40 THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



directly responsible to the department head. Examples of 

 this are the Division of Publications and the Division of Ac- 

 counts and Disbursements. Other activities have, by law, 

 been assigned to boards composed of representatives from 

 ' various bureaus. Such units as this constitute anomalies in 

 the general scheme of organization. Still other activities 

 are, for various reasons, carried on by units which form in- 

 tegral parts of the Secretary's office. These subdivisions 

 are designated as offices, with appropriate names to indi- 

 cate their principal functions. 



This general plan of organization, with its rather nu- 

 merous divisions and subdivisions has been criticised as con- 

 stituting too wide a gap between those officers who are di- 

 rectly engaged in doing the actual work of the department 

 and those who are responsible for the success or failure of 

 that work. Such a condition, it is asserted, is conducive to 

 what is called government " red-tape " and the consequent 

 loss of energy and proper understanding. It is true that 

 many of the principal administrative officers have a very in- 

 adequate appreciation of some of the work which they are 

 directing. 



In an organization whose activities are fairly unified, or 

 which are sufficiently simple that they might be grasped in 

 some detail by one or a few men, such a criticism as the 

 above would be valid. But in an institution such as the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, with its extensive field of opera- 

 tion and its multiplicity of diverse activities, it is impossible 

 for one man to obtain a comprehensive grasp of the whole. 

 The same is largely true even in some of the larger bureaus. 

 Chiefs of bureaus are not always sufficiently familiar with 

 the details of their respective functions to give them the 

 most efTective direction and coordination. Furthermore, 

 these men are for the most part trained scientists and not 

 trained administrators. Frequently, their special scientific 

 interests claim their time and attention to the detriment of 

 other equally important administrative problems. 



Perhaps the only effective way to remove this administra- 



