DON BELL REPORTS

A WEEKLY COMMENTARY

Year Twenty-One ... Number Thirty-One ... August 2, 1974

Table of Contents

THE CONTRIVED EVOLUTION

OF REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

PART FOURTEEN

TOWARD ECUMENOPOLIS,
THE WORLD-CITY

When the Planners began restructuring the United States, one of their first ideas was to get rid of the States and State Governments. This idea was given a trial run by means of an article which appeared in the April 21, 1935 issue of The New York Times. A map showing the Nation divided into nine "departments" accompanied the article. We quoted briefly from that article in our last letter in this series, and the map itself is reproduced on page 2 of this letter.

The Planners discovered -- as the author of the article suspected -- that there still remained in 1935 too much "sheer pride of Statehood," and any plan that included the actual destruction of the States and their governments, would have to be shelved for a few years; or even decades.

So, the Planners decided to concentrate on weakening State governments, by going directly to the cities and urban areas, and by making direct alliances with the cities themselves, while ignoring State governments whenever possible.

One of the most powerful of the New Deal planning agencies was FDR's National Resources Committee. You'll understand its power when we tell you that this committee was chaired by Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, and was composed of Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture; Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor; Harry H. Woodring, Secretary of War; Daniel C. Roper, Secretary of Commerce; Harry L. Hopkins, Works Progress Administrator; Frederic A. Delano, Vice Chairman; and Charles E. Merriam. A member of this group's Urbanism Committee was Louis Brownlow, who was to leave the committee to establish 1313, along with Charles E. Merriam (whose son presently heads ACIR).

Charles Merriam, Louis Brownlow, and Beardsely Ruml were chiefly responsible for the preparation of a committee report titled, "Our Cities, Their Role in the National Economy," issued by the National Resources Committee in June, 1937. That you may sense how The Plan was developing at that time, we quote briefly from the foreword of that Report:

"This report, made for the President, following the request of a number of national organizations,* is the first major national study of cities in the United States. The Country Life Commission reporting to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909 explored the problems of rural living for the first time in systematic fashion, but until now there has been no similar examination of urban conditions. There have been many special studies in particular cities, but none of the place of cities in our national scheme of things (italics added) ....

* The national organizations mentioned in this Report were: The United States Conference of Mayors, the American Municipal Association, the American Planning and Civic Association, and the American Society of Planning Officials. All of these organizations were to become part of that network of organizations called "1313."

"In time of national stress the task of relief and recovery falls not merely upon a single community or segment of the Nation, but upon the Nation as a whole. It is the Federal Government that has to assume the major burdens of providing emergency relief for the city as well as the farm, of stimulating public works in the Nation's urban centers, and even of reviving insolvent municipal finances ....

"The Nation's task has now become not only one of relief and recovery but of reconstruction, and this has also been recognized as in part the Federal Government's responsibility (italics added) .... " (end of quotation)

And here we discover one of the elemental precepts of the New Revolution: that the Federal Government has a right and a duty to take charge of the relief and recovery and the reconstruction of cities!

"Map of the United States as it Might Be Redrawn by the 'Revisionists' -- States' Rights Would Be Abolished and the Country Would Be Divided Into Nine Departments." So read the caption to this map which appeared in the April 21, 1935 issue of the New York Times. Under the map was the heading: "NINE GROUPS INSTEAD OF THE 48 STATES," which was followed by the subhead: "A Proposal for Rebuilding the Structure of Government in Order to Deal With Issues on a National Scale." Not until 1972 was this plan carried out, when Ten Federal Regions were established by Executive Order.

Up to this point in time (as the bureaucrats would say) there was a classic court decision which expressed clearly the Compact Theory of government, as opposed to the Continental Theory that had become supreme by 1937. It stated:

"Home Rule means that, as to the affairs of a municipality, which affects the relations of the citizens with their local government, they shall be freed from State interference, regulation, and control, that the system of public improvements, the building of streets or alleys, the appointment of officers; the designation of their duties, and how they shall be performed, and all other matters purely of local interest, advantage and convenience shall be left to the people thereof for their own determination." (People ex elle Attorney General Vs. Johnson, 86 p. 233, 238, 34 Colorado 143).

In the beginning of American Government, Home Rule meant exactly that: Local Rule without interference from either State or National Government. The County Government was the unit which controlled land use, planning, zoning, schools, and the trial and execution of criminals. Slowly, State Governments began creeping in and taking over where they had neither right nor duty; and in the New Deal Era, the National Government began replacing the States even, in matters of "relief, recovery and reconstruction."

However, when the Planners sought to take over complete authority in States, Counties, Municipalities, School Districts, etc., they soon discovered that they were trying to do too much too quickly. Both National and State Legislatures resisted their encroachments, both Supreme and District Courts decided against the Planners. So, they decided, in the case of Regional Governance at least, to slow down, and adopt the Fabian policy of gradualism. Education and Legislation at State and local levels would be required.

