Evening star., 1935-11-24
Tugwell's Trials
and Troubles
BY O.oen L. Scott.

Dealer, one-time head Of the brain trust,
Undersecretary of Agriculture and now
resettlement administrator, is far from
bright.
His recent activities have done the
following:
Displeased Mr. Roosevelt; embarrassed
Henry Wallace, Secretary Of Agriculture:
offended Harold Ickes, Secretary of the
Interior; lost the support of Harry Hop
kins, works progress administrator;
widened a breach with Felix Frankfurter,
Harvard law professor and White House
favorite.
Added up, those developments spell
trouble, as much is brewing for the once
dominant presidential adviser, but
whether it is to be the forerunner Of
another purge" is questioned.
It must be remembered that DR.. Tug
well stu counts Mrs. Roosevelt as a
stanch friend. That remains a highly
important consideration. Also the Presi-
dent Is striving to keep his official ranks
intact during the next year. His ener-
gies are devoted at the moment to finding
a way to appease George N. Peek. former
A. A. A. administrator, whose various off,
cial ventures have borne little fruit in the
way of presidential favor.
x x X
But what has happened to the man
who gave the New Deal Its early tone
and who served as a guiding influence
during the days following March, 1888?
First, DR.. Tugwell yielded to a desire
to talk. The same burning indignation
against intrenched financial and indus
trial interests that inspired him during
the reform days, when Mr.. Roosevelt
was young in the presidency, continues
to inspire him when the President is
seeking to suppress indignation in the
interest of breathing spell"
Next, he developed an ambition to
prove to the country that he could be
a successful administrator Of a vast re-
form project in his own right, rather
than just an advocate of economic
theories.
Both of these activities have led to
trouble.
DR.. Tugwell INDUCED his desire to talk
In an address delivered on October %
In Los Angeles. Official Washington is
Just becoming acquainted with the real
content of that speech.
One portion, dealing with Federal
finances. brought gentle but none the
less significant slap from the President.
The other portions breathed defiance of
big business opposition to the New Deal.
"The autocrats must get out of the
way along with the moral system that
supports them" said DR.. Tugwell. But
1t is our duty to prevent that being done
with violence. That is why regard
the coming campaign so important"
y X y
His address, made in a State that
TTy,fN IN ND
with % highly important electoral votes,
bristled with fighting words and OUT
spoken defiance of the very interests
that Mr.. Roosevelt, in the East, is seek
ing to appease.
1t is learned that the Undersecretary
Of Agriculture wrote the speech himself.
Also an important official with whom
he had worked in Washington met him
inBerkeley, Calf. and warned him about
getting his neck out. DR.. Tugwen
laughed at the warning. Now he is sur
prised at the furor that is growing out
of his comments.
But his striving to prove to the country
that q brain truster can succeed as a
high-powered administrator has led to
DR.. Tugwell's chief troubles.
When the $4,000, 100000 work-relief
fund was getting congressional consid-
GRAFTON, the Undersecretary of Agricul-
ture sold the President on the idea of
concentrating problems Of land plan
ming and rural rehabilitation under him.
X
Long-range planning for use of farm
lands has been a principal interest of
Mr.. Wallace and of the planners in the
A. A. A. The Secretary of Agriculture
opposed the idea of taking this activity
from his jurisdiction. The Undersecre-
tary, however, went over the head of his
superior and got what he wanted from
Mr.. Roosevelt. Included was about $780,
100000 in spending money.
Not only did he get the job of reset
tlement administrator, with Federal land
planning activities concentrated under
him, but he got authority to report only
to Mr.. Roosevelt. Mr.. Wallace no longer
was his boss. Furthermore, he was con-
tinued as Undersecretary OF Agriculture,
with power to act as Secretary when Mr..
Wallace is out of Washington.
Embarrassment for the A. A. A. and
the Department of Agriculture grows
from the fact that farmers and city
people believe DR.. Tugwen really runs
the New Deal farm program.
Actually, he has had nothing to say
about it for many months. His friends
were "purged" from the A. A. A. a year
ago. In addition, although still Under
secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary
can exercise no authority over DR.. Tug
well because he reports directly to the
White House.
But DR.. Tugwen went even further
afleld. He took over rural rehabilitation
activities that had been concentrated
under Administrator Hopkins and he
took over subsistence homestead activi-
ties that had been under Secretary Ickes.
Besides, the resettlement administrator
branched out with new type of hous-
ing. This claslled directly with MIR.
Ickes' Housing Administration.
When he made these last moves, Dr.
Tugwell began to learn something about
the problems of administration.
He woke up to find that Mr. Hopkins
and Mr.. Ickes had unloaded on him a
pay roll of more than 1900 persons.
They dumped enough patronage prob
lens to give headaches to half dozen
Jim FarleyS.
Then Mr.. Hopkins started unloading
farm relief cases. DR.. Tugwell expected
to receive only those farm cases that
had high-grade case histories and would
make suitable subjects for rehabilitation.
Actually, he got hundreds of thousands
Of unaSsorted cases, along with $74,00O,-
900 worth Of supposed assets that he
since has written down to about