The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Networks, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862-1928

499 Pages·2001·19 MB·English

by  Daniel P. Carpenter

PRINCETON STUDIES IN AMERICAN POLITICS:
HISTORICAL, INTERNATIONAL, AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
SERIES EDITORS
lRA KATZNELSON, MARTIN SHEFfER, THEDA SKOCPOL
A list of titles in this series appears
at the end of the book
THE FORGING OF
BUREAUCRATIC AUTONOMY
R E P UTA T I 0 N S, N E T W 0 R K S, A N D
POLICY INNOVATION IN
EXECUTIVE AGENCIES,1862-1928
Daniel P. Carpenter
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 ISY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carpenter, Daniel P., 1967-
The forging of bureaucratic autonomy : reputations, networks, and policy
innovation in executive agencies, !862-1928/ Daniel P. Carpenter.
p. em.-(Princeton studies in American politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-07009-1 {alk. paper)-ISBN 0-691-07010-5 (pbk.: alk.
paper)
I. Executive departments-United States-History. 2. United States.
Congress-History. 3. Bureaucracy-United States-History.
4. Government executives-United States-History. 5. Political
planning-United States-History. I. Title. II. Series.
JK585 .C37 2001
351.73'09'034-dc21 2001036260
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Times Roman
Printed on acid-free paper.oo
www.pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
(Pbk)
To Kathleen EUen Carpenter and John Edward Carpenter

Conten~ ------------------------------------
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations XV
Introduction
One
Entrepreneurship, Networked Legitimacy, and Autonomy 14
Two
The Clerical State: Obstacles to Bureaucratic Autonomy
in Nineteenth-Century America 37
Three
The Railway Mail, Comstockery, and the Waning
of the Old Postal Regime, 1862-94 65
Four
Organizational Renewal and Policy Innovation
in the National Postal System, 1890-1910 94
Five
The Triumph of the Moral Economy: Finance, Parcels,
and the Labor Dilemma in the Post Office, 1908-24 144
Six
Science in the Service of Seeds: The USDA, 1862-1900 179
Seven
From Seeds to Science: The USDA as University, 1897-1917 212
Eight
Multiple Networks and the Autonomy of Bureaus: Departures
in Food, Pharmaceutical, and Forestry Policy, 1897-1913 255
Nine
Brokerage and Bureaucratic Policymaking: The Cementing
of Autonomy at the USDA, 1914-28 290
viii CONTENTS
Ten
Structure, Reputation, and the Bureaucratic Failure
of Reclamation Policy, 1902-14 326
Conclusion: The Politics of Bureaucratic Autonomy 353
Notes 369
Archival Sources 459
Index 465
Illustrations
1.1. The Centrality of the Mezzo Level in Executive
Department Politics 20
2.1. The Structure of the Interior Department in 1905 52
3.1. The Percentage of Annual Postal Mileage Covered by Railroad,
1845-95 78
4.1. The Rise and Eclipse of the Postal Deficit, 1883-1912 115
4.2. Cost Reductions in Free Delivery, 1896-1908 117
4.3. The Standardization of Free Delivery Operations, 1896-1908 123
4.4. The Expansion of RFD Routes, 1890-1912 134
5.1. Postal Savings Card, 1920 160
6.1. The Dominance of Northeastern States in USDA Recruitment
before Merit Reform, ca. 1883 190
6.2. The Dominance of Plains States in USDA Recruitment after
Merit Reform, ca. 1897 194
7.1. The Growth of USDA Expenditures for Farmers' Cooperative
Demonstration Work (FCDW), 1904-24 252
8.1. Pinchot and Wiley: "Government Officers Whom the Special
Interests Are Assailing" 284
9.1. Filling the Progressive Vacuum: The USDA and the Farm
Organizations, 1870-1930s 316