The Washington times., 1937-11-06
Who Is the Boss?


learn.
Briefly it is the fact that execution is just impor-
tant as conception-sometime
Many of the ideas conceived by the Roosevelt ad-
ministration have been excellent But their execu-
ton sometimes has been inexcusably Inefficient as
u1.,s. to damn them for years in the mind Of
p-y 49,. the public.
Thus the basic principles of the NRA,
which we're sound some day will be rewoven in much
milder form into the American economic fabric. But
the hghhanded manner in which they were applied to
every industry from goldfish breeders to rat-trap
manufacturers, by temperamental cavalry officer,
left bad taste with the American public which it
will not forget.
The Coal Commission is the latest case in point. Con-
ceived both by miners and coal operators as means
of stabzng the soft-coal industry, which long has
suffered from cut-throat chaos it set up miniature
NRA in the bituminous coal fields.
Ninety per cent of the coal operators welcomed it.
The railroads. largest consumers of COAL expressed
their complete willingness to cooperate.
Meanwhile the seven commissioners charged with
this important work have been rowing over the ap-
pontment of colored messengers the purchase of fur
. ,.,, niture and who shall have the
n"0e largest office space. They have
<1'"'OO' 1'O'S employed some 900 person
nel they have purchased gaudy office fixtures, they
have already spent large portion of their very ample
budget but they have done not one thing toward ac
tual stablizaton of the coal industry.
Finally, Chairman Hosford, either in disgust in
fear Of the explosion inevitable when Congress
venes, resigned.
The Bituminous Coal Commission functions under
the Secretary of the Interior Mr.. Ickes Nevertheless
it is Independent. The law is worded that he has
responsibility in name but not in fact. When his rep
resentative the commission rebeled at certain pa
tronage practices, he ordered by Of the COM
missioners to violate the law Whereupon Ickes' rep
resentative resigned.
This dual responsibility is something which either
the President or Congress must remedy.
Another independent agency, similarly constituted,
may also be headed for stormy weather. This is the
new Housing Administration Congress specified that
the commission to function under the Secretary
of the INTERIOR following which the President delib
erately crcumvented Ickes by appointing Housing
Administrator whom Ickes opposed.
The gentleman in question, Nathan straus, is an
idealist and visionary of the TugwellBrain Trust type
who have botched so many New Deal projects. He
ct.u,,. c;,ont started his job by reading pre-
I1Io ~. o. pared statement to his staff pay
On nus superb" ing tribute to President Roose-
velt and Senator Wagner. About his immediate
perior, Secretary Ickes, he was coldly silent.
Next, Mr. Straus announced that it would be two
months before his commission really would start func
tioning. This despite the fact that he taking
over a going concern in the form of the old PWA
Housing Division which already has projects built and
under construction.
Housing is too important problem to be muffed,
no matter what the excuse, much less because Of per-
sonal pque and jealousy.
The nation is short than three million
houses with two million unfit for human habitation.
Housing construction may be the big thing, properly
pushed to snap the country out Of the current business
recession.
Entirely aside from adding another fasco to the too
long list Of chaotic independent agencies Roosevelt
cannot afford housing failure.