The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-14

IHE resources in the interest of the peo- pie as a whole.
 The question that is to be settled Is in the first place whether Secretary Ballinger is actually and heartily on the side of the people and whether he possesses the executive ability and capacity necessary for the efficient discharge of his high office. The one of these is as important as the other. A blunderer, or a man of small caliber at the head of the Interior Department might have the public welfare sincere ly at heart and yet do irreparable damage. This question must be set tied, of course, by the Secretary's of ticlal acts; and it has seemed to be our duty to call attention to a few of them and their results.
 Not long after MT. Ballinger became Secretary we are credibly informed he ordered that an engineer who had been Chairman of a State Campaign Committee, be appointed to a $3,000 position in the Reclamation Service regardless of Civil Service regulations. The appointment was not made, for tunately, as the engineer i'll question secured a better paying position through some of the private interests to which his political services had been useful. The news of the attempted however, became knOWH among the engineers of the Service, and what may have seemed to MT. Ballinger a trivial matter was to them very serious. Under the previous ad- ministration they had come to con- sider that security in their positions and promotion depended on their own ability and achievement. But if the new Secretary of the Interior was to appoint men for political services, what man of them was safe? Very likely Secretary Ballnger himself nev- CT realized the widespread harm to the Service resulting from his proposal to appoint a political engineer to a s3,O00 position; but if he did not realize it, that very fact seems to us to evil dent lack of executive ability.
 It was not long, however, before the engineers of the Service received a jolt that made them far more anxi- ous. In various newspapers in the West and elsewhere there was pub-s lished early in June a statement re- garding the intentions of Secretary Ballinger respecting the Reclamation Service, which was apparently made public with his approval, and was at least not contradicted by him. The in- portant part of that statement is contained in the following quotation from the Portland, 1Pregonian" of June &:
 Unless there is change of pro- gram, F. H. Newell will retire from the office of Director of the United States Reclamation Service some time during the coming fall.
 sThe situation, in brief, is this: While MT. Bailinger finds no fault with the engineering work of MT. Ne well but has respect for his ability as an engineer he inclines strongly to the opinion that he can find a more satisfactory administrative officer to Sin nf 10 %. clamation Service-to become its bus mess manager, so to speak. He recog nizes that Mr. Newell's abilities lie along the lines of engineering rather than administration, and that fact in- clinics him to the opinion that change should be made. By retaining MT. Newell as an engineer officer, he can save to the Reclamation Service, the valuable advice of the present direc- tor on all problems affecting contruc- tion, while by appointing a new direc- tor he believes he can overcome those unsatisfactory features of administra- ton which the djsapproves." <
 'The inclination of MT. Ballinger to urge a. change is not due to the ac- tivity of politicians who have quar- reled with MT. Newell; it is not due to the recommendation of any. one. It is based on his own experiences with the Reclamation Service since he be- came Secretary of the Interior. AS a Government machine, that Service is not running as smoothly as might be desired; there is not entire har- mony between the Service and the present head of the Interior Depart ment. On many details of admins tration the Reclamation Service, un- der previous secretaries, has followed Q policy that does not meet with the approval of MT. Ballinger. He insists that his ideas be followed by all branches of his department
 MT. Newell has not worked at ross-purposes with MT. Ballinger, but rather at his direction. Nevertheless, there is not that same bond between the Service and the present Secretary that was noted between the Ser vice and Secretary Garfield. Under MT. Garfield the Reclamation Service took the lead, and the Secretary ap- proved; now the Secretary takes the lead, and the Service must follow his directions
 Every Reclamation Service engineer who read that interview. we have little doubt said to himself, Eff Newell can't hold his place under this 9 tration-Newell who has built it up and made a success and done vastly more valuable service for it than ever can hope to do-what chance have of holding my job?'
 Why should the Secretary desire to
 
 statement in the interview above quoted it appears to simmer down to the assertion that ''there is not en- tire harmony between the present head of the Interior Department and the Service" Secretary Ballinger takes the lead and the Service must follow his direction.' There are in situations, in the above interview, that MT. Newell has not been success ful as an administrators; but there is not, nor has there been to this day, any specific evidence to contradict the opinion generally held, we believe, | throughout the engineering profession that MT. Newell has not only been a successful executive officer but that he has shown most conspicuous abiI- ity as an administrator
 Actually MT. Newell has had far more experience in executive work than MT. Ballinger himself.
 Suppose, for the sake of argument. that Mir. Ballinger is really a man of sound judgment, animated solely by zeal for the public welfare. In that case it seems to us he would have first of all ascertained conditions in the Reclamation Service, taking care not to interfere with the work al- ready in progress and the efficiency already obtained before undertaking any radical reform" measures But MT. Ballinger actually started in a