Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 4 of 1952.

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1952, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1949 and providing for reorganizations in the Department of Justice. My reasons for transmitting this plan are stated in another message transmitted to the Congress today.

This reorganization plan vests authority in the Attorney General to appoint United States marshals under the classified civil service. This is accomplished by abolishing 94 existing offices of marshal, and by creating 94 successor offices of United States Marshal to which the Attorney General will make appointments under the classified civil service.

I have made provision to authorize incumbent marshals to serve out their present terms of office. Under the authority of section 6 of the Reorganization Act of 1949 this reorganization plan will become effective gradually.

The abolition of offices by Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1952 will not abolish any rights, privileges, powers, duties, immunities, liabilities, obligations, or other attributes of those offices except as they relate to matters of appointment, tenure, and compensation inconsistent with that reorganization plan. Under the Reorganization Act of 1949 all of these attributes of office will attach to the new offices of United States Marshal, either automatically or upon the occurrence of an appropriate delegation of functions to such new offices by the Attorney General. For example, the statutory provisions requiring the marshals to be bonded (Title 28 United States Code, section 544) will attach to the successor offices of United States Marshal created by Reorganization Plan 4 of 1952.

After investigation I have found and hereby declare that each reorganization included in Reorganization Plan 4 of 1952 is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949.

I have found and hereby declare that it is necessary to include in the accompanying reorganization plan, by reason of reorganizations made thereby, provisions for the appointment and compensation of offices specified therein. The rates of compensation fixed for these officers are not in excess of those which I have found to prevail' in respect of comparable officers in the executive branch.

Immediate and substantial economies are not expected from this reorganization plan since it is designed primarily to serve other purposes of the Reorganization Act of 1949. Therefore, no itemization of the probable reduction of expenditures to be achieved by this plan is included in this message of transmittal.

Reorganization Plan No. 4 provides for increased administrative accountability in an important department of the executive branch by giving the Attorney General needed authority to appoint under the merit system a group of subordinates for whose performance he is already held responsible. It carries forward an objective partially realized in 1941 when the deputy marshals were brought into the classified civil service under the terms of the Ramspeck Act of 1940. It places the determination of the qualifications and the selection of a group of non-policy making field officers of the Department of Justice on a systematic, merit basis.

I urge the Congress to permit Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1952 to become effective.

HARRY S. TRUMAN