no THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



various functions to be performed. In perfecting the pres- 

 ent organization, the department head was given a degree 

 of freedom by Congress not usually enjoyed by adminis- 

 trative officers. If it is not effective, the responsibility can 

 be definitely placed. After making reasonable allowance 

 .for that administrative indirectness, which seems to be 

 almost inherent in governmental institutions, the present 

 plan, with its functional basis and its deliberate attempt 

 to minimize duplication of effort, gives promise of meeting 

 the expectations of those responsible for it. What might 

 be called the " cross-sectional " grouping of functions ac- 

 cording as they are primarily investigative, educative, or 

 regulative, has greatly clarified the work of the various sub- 

 divisions. 



In committing measures for administration or enforce- 

 ment to the various executive departments. Congress is fre- 

 quently confronted with many difficulties. Many factors 

 must be. or at least should be, considered. The wisdom of 

 that body in committing certain measures to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has frequently been questioned. This 

 is particularly true of those laws whose primary purpose is 

 the safeguarding of the public health. Since w^e already 

 have a federal public health service, it is argued, why should 

 it not be charged with the administration of all public health 

 laws? Serious attempts have been made in Congress and 

 elsewhere to secure this change.^ 



Undoubtedly, the chief consideration which determined 

 Congress to charge the Department of Agriculture with the 

 administration of such measures as the food and drugs act 

 was the very superior laboratory facilities which this de- 

 partment had, and the fact that it already had a consid- 

 erable staff of chemists and bacteriologists. These facilities 

 and the scientific personnel have, of course, been greatly en- 

 larged since the assumption of the added duties, and as a 

 result of the general expansion of the work of the depart- 

 ment. Since it must have extensive laboratory facilities and 



* Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1910. 



