Salt Lake Tribune Nov 2 53 DAVID LAWRENCE Attacks on Soil Service Change Are Unjustified WASHINGTON When the American people voted the Eisenhower administration into power nearly a year ago, they expressed a desire to eliminate waste in government and get efficiency. But when the present regime starts to put into effect a reorganization of bureaus even though Congress has approved protests arise. They come largely from vested interests those that want to see certain jobs or certain expenditures continued irrespective of their merits. Thus, the secretary of agriculture, Ezra T. Benson, finds himself attacked merely because, in seeking, for example, to improve the soil conservation service for the farmer, he eliminates a few federal jobs and places more responsibility on the state conservation units than on the regional offices. One would think from the clamor raised and it begins to look as if certain interests are manufacturing drives and caravans for political purposes that something drastic was being done to the conservation service or that the secretary was proceeding arbitrarily. Fully Discussed Yet the facts are that he submitted his broad reorganization plan to Congress through the President last July, and the Congress agreed to it. Were the reorganization proposals fully discussed beforehand? The answer is that the secretary of agriculture consulted in advance the Senate and House Agricultural Committees, the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, representatives of all the principal farm organizations, such as the National Farmers Union, The National Grange, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Council of Farm Cooperatives. In addition to these, he talked with officials of the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts and various advisory groups inside and outside the government. From none of these came objections, but now comes a counterattack from some of those groups whose jobs may be affected a small number, but evidently a powerful one in stimulating objections. To meet that kind of bombarbment, Secretary Benson has sent a letter to the boards of supervisors of all soil conservation districts, declaring that, because of the great amount of confusion caused by the wide dissemination of false and misleading information, he has prepared a set of questions and answers for their information. These plans, says Mr. Benson, propose certain changes in the soil conservation service organizational structure to improve services to the districts. There is no intent to dissolve or destroy the service, nor to change our relationship to the soil conservation districts. It has never been our intention to place the soil conservation service or any of its functions in the agricultural extension service. Conservation Vital Mr. Benson added that he had told all this to the congressional committees and that he has always regarded the continuance of the soil conservation service as very Important. What then causes the row? It was the proposal to abolish regional offices and place on each state conservation office the responsibility, now in regional offices, to assist the farmer in meeting his conservation problems. The state offices are to be strengthened by the inclusion of technical personnel, including a state conservation engineer, a soil scientist and a soil conservationist. In addition, other specialists will be brought in. No change in the existing technical personnel is to be made, the secretary says, because most of them will be transferred to the states and to Washington. Have a Mandate But there will be lesser personnel who will be released. The same thing is happening throughout the government. The administration feels it has a mandate from the people to do away with jobs that can be eliminated and save money. But every time there is a cutdown, the persons affected or their anonymous spokesmen start a protest. The people generally want their taxes reduced. Uncle Sam doesnt owe anybody a lifetime job in a bureau of the government. And if the present administration can get the necessary work done by fewer jobholders, the American people will be happy and the protests will be drowned out by the applause.