And that is when "Terrible 1313" was organized and became a part of the Regional Government Conspiracy. With a few of the associations and groups brought together in 1938, 1313 continued to grow in membership and increase in importance with little or no public opposition until the late 1950s. It was on Feb. 21, 1958 that we published "The Story of 1313." A flood of requests for more information, and a storm of protest from the headquarters of 1313, were the immediate results. H. G. Pope, the executive director of Public Administration Service (PAS), published a pamphlet condemning what he termed "The Bell Brigade" for their "vicious and unfounded attacks" on 1313, and defending the actions of 1313 . That the officials at 1313 still remember and still dislike "The Bell Brigade" is evidenced from an article which appeared in the June, 1974 issue of the "Illinois County and Township Official." Entitled "1313 Revisited" and written by the editor, Lee Ahlswede, the article is sufficiently informative to deserve reprinting. Here, edited only to fit space requirements, is that article:

What is the mystery of "1313" -- if indeed there is a mystery? These numerals represent, of course, the establishment identified as the Public Administration Service (PAS), located at 1313 East 60th Street, Chicago.

It came into somewhat notorious prominence in the late 1950s, when a newscaster and editor of a newsletter called "Closer-Up," Don Bell, blasted "1313" as "an invisible government which controls you at the grass roots level ... aimed at destroying your local government, your state government and welding all into a world government dictatorship." Another newscaster, Upton Close, and a writer for American Mercury magazine, Jo Hindman, spoke and wrote about "1313" in similar veins. In the intervening years, others have referred to this organization as the social and economic planners of our localities, our state and our nation.

An article entitled "What is 1313?" appeared in the November, 1973 issue of the Illinois County & Township Official, in the form of a report from Albert W. Palmer of Astoria, Oregon, and reprinted from Private Property-Free Enterprise, published by the Ogle County Taxpayers Association. The article identified "1313" as a "clearing house of master plans which will if successful, affect all phases of our American way of life. Its number one objective is to change our elective system of government to a Regional Metro type of government of appointees over which the people have no control."

Following the appearance of this article, we received a letter from E. F. Ricketts, Executive Director of PAS (protesting what was said in the article, and asking Editor Ahlswede to come and visit him-Ed.) ....

On May 3, 1974, we visited 1313 ... met with Director Ricketts and four of his associates. (He is told that 1313 is now comprised of Public Administration Service, American Public Works Association, American Society of Planning Officials, International Association of Assessing Officers, International Personnel Management Association, Building Officials and Code Administration International, Inc., Federation of Tax Administrators, and the Municipal Finance Officers Association. The article continues) ...

Two recently moved out of the location. The American Public Welfare Association went to Washington, D.C., and the Council of State Governments, Midwest Office, moved to the Chicago Loop. Back in the 1950s there were 22 associations in the building. They have either moved elsewhere or have been modified and consolidated ....

An earlier pamphlet (listed all of the organizations and) expanded on the purpose of PAS: "Each of these organizations is separate and distinct and entirely independent, but it has been possible for their secretariats to cooperate in many helpful ways. The organizations share the belief that government in the United States can be made more satisfactory if administrative organizations, techniques and methods are improved, and that the responsibility for such improvement rests primarily upon public officials."

Another statement is made which definitely establishes "1313" as a world-wide operation: "Several of the organizations have rendered services to foreign governments and to international agencies." ...

The references to PAS's interests in Metro government came out during our conversations with Director Ricketts, when we were exploring the reasons why "1313" acquired a reputation of being radical social planners, destroyers of local governments and Soviet oriented .... His response was, "No, I don't know. That is a question I wanted to ask you." ...

The image of "1313" certainly was formed during the 1950s as a result of its ardent activities on behalf of Metro governmentand particularly as a result of its participation in establishing Dade County Metro. Don Bell, the outspoken critic of "1313," was a Florida resident with headquarters in Palm Beach.... One of Bell's statements reads like this: "Perhaps the choice of the word `Metro' is coincidental as a name for this type of regional government, since the underground railway which connects Moscow with its suburbs also is called 'Metro'."

If, of course, Metro government is interpreted purely as a Soviet type institution, then any supporters of it may be labeled as being Soviet inspired. If, however, the view of Metro government is that it leads to greater centralization of government (which it does) and that it ultimately can produce a totalitarian state (as it could), then the supporters of it are not necessarily "red," but instead are in the "master planners" category for a new variety of government in the United States.

In further discussion with Director Ricketts and the other four individuals we visited with on May 3, we voiced our objections to Metro government along the above lines. We upheld the position that as centralized government became stronger it weakened the individual rights and freedoms of the people.

There was a tendency on the part of the "1313" people to look upon government as "needing improvements" which could be accomplished by more centralization ....

There is more to be said about "1313" ...

Editor Ahlswede is correct: there is more to be said about "1313," but the saying must await the publication of our next letter.

DON BELL REPORTS & CLOSER-UP are privately circulated Newsletters accenting the Christian American point of view. Complete service: $24 per year. Extra copies: 10 cents each. Please address all orders to: DON BELL REPORTS, P.O. Box 2223, Palm Beach, Florida 33480

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