Evening star., 1933-03-05
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
YEW engineers today are at the
throttles of the Nations major
III governmental activities.
Y theoretically Preside en- t

complete freedom of choice when
he selected these individuals from
120, 200, 900 Americans to constitute his
official family. The reasons that moved
the new President in his choices are,
Of course, concealed in his own mind.
There we're numerous factors to be con-
sidered beside the prime requisite OF
technical ability. This had to be bal
anced with party and sectional avail
ability, with harmony Of personality,
with willingness to serve. and with still
other considerations, some OF which
could be known only to Mr.. Roosevelt
himself.
Into the welter Ct 10000, 900 he had
to plunge and bring out the 10 who
weighed best on that extraordinarily
doubtless chose honestly, prayerfully-
for seldom have such responsibilities
been thrust upon human beings as fall
upon this new official family in one OF
the darkest hours of the cormtry's his
tory. And seldom has President had
greater actual freedom Of choice, with
fewer obligations to complicate the in
volved social mechanics Of the balance.
+ 4 \ \
First, it must be noted, his choices
were not obvious nor easily practicable
choices. Some were picked from COM
which were hardly recognized when they
were announced. Mr.. Roosevelt appar-
emily attached no great value to celeb
rity-that Is, to the sort Of celebrity
which transcends a field Of interest and
becomes universal. 1t is often false
halo. He strove honestly to find indi-
viduals who actually could do things,
rather than those who had been able
to build up shining reputation Tor do
ing things-and there may be an In
finite void between the two.
Secondly, there appears on the sur
face a wide divergence in the PERSONAL
tiles Of the new cabinet. The gulf is
broad between such man as the COM
panionable, practical, politically-mnded
James A. Farley and the mystically-
minded corn breeder, Henry Wallace.
This group does not fall naturally into
a composite the picture of which can
be conveyed with descriptive adjec-
tive. Such selection should insure q
more delicate and responsive, but less
easily directable cabinet machine than
If the members had been selected for
psychological homogenity. 1t Is not one
Of the machine-age machines, such as
American factories turn out according
to blue prints, with every bolt and nut
standardized down to the millionth OF
an inch.
These cabinet members almost might
be said to represent 10 fundamental
types Of human beings-so far are they
from being 10 embodiments Of q single
type projected into 10 different lines OF
activity. It hardly seems foolproof
cabinet"-such q machine as stand
ard vacuum cleaner which ANY child
can run" It is closer to one Of the in
struments which DR.. Abbot OF the
Smithsonian builds of invisible wires
and wings Of flies with which experts
can work miracles. It is not q sen-ad-
justing machine, but it may be in
f1nitely adjustable.
The cabinet he has chosen seems to
reflect in some measure Mr.. Roosevelt s
own mental outlook as it has appeared
from time to time. It Is quite different
from that, for example, OF Mr.. Hoover
without reflection on either. Mr.. Hoo
yer appeared to many as the high priest
and prophet of the age OF standard1za-
ton. while the new President swings TO-
ward the opposite pole of individual ad-
justment.
There is a strong flavor Of what might
be called "fundamentalism" about this
cabinet-not, of course, in the religious
sense Of the word. One might say rad
icalism" rather, If the connotation OF
instability could be stripped from this
term. The records of the members
show a tendency to go down to the
roots or fundamentals" of affairs, to
get beneath clouds of formula and verbi-
age and manipulate actualities.