CHAPTER III

ORGANIZATION

The organization of the Bureau of Dairy Industry is peculiar in that it does not employ the traditional classification of the ordinary government bureau. Instead of being composed of a number of divisions, it is made up of the several projects in which the Bureau is engaged in the performance of its activities.

In actual effect this distinction is one without a difference-a distinction in name only. A division is ordinarily, if not necessarily, based upon some particular project or group of related projects. The calling of a project the project, therefore, instead of a division, is simply a species of calling a spade a spade. The final result is the same. The typical "project" of this Bureau, "in charge" of the ranking member of its staff, is for all practical purposes a division under a divisional chief. The officer in charge runs his project just as a divisional chief runs his division; and like the divisional chief he is directly responsible to the Chief of the Bureau for the puttingthrough of the particular job or group of jobs entrusted to him. The preponderating bulk of the work of the Bureau of Dairy Industry that is not of a purely administrative nature, is partitioned into four projects having to do, respectively, with basic laboratorial research in milk and milk products; experiments and investigations in the breeding of dairy cattle; experiments and investigations connected with the marketing of milk; and the introduction among those engaged in the dairy industry, and into regions where it is desired to establish that industry, to enlarge it, or to place it upon a sounder basis, of methods, the superiority of which has been established by the Bureau's investigational work.

Bureau nomenclature refers to these four projects, in the order given, as, (1) Dairy Research Laboratories; (2) Dairy Cattle Breeding Investigations; (3) Market Milk Investigations; and, (4) Dairy Introduction. Prima facie, these titles would seem to indicate that the first three projects were purely investigative, and

the fourth purely introductory or promotional. It is to be understood at the outset, however, that this is not strictly the case. There is no absolute fence built between investigation on the one hand and dissemination on the other. The first three projects are indeed almost entirely of a research nature; but not quite so. They all blend over to a slight extent into the disseminative field. Likewise, the fourth, though overwhelmingly demonstrational, is not quite wholly so. Mostly its job is a spreading of the gospel of dairying, but it does a bit of cloistered meditation too.

Another thing to be understood before we go any further is that these four projects considered as a whole do not include within their boundaries absolutely all of the Bureau's non-administrational work. It is true that they do include by far the greater part of; but there is a little bit of it, as will be made plain directly, that the Bureau's organizational scheme puts down in two other places.

One of these other places referred to is the final element in the Bureau's plan of organization-the element of administration. It is the element that completes, and heads, the five-way organization of the Bureau. Almost purely stright administrational, it nevertheless includes a non-administrational or straight work phase that will be explained a little further along.

The other place is the Bureau's experimental farm at Beltsville, which, as will be explained more fully later on, is about 99 per cent an instrument provided for the working out of some of the problems of the four projects. The remaining 1 per cent consists of work similar in general nature to some of the work done in the regular projects, but done by the farm quite on its own and independently of those projects.

Likewise to be borne in mind in concluding this general notice is the point referred to in the preceding chapter-that the Bureau though established by law to be a purely investigational and disseminational organization does some work-a very little, it is true, but some, nevertheless-that does not fall within either one of the categories mentioned.

The five elements of Bureau organization which have just been enumerated are all-save for their field aspects, which will be dealt with elsewhere-housed in the east wing of the main building of the Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D. C., at the north

west corner of Twelfth and B Streets, S. W. Some consideration of these elements will now be presented individually.

Administration. For the performance of the investigative and informational work called for in the act creating the Bureau' the Chief of the Bureau is the administering representative of the Secretary of Agriculture. His responsibility is to run the Bureau according to statutory requirements and to relieve the Secretary of all concern connected therewith, save what may be comprehended in that which the creating act terms "general direction." In order that he in turn may be relieved of all possible detail in the performance of this considerable responsibility and thus enabled to devote his energies unhampered to the larger aspects of the Bureau's work, his office is so organized that administrative matters flow to him through the office of an assistant from a number of attached offices or units among which the details of administration have been divided. In this way matters of prime importance demanding the Chief's personal attention, or requiring his decision, are winnowed out from the mass of merely routine affairs, which are disposed of finally either by the units which logically comprehend them or by the Chief's assistant.

