Evening star., 1935-05-05
tContinned From First PaSe.)

used as q springboard to the White
House.
The row with Swanson over certain
naval allowances, which saw Cum
nnings going to the aid Of his fellow
cabinet member. was only sympto-
matte Of this undercurrent Of hostility.
For years, the controller general
resting on a Supreme Court decision,
has refused to allow the payments in
ouestion-travel expenses for the
dependents of officers ordered home
for retirement from a post of duty
And invariably, the officers have
collected, by getting judgments in the
Court Of Claims, which in turn have
been hquidated by Congress.
Relief From Congress.
All that Swanson could have accom-
plished if he made the payments
himself. as he threatened to do (be-
cause the Court of Claims and the
Attorney General said they were
legaD would have been to bring the
matter before Congress by another
avenue of approach. This, because
McCarl simply would have tied up
the accounts Of the disbursing officer
responsible, and he or his surety
would have had to seek relief from
Congress. incidentally, this issue Is
due to be adjusted by legislation to
permit the payments, a course McCarl
suggested long ago.
In getting into this argument,
Cummings found himself for the
second time involved with McCarl,
and. as in the first instance, when
he had said civilian War Department
promotions banned by the controller
were legal, he was told bluntly that
such affairs were not his affairs. The
case did serve however, to show up
the one big defect in the General
Accounting ONCE set-up. When 1t is
necessary to go into court that estao-
lishment must be represented by the
Attorney Generals office.
Obviously. if the Attorney General
was unsympathetic. the controller
general could not expect proper as
sistance in recovering any money due
the Government. The present Con-
cress may remedy this, for there was
q strong reaction at the Capital in
favor of McCarl'S stand when he
tangled with the cabinet officers, and
especially when it appeared that
President Roosevelt was inclined to
side with his aides. If legislation is
enacted to let the controller general
60 into court on his own, the office
will be divorced entirely from the
Executive arm of the Government,
as originally intended.
Even before the cabinet trouble,
though there were rumblingS in
dicative of the turn of things, news
articles, whose source was not clear,
said that certain presidential advisers
were urging that McCarl be removed
before the works bill administration was
started, in order to facilitate its oper-
alton, and that an opinion had been
presented to show how removal might
be brought about despite the fact that
the law creating the office makes re-
fnoval dependent on joint resolu-
ton of Congress, or impeachment.
The same story was revived when the
crop restriction program was up in
the air. but there is not much chance
of that coming about.
In the first place, President RooSe-
welt is inclined to feel kindly toward
McCarl, if rumor, which seems well
founded, is. In the second place, it
would be a mans sized job, and in
the third place, If Congress, which
has the votes, wanted to have done
go, McCarl could have been ruled out
of the "4-88' audit, just as he has
been on some other expenditures
Reconstruction Finance Corp for ex-
ample.
Has Sway Until Next Year.
So it looks like it's McCarl all the
way until July l Of next year, when
his term is up, and he goes out or
the non-succession provision Of the
budget and accounting act.
And 1t is a reasonable assumption
that the administrators of the vast
work-relief fund won't have as much
trouble as some may fear, because it
Is a good bet that McCarl was con-
suited on certain provisions that might
stir up controversy later. That would
have been the logical move.
And bothered administration leaders
might reflect on some Of the Nc
Carlisna of Republican days. On q
very notable occasion, he had the
State Department going around in
circles by fatty refusing to let Amer
lean delegates to one of the periodical
arms conferences travel in a foreign
ship, although the then Secretary
Stimson said they would be late if
forced to abide by the law and use
an American vessel.
That, said McCarl tartly, was some
thing that should have been thought
of before. President Hoover got no
more satisfaction. and the result was,
that the sailing date Of an American
liner was advanced to accommodate
the tourists.
If McCarl were a mixer, he might
findt it difficult to preserve the inde-
pendence which has marked his
course. so he refrains from mixing
His Office, in the rambling old Pension
Office. set off from all the rest of
the Government establishment, is
typical OF his self-imposed solitude
There, he Is about as accessible as
the Dalai Lama. Unlike about 90
per cent OF odicialdom, he has no