Evening star., 1933-04-02
BY KATHERINE DAYTON.

1t is rather the fashion lately to be
witty at the expense OF the number OF
doctors in high places in the new deal,
though the lawyers, merchants, chiefs,
and their equivalents go without COM
ment.
For some unaccountable reason it is
assumed that the American people,
with their high rate of literacy and
their intense pride in their educational
system, are going to be suspicious Of
any such new-fangled notion as a Gov
ernment official who went any further
in his studies than the first grade high.
And a good deal of intensive head
shaking and mumbling about "practi-
cal politicians" is being indulged in by
the professional alarm viewers who are
always with us. All of which makes a
flight over the, so to speak, high-brows
of Washington almost as interesting
as over the dread and unknowable
Mount Everest.
For an airplane view is all you can
get Of officials these days. They are
all busy. the professors included, at
guess what? Learning their jobs. The
striking thing to us was that the type
Of youngish, cultured men. tremen-
dously interested in actual Government
service, brought by President Roosevelt
into this administration, seem not only
eager. but determined to learn. Which
is more than could be said for what
ever you mean by the term practical
politician"
And by learn" We mean the making
workable of the platform on which
President Roosevelt was elected. There
Is procedure, political and psyche
logical, for the carrying out of ideas.
1t is procedure that requires brains,
but quality more than quantity. These
men were not chosen just because they
are or are not professors, or blondes, or
six-day bicycle riders. They were
chosen because their particular sub
jects have been their chief concern for
years. plus the flexibility to adjust their
conclusions to human needs, to say
nothing of hardly human Congress.
They are, as we said, youngish men.
But they aren't Smart-alecky; they
don't assume that they knew 1t all. In
their 40s, most of them, but inclined
to gray hair and lines already. There
is the discussed Raymond Moley,
with the bright, brown squirrel-eyes
which belle his family detached man
ner. His conception Of a professor Is
not man who has the advantage
over his class of having book with
him with all the answsers in it. In
stead, with vigor and enthusiasm he
leads them through a problem. That
is what he Is doing now. He Is work
ing out problems that fall to his lot,
not giving out spot-news answers for
headlines.
Grave, dogged young Secretary Wal
lace and his professional staff, which
includes the good looking DR.. Tugwell
and the extraordinary mathematically-
minded young DR.. Ezekiel. are more or
less the same. His whole life. inspired
by his father, who was Secretary OF
Agriculture under President Harding.
Mr.. Wallace has studied the farming
situation. He honestly believes In this
farm bill. But you notice he calls 1t
simply 1.-The farm bill" Naming the
baby has heretofore been sufficient TO
kill it. Domestic allotments, marginal
rental plans, could be shot at because
they were defined. An editor, a stu
dent. Mr.. Wallace's one idea is to make
the damn thing work! If he succeeds
it will certainly be demonstration OF
practical" politics.
Budget Director Lewis Douglas "a
CONGRESSMAN, not a professor, as the
billboards might say-comes in the same
category. With practical experience
which Is usually supposed to mean
knowing how to get elected, he Is es-
sentially a student. and has been a
teacher. Quiet, Scotch freckled and
reddish haired, unaSSuming and un-
budging on budgets, he has drawn from
his studies and experience the conclu-
sion that liberal governments nave
way of tumbling down If their flsc1l
foundations aren't sound. He Is WORK
ing on a foundation, which isn't very
thrilling. and he gets lots Of criticism
from people who haven't imagination
enough to know how it's going to look
when it's finished.
And. lest you still view with alarm
this tendency to insert or 10 cents
worth of brains in our national poll
tics, We should like to assure you that
all these gentlemen are simply Keys
upon an instrument which Is performed
upon by President Roosevelt himself.
Undeniably he has the political equlVa,
lent of what Mrs. Malaprop would call
"a nice arrangement OF epitaphs."
X X
Balancing the professors are such
men as MeSsrs Farley, Howe, Hull and
Swanson, who can scarcely be accused
of having their heads III the clouds
And the President himself has that gift
of the gods, culture without condescen-
sion. 1t Is bright day for democracy
when its leader can say as he did in
his investment securities message this
week, This proposal adds to the an
cient rule of caVeat emptor the further
doctrine, let the seller also beware ="
and not make us, who don't even know
"e pluribus unum." feel pretty uppity
No, it is our belief that the American
people really like to feel that their leg
islators and executives know their al
phabets as well as their onions. And
that the sort of education President
Roosevelt is putting in politics is like
that fau0ht iy. nofbakox,s yYon k.,