, divisions, 

 and later, bureaus, were organized to carry on the principal 

 lines of work. This has not always been the case, however. 

 In some instances bureaus have been added or transferred 

 by specific legislation, as was the case in the establishment 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry in 1884, and the transfer 

 of the Weather Bureau from the War Department to the 

 Department of Agriculture in 1891." 



^ Gooflnow. Principles of Administrative Law of the U. S., p. 75. 

 8 26 Stat. L. 653. 



