The proposed title of Department of Conservation and Works would be more indicative of the normal functions of the Department of the Interior. Originally established as the Home Department for the internal development of the country and to promote the welfare of the people, the Department of the Interior has been largely responsible for the social and economic transformation of the West from arid unproductive areas into fertile farms and populous towns which afford profitable markets for the Eastern manufacturer. Under the guidance and regulation of the Department, vast mineral wealth also has been uncovered and utilized. Without this epoch of settlement and utilization of our natural wealth, the West would still be practically unoccupied and our Eastern industrial expansion would thereby have been correspondingly restricted. The cycle of flush exploitation, however, has been completed and as a Nation we must direct ourselves to conserving the unentailed remainder and to preserving the developments of technical skill and human labor. This policy is necessary not entirely for the benefit of future generations, as was urged by conservationists of a few decades ago, but for the preservation and well-being of the present population. Modified rainfall, lowering water tables, soil erosion, and stream diversion have already brought disaster to great numbers of people and the threat of the future causes discouragement and weakens initiative among formerly prosperous groups whose livelihood has been affected by these unfavorable conditions. The whole question of conservation has changed from one of idealism to one of practical application. The Department of the Interior for many years has been preeminent in conservation matters, and if a national conservation policy is to be seriously followed, as self-preservation demands, it is the natural agency in which to concentrate such necessary functions. And by conservation I do not mean the withholding from use of our natural resources; I mean their prudent use in the interest of the country. The designations of the several executive departments connote their place in orderly government. They owe their genesis to a particular need and they were organized and named to serve a distinctive purpose. The primary concern of the State Department, for example, is foreign relations; the Treasury Department, fiscal affairs; the War and Navy Department, military defense; the Department of Justice, jurisprudence; the Post Office Department, handling the mail; the Department of Agriculture, agricultural research; the Department of Commerce, business industry; and the Labor Department, matters relating to labor. The Department of the Interior has always been concerned chiefly with internal affairs, which comprehend natural resources, such as minerals and water and land, upon which we depend to sustain life and promote economic growth. It has long been known as the land department of the Government. It has been foremost in the promotion of conservation legislation. The laws for the protection of the public domain have been sponsored by it as each succeeding abuse arose. The general leasing law of February 25, 1920, which prevents monopolistic control of our basic mineral resources and provides for their proper development, was initiated by the Department of the Interior. The oil scandals did not occur under the general leasing law, however, but under a clause in the Naval Appropriation Act of June 4, 1920, a circumstance that demonstrates the unwisdom of legislating outside of the proper jurisdictional field. Some of the more important laws of a conservation nature initiated or advocated by the Department of the Interior include the reclamation of swamp lands, the classification of public lands, the creation and administration of forest reserves, the reclamation of arid lands, the regulation of grazing on the public domain, the generation and distribution of electrical power, the preservation of American antiquities, the reservation of coal deposits, water-power sites, and mineral deposits, the leasing of coal lands in Alaska, the creation and administration of national parks, the leasing of public lands for potash, coal, phosphate, sodium, oil, fur farming and grazing, and the unit operation of oil and gas lands. exhibit 1.) (See The older departments, such as State, War, Navy, Treasury, Post Office, Justice, and Interior at first answered the fundamental requirements of government, but subsequently internal expansion called for a fuller consideration of particular activities than was practicable under departments organized for other primary purposes. Thus were established the Department of Agriculture, Labor, and Commerce. Each of these departments was created to administer one specific subject pertaining to internal affairs. The importance of agriculture in the economic structure, for example, was reponsible for the formation of the Department of Agriculture in 1862 after repeated recommendations by Secretaries of the Interior for 13 years, "the general design and dutie of which", in the language of its organic act, "shall be to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people, new and available seeds" (U. S. Code, title 5, par. 511). Similarly, the Departments of Commerce and Labor were created for other specific purposes. Independent agencies, moreover, have been formed, adding to the complexities of government. Through bureaucratic aggrandizement and inthe absence of a legislative policy most of the departments have acquired appendages that have no place under their initial powers, which has resulted in repeated proposals for governmental reorganization. It is axiomatic that the fundamental function of a department is weakened by the extent to which it engages in unrelated activities. Its general importance may be magnified in this way, but competent administration is dissipated by the lack of cohesion. Reorganization, however, is a gradual process that can only be effectuated by time and carefuly study. It is not the purpose of the present bill or of this report to propose any transfer of specific activities, but rather to present the need for more clearly identifying the Department of the Interior with its primary functions, leaving to the President and the Congress such unification of conservation and public works activities within the Department as may be practicable in the logical rearrangment of Government business. While the primary activity of the Department of the Interior continues to be conservation, and its corollary public works, nevertheless, the distribution among other agencies of functions relating to our domestic economy threatens the effectiveness of a centralized conservation administration as a national policy through duplication and neglect. The dissipation of energy and funds in administering the numerous conservation activities of the Government can