From time to time the slow and gradual administrative evolution of the Department of State has been accelerated by relatively sweeping changes in internal structure, notably in 1909, 1922, and more recently in 1937-1939, in an adjustment to meet new conditions. The series of changes which took place between May, 1937, and February, 1939, approached the proportions of a fundamental reorganization. Singularly enough, the Department of State made no complete explanation of the new dispensation, and the changes in personnel and organization were effected quietly by a series of Departmental orders. Widely publicized schemes of administrative reorganizaton are unlikely to meet with favor in Congress and in the press.