The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-07-08
JOHNSON FIGHTS
HEAT, RED TAPE
IN NEWEST JOB
Steaming New York Seems
10 Have Taken Pep from
Fiery General.
BY SIDNEY r. WHIPPLE
United Press stan Correspondent
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NEW YORK. July 8.-Some of
the explosive vigor one expects Of
the dynamic Gen Hugh S. johnson
seemed to have evaporated under the
pressure Of a steaming hot New York
As he sat in his hotel apartment to-
dsv and contemplated his gigantic
new Job
II might have been the heat-he
was slumped In a chair, his tielesS
shirt open at the collar. It might
have been a bad cold. He had a
handkerchief the size of a table
cloth 10 Stifle his sneezes.
Or It might have been that the
problem Of spending $500 100000 and
the anticipation Of provoking hoWls,
however he spends it from half Of
New Yorks 100000 population had
vilted him-temporarily
Speaks in Mild Manner
The words he spoke. in a lecture
hoarsened voice. were as bristling as
usual In cold type they would look
as though they had been beloved
Actually. they we're spoken mildly
in apologize accents.
The general. taking over the Fed
eral distribution of work relief in
the community that will spend
nearly one-tenth of the entire APP
preparation, was in a prOpitiatory
mood He flattered and cajoled the
press. You know more about this
business than l do" was a frequent
remark. And once in while he
would say. Well, that's my prob
lem. and if I can't handle it to your
satisfaction, then I'm Just boob"
There Is a vast change of physical
appointments surrounding Gen.
johnson from those by which he was
at times shielded when his head
quarters we're in Washington. There
Is also vast change in the prob
lem itself
surroundings Are Noisy
In Washington. Gen. Johnson
built the MIRA from the ground up.
creating air-Cooled series of offices
IN The Commerce Building (which
some call Herbert Hoover's monu-
ment and other his mausOleum).
Here. Inc has taken over barn
like loft IN the building Of the New
York Port Authority. on 2 noisy
water front where there is the eter-
nal banging of trucks on Cobble-
stones and tho Shrlll of rafting
cranes and derriCkS.
Into this structure today there
=
army of clerks. helpers. workers,
would be workers. home relief seek
ers tWho had no business there)
artisans. mechanics, boon dogglers,
eurythmic dancers, Chiselers. poll
tlClans and friends of politicians.
that police and building guards had
10 herd them into lines and send
them in and out of the building on
huge freight elevators. a hundred
at 4 time.
Hotel Decorum Upset
There was hedlam in the main
Office, with three or four mannerly
young women trying to make order
out Of the chaos. For the most part
they were innocent of knowing just
how order is to be restored as the
crowds with whom they struggled.
Gen. Johnson and Frances Rob
inson. his personal aid, remain for
the most part away from the bed
lam. establishing cooler headquar-
ters at the St Regis Hotel-whose
management seems IN state of
perpetual amazement and worry
over the hubbub and the comings
and goings resultant from becoming
his residence.
Inside these quarters the taupe
carpets are Uttered with newspapers
and host of ash trays are full
of butts. There is a little balcony
to which, when he. is almost over
come by emotion. the general can
step and air himself. For the most
part. he reclines in low, deep easy
chair. which acts as a sort of spring
board for his hoarsely doomed
orders.
His chief concern is the period of
transition between the time the
Federal state city administration
let's 60 the tail of this terrible job,
until his own organization. re-
woven from the fabric of the old,
takes hold of it.