no more be justified than the dissipation of valuable natural resources; in fact, the one is, at least in part, the cause and the other the effect of improper organization. It is clear that conservation can only be established on a sound and permanent basis by adopting it as a national policy and concentrating the responsibility. Uniform principles would thus become established, economy of operation would mean greater accomplishment for the funds expended, and of more importance still, the danger of exploitation would be obviated because policy and precedent would create protective grooves that any temporary transgressor in public office would find it difficult to free himself from for the benefit of himself or others. A Knowledge of the character and content of our natural resources is essential to their conservation and no one is competent to forecast the results of their discovery and adaptability except through scientific research. Until man first harnessed the waterfall, the stream did not represent power; and until he discovered that he could divert water from the river by gravity to irrigate his crude agriculture the stream was an undeveloped resource. It has not been infrequent that minerals of unsuspected value have become some of our most useful resources, as for example, carnotite from western Colorado, which produces radium, and magnesite from Washington and_California, which is a valuable refractory material used in the steel industry. The Geological Survey has been pioneering in the classification of our lands and their mineral content for many years. chemist in an Interior laboratory found the clue to helium which 7 years later was discovered by British chemists as an element in the atmosphere. Later two of the technical bureaus of the Department surveyed the helium resources in natural gas and perfected a method for its extraction. The discovery and utilization of an unsuspected resource is a creative process which adds to our national wealth. It is a proper function of the Federal Government to carry on the work of classification and discovery because it promotes the general welfare. The Government for many years has wisely reserved the mineral rights in disposing of public lands. In the light of past experience with the pioneering of science no one can estimate their value. There are 7 bureaus in the Department of the Interior of which 6 are engaged directly in conserving our natural resources. Three divisions also under the Secretary of the Interior are likewise engaged. The General Land Office administers all laws relating to the public domain; the Bureau of Indian Affairs manages and conserves the property of the American Indians, including timber, agriculture, and mineral lands; the Geological Survey through its topographic surveys and geological explorations is one of the outstanding conservation units of the Government; the Bureau of Reclamation conserves water, the West's most necessary resource, and puts it to beneficial use; the National Park Service preserves the scenic beauties and unique characteristics of nature; the Bureau of Mines conserves fuels, ores, petroleum, and natural gas through scientific and technological investigations; the Division of Investigations enforces existing laws for the protection of natural resources; the recently established Division of Grazing will protect injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration; the Petroleum Administrative Board is concerned with the control of the oil industry to prevent waste of this valuable resource (see exhibit II). While there is a scattering of conservation activities in other Government establishments, no other single agency, is concerned so completely with this important subject. Some of them, like the Department of Agriculture, have a special field touching on conservation in a limited way which should not conflict with a general conservation program. The primary purpose in establishing that department was to promote crop production which comprehended bringing more acreage into use and increasing the yield per acre. I mention the Department of Agriculture particularly because it illustrates without any critical implication the point that as an offspring of the Department of the Interior it was given an important problem of internal development that required fuller consideration than could be devoted to it by a department engaged in internal affairs generally. For many years proposals have been presented to concentrate in the Department of the Interior certain public-works functions on the basis that already it either supplied basic data for public-works projects or was engaged in their actual construction. The transfer and consolidation of the Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital, the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission, the Public Buildings Commission, the National Memorial Commission, and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Commission by Executive order of June 10, 1933, placed additional important public-works agencies in the Department of the Interior. The The combination of a conservation and public-works department is a natural union. Without public works we cannot have conservation. Topographic and public land surveys, stream gaging, water-resource developments, irrigation dams and ditches, and road building are all in this category and have been performed for many years by the Department of the Interior. The allotments by the Public Works Administration to the Department for these and other projects in the interest of conservation numbered 1,364 and totaled $160,000,000. sympathetic relationship between conservation and public works could be illustrated by many other examples. Good administration would seem to require that the execution of public-works projects eventually should be coordinated in one of the permanent departments of the Government after the present emergency. Here again the extent to which transfers would be made under the authority of the proposed bill is left for later consideration by the President and the Congress. I recommend that the bill receive favorable action. Sincerely yours, EXHIBITI HAROLD L. ICKES, Secretary of the Interior. Some of the important acts of Congress of a conservation nature initiated or advocated by the Department of the Interior Purpose Some of the important acts of Congress of a conservation nature initiated or advocated by the Department of the Interior-Continued Reservation of public lands for water-power sites, irrigation, classification, and other public purposes. Reservation of mineral deposits to the United States. Leasing of coal lands in Alaska. Creation and administration of national parks. Leasing of public lands for potash. Leasing and disposal of public lands for recreational purposes. Leasing of public lands for coal, phosphate, sodium, oil shale, or gas. Leases of public lands