Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-14
Tugwen to Start on
Resettlement Work
By Otoen L. Scott.


Deal service, the Nations Undersecre-
tary of Agriculture aspires to that dis
tinction. Whether or not it is to be
his will depend on the outcome Of the
experiment he Is undertaking.
The path has been rough for many
in that small but mentally active group
of young and middle-aged advisers who
guided President Roosevelts experiments
through their early days. AS one after
another of the plans encountered trou-
BILE, their sponsors lost caste. Many
have gone from the service, either dis
illusioned or diScredited. Others have
stayed, only to find their Importance
and authority much reduced.
Remnants of the once well-filled ranks
of the heavy thinkers now include DR..
Tugwell, Ben Cohen Of the p. w. A.
legal staff and Tom Corcoran Of the
r. r. C. legal staff. The latter two are
proteges of Felix Frankfurther, Harvard
Law School professor, who retains his
influence as a White House adviser.
Young Mr.. Cohen is scheduled to be-
come a member of the Securities and
Exchange Commission, where he would
be one of five commissioners. Young
Mr. Corcoran is revealed as prominent
New Deal lobbyist, who Is obtaining ex-
perience in the art OF maneuVering leg
islation through Congress. He Is a
personal favorite of Mr.. Roosevelt and
has been talked of as a probable future
addition to the White House secretariat.
DR. Tugwell's ambitions lie in other
directions. He Is not attracted by the
detail of administrative work that be-
comes the lot OF a member of a Gov
eminent commission. Neither does he
aspire to occupy a position Of influence
over Congress or among politicians.
Rather, undertaking his new work, he
is avoiding contact with Congress by
keeping the title and salary of Under
secretary Of Agriculture. Oficially he
now holds the position of Undersecre-
tary at $4,000 year and Of resettle-
ment administrator at no salary. But
under the second title he reports d.
rectly to President Roosevelt and not
to Henry Wallace, who otherwise Is his
superior. This arrangement gives DR..
Tugwell substantial salary, wide power.
the standing of a member of the Little
Cabinet and freedom from the need
for new confirmation by the Senate.
Just what Is he up to?
The country's new resettlement ad-
miniStrator and leading brain truster has
the task of piecing together loose ends
Of several New Deal experiments. Those
experiments have been tried by others
with highly questionable results. They
involve the vast problem OF land use,
with the possible beginning of a program
that could do much to remake the
Nations agriculture.
- -
fr;ae houo hoor made OF land
planning. Each time the administrators
were strong on ideas and weak on ex-
ecution. The result is that some of the
biggest ideas on paper have turned out
to be most striking failures in practice.
DR.. Tugwell now intends to take hold of
these ideas and see II he can't make
them work.
Mr.. Roosevelt has authorized the use
of ST., 900 900 for the first six months
to carry out one phase Of the resettle-
ment administration plans. That allot-
ment of money is for rural rehabilita-
ton. The Government has discovered
that nearly 1000 900 farm families have
been on relief rolls. Drought put many
of them there. but large numbers have
been unable to exc an existence from
their land for other reasons as well.
Now DR.. Tugwell proposes to move in
with plans to help put large numbers
of those farmers on their feet so that
they again can be Self-suStaining. He
may loan them money to buy livestock
and machinery, or utilize their labor to
check soil erosion. or do any Of a multi
tude of things to pull individual rural
lists out of the hole.
Congress is on the verge of approving
a billion dollar plan that fits into this
part Of the picture. This plan calls for
the use of Federal credit to help farm
tenants become farm owners. Uncle
Sam would sell farms to approved ten
ants. fully equipped with all the custo-
mary farm accoutrements, including
a debt. The Senate has approved the
idea, the President has given his
blessing and House sanction is likely.
When that comes DR.. Tugwel exc
poets to have hand in the plans adj
ministration. Opponents Of this latest
proposed Federal venture into paternal-
ism contend that $20000,000, 900 will
be needed to provide farms for the
$780, 900 tenant farmers Of the country.
Those favoring the proposal say they
intend to move slowly and to protect
the Federal inventment.
Rural rehabilitation on that basis
looks like a stable job for any man.
But the resettlement administrator has
other irons in the fire. His next ven
ture is land buying. Former PreSi-
dent Hoover, the Chamber of Commerce
of the United States and other promi-
nent individuals and groups have said
that the Federal Government should
meet the farm problem by retiring poor
farm land from use.
The New Deal, early in its existence,
set out to put these land buying sug-
gestions into practice. 1t ran into a
multitude of legal and human diff
culties.
AS consequence, the Federal Govern
ment has about 100000 acres Of So
called submarginal land under option to
buy. But until legal technicalities are
cleared away it can't buy. After they
are cleared away, there will remain the
problem of what to do with the people
on the land.
DR.. Tugwell has the task of solving
that problem. He has yet to announce
his solution. However the hint has
been thrown out that Uuncle Sam, in
stead Of paying bounties amounting to
hundreds of millions of dollars annually
to farmers for holding good farm land
out of use, could well afford to use those
hundreds of millions to buy poor land
that rnlIld no retired nermanentlV Some