Evening star., 1937-01-18
Wallace-Ickes
Feud Fed by
Report
Brownlow Reorganiza.
ton Plan May Spike
1910 Ambitions.
BY JAY FRANKLIN.


~ EHIND Roosevelts shrewd real
x istic and dramatic plan for
| recognizing the Federal serv-
| ices lies some Of the dirtiest
work at the political double-cross
roads that Washington has seen In
years.
AS things now appear, the palace
politicians" of the New Deal have tri-
umphed over the progressives. The
report was the work of Messrs. Brown
low, Bulick and Merriam-that Is to
say, it represented the best effort of
the Rockefeller-controlled interests
and institutions to write the ticket at
| Washington. It's a good job. Unfor-
| tunately, this column happens to re-
member what happened in 1920 when
the Rockefeller crowd tried to reor-
| ganize Yale University. They tried
to turn an institution of the higher
learning into a plant for the whole
sale manufacture of Yale spirit. 1t
was mess, but since then Yale presi-
dents have been Rockefeller men.
The idea of putting all Government
|
merit system will go bitterly against
the grain. To abolish the controller
generalShip will deprive the opp0-
nents Of Federal efficiency of their pet
monkey wrench. The suggestion that
the President rates six healthy, ener-
getic and altruistic assistants will
strike terror to a town where even one
of that breed is a phenomenon.
A Good Plan.
But this is not the point. It Is a
good plan
The real fight has been for the Jobs
behind the plan. Harry Hopkins seems
10 have edged out Miss Perkins and
Harold Ickes, and will run the pro-
posed department of social welfare.
| This makes sense, except that it
means that Miss Perkins will remain
as Secretary of Labor She held the
right hands at the White House, so
now Ed McGrady, her able assistant.
is reported as ready to resign in dis
appointment.
Harold IckeS has taken another bad
licking. His beloved P. w. A. is 60
ing to be amputated and transferred
into the new department of public
works, but Ickes will not be allowed to
head it.
Jesse Jones, head Of the R F. c.,
is cunning for the job of secretary
of public works.
Wallace-Ickes Battle Due.
At the same time Henry Wallace
is to be deprived Of public roads and
steered into a head-on collision with
Ickes.
For Ickes is to be allowed to re-
christen the Department Of Interior
nursery of the Ballinger scandals
and the oil stench-as the department
of Conservation. This proposal so
enraged Wallace that he once ap-
peared before a congressional COM
mittee and argued bitterly against 1t.
1t means. therefore, departmental
battle between Wallace and Ickes-the
two big Republican New Dealers-for
control of the forest service, soil con-
servation, land-uSe program, etc.
Somebody sold the Rockefeller COM
mittee on Government Reorganiza-
ton. pretty NANCY pup when they
were persuaded to sponsor a proposal
by which the two most vigorous,
virile. western and progressive men,
bers of the Roosevelt administration
could be jockeyed into fierce battle.
Between them Wallace and Ickes
have done the most to give a really
national aspect to administration pol
icy. Without them the West would
have held the short end of the stick.
And now, as a result of some crafty
cookie pushing among the tea cups
and the cocktail shakers. a report is
issued, with presidential approval,
which, for all of its great merits
(Which will be dealt with in another
column, carries all the marks of a
deliberate frame-up to keep the New
Deal safe for little group of social
intriguers who work behind the scenes
and for the old-line Democrats who
are already trying to block Henry
Wallace's possible nomination in 1910
| at all costs.
| Copyright, 1879