for fur farming. Leasing of public lands for potash. Leases of public lands for grazing. Leases of public lands for aviation purposes. Leasing oil deposits in railroad rights of way. Regulation grazing use, public lands. EXHIBIT II CONSERVATION FUNCTIONS OF THE BUREAUS AND DIVISIONS OF THE DEPART MENT OF THE INTERIOR GENERAL LAND OFFICE The General Land Office is charged with the duty of enforcing all laws relating to the public domain. Its history is that of the development of an empire, marked by the forward march of the homesteader, the linking of East to West by great railroad lines, the reclamation of arid desert lands, the carving out of the great national forests, parks, and other reservations, the endowment of the States with land grants for educational and other public purposes, and the development of mineral resources, together with a part in the changing of existing laws and procurement of new ones to meet the conditions of progress. In the accomplishment of these purposes it has caused the greater portion of the public domain to be surveyed as a means of identification and has made a title record accounting for its trusteeship. Of the original public domain, amounting to approximately 1,500,000,000 acres of land, there remain more than 165,000,000 acres, exclusive of Alaska, to be administered as Congress may determine. In the light of present-day economic and social conditions, the stewardship over these remaining lands becomes a trust comparable in importance to all that has gone before. BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS The Bureau of Indian Affairs has the management of all Indian matters, including the economic rehabilitation of the Indian and the conservation of Indian properties. The Indian reorganization act, originated in the Interior Department under the present administration, makes mandatory the permanent scientific management of 8,000,000 acres of Indian timber land and 34,000,000 acres of grazing land to conserve these great resources for the upbuilding of Indian welfare, and provides funds for further necessary land acquisition. A great program of conservation affecting the fish and game industry of the 62,000,000 acres of Indian land is in contemplation. Through Public Works funds the Department has inaugurated a great soilerosion project for the protection of the 17,000,000-acre Navajo Reservation, thereby reducing the deluge of silt being poured into the Boulder Dam Reservoir from the overgrazed area. From the same source great impetus has been given to water conservation in many Indian reservations through irrigation and stockwater development. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY The Geological Survey is one of the outstanding conservation units of the Government. By its topographic surveys it discloses with engineering accuracy the actual shape and contour of the land surface of the country for a multitude of purposes, including public works. Its geological explorations reveal the character, extent, and distribution of our mineral deposits in order that plans may be formulated to promote their rational use to meet present and future demands. Through its stream gauging and determination of our water resources, indispensable information is made available for power, irrigation, drainage, and floodcontrol studies. Through these activities, together with the field operations of the conservation branch in connection with the mineral leasing laws, the Geological Survey furnishes the sound and authentic basic information so vitally necessary before the land, water, and mineral resources of the country can be wisely developed. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION The Bureau of Reclamation is primarily a conservation bureau serving the West's natural resource-water-and by building dams, canals, and power plants it puts the conserved water to its greatest beneficial use in the establishment of self-supporting homes. As it stands today, Federal irrigation is largely a rescue agent to provide water sorely needed for farms, orchards, and homes that are being built, and for industrial and domestic use in towns. Water thus furnished is the lifeblood of these communities. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE The preservation for posterity and the making available for the enjoyment of the people of today of those areas that embrace natural scenic beauties and unique characteristics are accomplished through the administration by the National Park Service of our national, historic, and military parks, national cemeteries, battlefield sites, and miscellaneous memorials. The full enjoyment of these areas from a recreational and educational standpoint is made possible through an expert staff composed of geologists, biologists, archaeologists, foresters, and historians. This service is responsible for the creation and organization of new national parks and monuments, including careful preliminary studies to determine areas that because of their characteristics are deemed worthy of preservation. BUREAU OF MINES The Bureau of Mines is engaged in the conservation of natural resources such as fuels, ores, and petroleum and natural gas, through scientific and technological investigations and dissemination of information concerning their mining, preparation, and treatment, with a view to the improvement of health conditions, increase of safety, efficiency, economic development, and the prevention of waste in the mining, quarrying, metallurgical, and other mineral industries. It is also engaged in the protection of human life. To this end it conducts investigations pertinent to the mining industry, especially in relation to the safety of miners and the possible improvement of conditions under which mining operations are carried on, the causes of mine explosions and other accidents, and the improvement of mine resue and first-aid methods and appliances. DIVISION OF INVESTIGATIONS The Office of the Secretary, in addition to its supervisory control and direction whereby the conservation activities of its several bureaus are coordinated, secures through its Division of Investigations such examinations as are necessary to insure compliance with existing laws governing such activities and the protection of our natural resources. DIVISION OF GRAZING The establishment of the Division of Grazing, under the immediate supervision of the Secretary, follows the enactment on June 28, 1934, of the Taylor Grazing Law. The primary duty of this division is to stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration, and to provide for the orderly use, improvement, and development of the public range. The bringing under control of the grazing use of the public lands in the interests of national conservation and the livestock industry, with the consequent prevention of erosion, marks the culmination of years of effort to obtain from Congress express |