Evening star., 1935-03-03
BY GARDNER JACKSON.

BY GARDNER JACKSON.
Something approaching despair has
seized scores of young men and women
in the New Deal. This large group
of people, brought from college and
university faculties, from social work,
newspaper staffs and the professions,
is more and more saying, when three
or four of its members gather together:
This no longer is new deal. 1t is
the old deal. with us and our intel
lectual bosses as a front"
When this thing goes completely
to pot" they add, land plunges us
into outright Fascism via the infla-
ton and chaos route we'll get the
blame. The big boys will say that the
condition was caused by the brain
trusters and their satellites"
To which their more cynical, hard
boiled colleagues reply: What did you
expect? You didn't really hope to
influence the course of government,
did you?"
Long Hours Recounted.
The fact of the matter is that a
great majority of the young New
Dealers did. With zeal making
them obliviouS to long hours, they
slaved night and day in the National
Recovery Administration. Agricultural
Adjustment Administration, Federal
Emergency Relief Administration and
other New Deal emergency agencies TO
improve the lot of the forgotten man
for whom President Roosevelt ex-
pressed particular concern. Much OF
that zeal commenced to vanish when
Donald r. Richberg-now the man
most universally distrusted by the
young New Dealers-was elevated to a
position closest to the President and
began to do what the young idealiSts
termed selling out labor"
Another major def1ation of their
drive toward President Roosevelt's
promised objective of a better day
came when Secretary of Agriculture
Wallace summarily dismissed Jerome
Frank. general counsel of the A. A. A..
and five of his associates at the re-
quest of Chester C. Davis. the admin
istrator Trying to discount the fact
that I was one of those uncere-
moniously thrown out of the A. A. A.,
and therefore might let my feelings
color my words, I do not believe am
eXaggerating when I report that Mr.
Wallace's treatment of Mr. Frank and
the others has done more to under
mine the young New Dealers morale
than any other single episode in the
New Deal.
Pinned Hope on Wallace.
For Secretary Wallace. by reason of
the integrity of his mind as exhibited
in his speeches and his writing, was
the member of the cabinet upon whom
the young idealists pinned far more
faith than upon any other. Though
many of them did not agree with his
projected solutions of the problems
the New Deal was put in office to
tackle, they all felt that he would
never dodge facts for mere expediency
and that the tyranny Of greed" of
which he wrote in his latest book,
would not get the upper hand in his
department.
Moreover, it was generally under
stood, and quite freely admitted by
Mr.. Wallace, that Jerome Frank, a
brilliant, devoted and technically un-
excelled lawyer, was fighting Mr.. Wal
lace'S own battleS-that he was seek
Ing to follow Mr.. Wallace's explicit
directions that the agricultural ad-
tustment act should not be made the
instrument of the packers. the can
ners, the large milk distributors and
other processing and distributing in
dustries to gouge both the farmers
and the consumers
In our opinion, Secretary wallace,
who is ultimately responsible for the
administration Of the act under its
terms as set by Congress, has proved
himself to be weak man by his sur
render to Administrator Davis and
the latter's caressing of the professors
and distributors at the expense Of
the farmers as we'll as the consumers.
Thought Reports Erred.
That I am not exaggerating the
reaction Of the young New Dealers to
Mr.. Wallace's yielding to Mr.. Davis
is attested by the scores of telephone
calls, letters and personal visits
have received from them-all con-
veying the same exclamation: What
happened to Wallace?" One official
high in the councils of the New Deal,
who requested that he be nameless,
was in Paris when the purge" took
place.
II saw it in Paris paper" he said
In all earnestnesS I told my friends
there that was certain it was an
inaccurate report. assured them
that Wallace probably was not in on
the action and would reverse it the
minute he took hand. I was posi-
tive he wouldn't stand for it."
The answer seems to lie in quiet
spoken. humble-appearing Mr.. WAL
laces mystical nature. He is mystical
to degree little appreciated by those
not close to him and not even by
those who have read his religious
writings. He dislikes administrative
work and abhors the clashes of per-
sonalities inevitable in such work.
When the high-strung. irritable Mr..
Davis, erstwhile associate of the for
mer administrators, George Peek and
Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, went to Mr..
Wallace and said, in effect, "It's either
Frank and the others or me-" Mr..
Wallace yielded to the greater pres
sure-just as it seemed to many
of us in the A. A. A. that Mr.. Davis
himself had been yielding to the
pressure of lobbying professors and
distributors during the proceeding
year and had. we felt. reversed the
policies announced by Secretary WAL
lace following the enforced resigna-
ton of Mr.. Peek.
TolIey Brilliant Mind.
At Mr.. Davis right hand stands
Howard r. Tolley, the man upon
whom he has leaned steadily through
all the events and struggles leading
up to the elimination of Mr.. Frank
and the others. Mr.. Tolley, former
professor of mathematics and now
director of the Giannini Foundation
Of California Con leave for Govern
ment service), is short, stocky and
q person of few words. But behind