This assistant, who is attached immediately to the office proper of the Chief, is known as The Administrative Assistant. The subordinate administrative units are known by the following titles: Accounts and Personnel; Property; Dairy Publications and Exhibits; Dairy Engineering; and Library and Files.' All taken together constitute, with the officer proper of the Chief and the attached office of his assistant, the Office of the Chief of the Bureau. Brief notice of these several units follows.

The Chief's Office Proper. As has been indicated, this office comprises two adjoining and communicating offices-the office of the Chief and that of the Administrative Assistant. Each one of these officers has a secretary, and the necessary clerical assistance is provided. The functions of this office have already been suffi

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1 Subject, of course, to the act of May 15, 1862 (12 Stat. L., 387), creating the Department of Agriculture, and to the act of February 9, 1889 (25 Stat. L., 659), enlarging the powers and duties of that Department and advancing it to executive rank.

'All these units are administrative, but two of them not exclusively so, as will be brought out later on.

ciently indicated, so far as the Chief is concerned. With regard to the Administrative Assistant it might be added that besides relieving the Chief of all possible matters of administrative detail ordinarily, he acts for that officer in his absence in all respects save affairs of supreme executive importance which cannot be delegated. By virtue of this arrangement the Chief is enabled to devote practically all of his time to keeping in touch with the industry for the furtherance of the welfare of which the Bureau was created; and to direct, from the standpoint of broad principle, the activities necessary to the performance of the duties enjoined upon him by the creating statute-" the investigation of the dairy industry, and the dissemination of information for the promotion of the dairy industry."

Accounts and Personnel. This unit, comprising two senior clerks, two clerks, and one assistant clerk, performs the bookkeeping work of the Bureau-primarily with respect to the Bureau as a whole, secondarily in connection with the accounts of the various field projects of the Bureau away from the Washington headquarters. It deals also with the appointments and records of the employees. It handles the preparation of vouchers, inventories, cost accounts, pay rolls, and financial statements, the recording of allotments, and the disbursement, under the Administrative Assistant, of Bureau funds.

Property. The assistant clerk in charge of this unit has general charge of all Bureau property, and is responsible for the safekeeping and efficient maintenance of the same, as well as for the keeping of adequate property records. A labor force subordinate to him performs the necessary janitor work in the offices and laboratories of the Washington headquarters.

Dairy Publications and Exhibits. This unit, broadly speaking, performs the editorial and publicity work of the Bureau. Under the direction of a senior dairy husbandmen, assisted by two clerks, it attends to the technical supervision of all publications of the Bureau. It edits manuscripts for publication and for lecture use, and prepares bulletins on general dairy subjects. It reads proof and looks after printing. It has charge of the preparation of material for dairy exhibits at county and state fairs, expositions, shows, demonstration trains, etc. It arranges for the preparation and

delivery of radio talks on dairy subjects; prepares dairy scenarios and arranges for "locations" for the "shooting" of dairy films by the departmental Office of Motion Pictures; and assists in the effective distribution and showing, per the Extension Service of the Department and kindred agencies, including the Bureau's own field staff, of such films dealing with various phases of the dairy industry. It likewise arranges for the showing of dairy lantern slides. In fact, it may be said that the work of this unit is of such a nature that the word "administrative" does not sufficiently describe it. It is of the highest importance administratively, but it also plays an important part in the Bureau's direct function of the "dissemination of information for the promotion of the Dairy Industry."

Dairy Engineering. Like the unit just described, the unit concerned with dairy engineering is something more that a purely administrative unit. In the highest degree technical it partakes of the nature of an advisory or consulting office for the benefit of members of the dairy industry faced with engineering problems. Though its primary purpose is the performance of dairy engineering work required within the Bureau, in the laboratories and at the several field stations, it does much work of a general nature; answering the engineering questions sent in to the Bureau and preparing publications for general distribution dealing with the various aspects of the engineering phase of the industry. It also does dairy engineering work from time to time for other bureaus and departments of the government requiring the same.

The unit is in charge of an associate dairy engineer, who is aided by an assistant engineer specializing in the architectural side of the work, a senior engineering draftsman, and a senior laboratory mechanic.

Library and Files. A branch of the main library of the Department of Agriculture is maintained in the Bureau in charge of the above-entitled unit. It contains a collection of works upon the literature of dairying and receives the leading dairying journals. Primarily for the use of the Bureau staff it is also resorted to by interested persons in general.

In addition to ordinary library work, this unit also handles the Bureau mail and has general charge of the Bureau files. A junior