Evening star., 1936-11-22

where the brain truSters sat
in the Roosevelt administra-
u ton and delivered counsel on
politics and strategems are almost
all vacated. That original group OF
advisers whose influence was some
times overrated by the very mys-
terry which surrounded their back
ground position has disappeared from
offlcial Washington.
The resignation of DR.. Rexford G.
Tugwell, resettlement administrator.
Undersecretary Of Agriculture and
New Deal brain truster No. l, re-
moved the most famous of the OFF,
cial professors. Investigated by
Senate committee, attacked by con-
servatives both outside and within
the administration. and continuously
bludgeoned by Republicans in the
presidential campaign, DR.. Tugweh
quietly bows himself out of the WASH
ington scene.
No other brain truster received such
publicity unless it be Raymond Moley.
the original dean of them all. who
weathered the rush of events at the
side of President Roosevelt for less
than a year. DR.. Tugwell survived his
erstwhile colleague by three years.
Swing to Right Noted.
Some may detect in the ending Of
the brain trusters a swing to the
right Certainly the permitted de-
parture Of DR.. Tugwell, who was the
symbol of the New Deal left wing,
could not be interpreted as giving any
comfort to the extreme liberals behind
the President.
But Of more definite significance
Is the indication that administrative
machinery in the Roosevelt admins
tration is becoming a more routine
affair and the permanent presence
of the PROFESSIONAL mechanics in the
back rooms Is no longer required.
Unofficial advisers to the President
will undoubtedly, according to Wash
ington expectation. be summoned in
from time to time as the President
embarks, with more slowness, upon
new programs. InnovatorS, men with
controversial ideas, still remain with
the administration. but they are in
responsible posts and tied down by
the task of administering. The heads
of departments and agencies are doing
their own work, for the most part,
and are likely to produce their own
ideas with the help Of their own
chosen subordinates.
How the list of original presidential
brain trusters has shrunk away is illus
trated in the following list:
DIR. Tugwell resigned this week for
an executive job with the American
Molasses Co.
Prof. Moley resigned late in 1888
for the editorship Of the magazine
Today.
A. A. Berle, former special r. F. c.
counsel, who retired to become New
York City chamberlin in 1884.
Prof. George F. Warren of Cornell,
who retired from White House coun-
cils when the gold-purchase and dol
lar depreciation program was ended.
Rogers Also Retired.
Prof. James H. Rogers of Yale, who
also retired when the dollar reached
relatively stable plane.
Professor o. M. w. Sprague, who
left in dudgeon over fiscal policies and
DR.. Warren's ideas.
James P. Warburg, who returned to
his New York banking connections
to become the bitterest foe. Of New
Deal policy only to swallow his criti-
cism in the last campaign.
Jerome Frank. who was ousted as
A. A. A. counsel in one of the "purges"
Of the Agriculture Department and
was given less conspicuous legal jobs
elsewhere in the administration.
Charles. w. Taussig, who retains an
honorary administration connection
as chairman of the Advisory Com
mittee of the National Youth Admin.
istration but is not so much in evi-
dence with the President as when he
was one of the original 1892 brain
truSters.
There are other names that might
be added to the list Of influential
behind d-the-scenes advisers who are no
longer in the administration. Donald
r. Richberg was an early policy coun-
selor but not exactly Of the brain
truster type. He rose to conspicuous
official position as chairman OF the
National Emergency Council and
chairman Of the N. r. A. before he
retired.
Gen. Hugh g. johnson was an orig.
inal brain truster but action rather
than professorial theo1y was his forte.