Evening star., 1937-11-07
Government Shows Lack
of Co-ordinated Policy
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

10 Lle TTeSlQeIt, uSteIleQ CIllS paSC week
to plants of men who ere operating vital
Government agencies, and then OBJ
served:
"If can help them get some of the
things they want, they will think the
new plan is fine. II not, then they will
think it's just a baloney set-up."
BY that remark, Son Jimmie revealed
the grave structural weakness in the
form Of American Government that is
impressing itself more and more upon
those who watch what goes on at the
White House. That weakness grows
from the vast new responsibilities CEN
tering in the presidency, now that Gov
ernment is undertaking to guarantee
prosperity.
The chief problems of a president,
until recently, were political. To those
political problems now are added i'm
mensely important and difficult economic
and administrative problems. In a ma
ton as diverse as this, the solution of
those problems is proving to be beyond
the intellectual or physical capacity even
Of superman.
Developments only accentuate what
tAAC i ASo4dSAV 81 dNodAJ 40 bCAAiS 1Ol CCu
to recognize as fact.
For example: At the moment, there is
crisis in the New Deal. Planned recov-
cry suddenly has turned into an un-
planned recession. Unemployment is
budget balance. Government policies
and Government programs are pulling
in a dozen different directions at the
same time.
In the midst of this situation. the
President finds himself strangely alone.
His One-time brain trust" is gone.
Stories that David Cushman Coyle, q
writer on economic subjects, is taking
the place once held by DR.. Rexford Guy
Iugwell are not based upon facts. The
Nations best economic brains and un-
derstanding are to be found in Govern
ment departments. but Mr. Roosevelt
seldom consults their possessors. If he
had done so. they would have told him
last July to expect what now is happen
ing. Men who might be expected to ad-
wise the President at this stage are al
most pathetically eager to learn what he
may be thinking and planning. Yet men
who have sought to advise the President
IN the past recall that, on economic sub
jects, President Roosevelt has a pen
chant for reversing the import Of the
advice given.
Mr.. Roosevelt. caught In Jam. Is
forced more and more to devote himself
to questions of basic policy. To survey
those questions he has been forced to
get out of Washington as a means of
avoiding the demands that pile up when
here. Decisions in the field OF policy
call for more detailed knowledge than
any one man possesses. Yet Congress
must be guided. political patronage tan
gies must be dealt with, world affairs
have to be juggled, multitude of policy
decisions must be made in wide variety
OF Government departments. The Job
even calls for the President to determine
which community is to get new school
or a new court house, and which one
isn't.
With Government shouldering respon-
sibility for the rate of business activity
and the price of farm products-among
other things-the task of the presidency
has expanded accordingly in Importance
and difficulty.
One prominent Government ofdcial-
man Of wide experience and deep
knowledge of economics and of political
sclence-surveyed this scene the other
day and remarked:
This country has a President. but It
doeS not possess government.
we throw all responsibility. upon one
man at the top. This man simply cam
not administer government that has
become as diverse and as complex as the
American Government. Yet tradition
calls for him to select a cabinet. made
up OF politicians. without any assurance
That these politicians possess qualifica-
tlons Tor running the departments they
heao. Inc situation Is such that cabi-
net sessIons-which might be the very
heart OF Government policy-making ma
chlnery, where meeting of highly
trained minds could be had-actuallv
have become biweekly social gatherings
where jokes are cracked and chit-chat is
the order of the day.
III Government is to be responsible
1or the economic well-being of the Ma
tlon. then Government policy must be
unlneo and every agency of Govern
ment must gear its own action to that
policy. The present chaotic system sim
ply must be changed"
President Roosevelt has recognized the
problem, both by the appointment of his
son to serve as an aide, and by his re-
quest OF Congress for six new assistants
who can help the White House keen
track Of what the various departments
are doing. But point is made of the fact
that the Presidents proposal calls for
more centralization of power and re-
sponsibility inside the White House
while sound practice calls for q wider
diffusion of authority and responsibility
to skilled administrators. who then
would constitute the Presidents cabinet.
AS 1t Is, the situation is found rapidlv
to be growing impossible.
Many of the policy clashes now occur
ring are fundamental and figure in the
present upset in business.
Mr.. Roosevelt talks about the need for
restoring competition in business and
industry. Yet the Federal Trade Com
mission, charged with enforcing anti
trust laws. is starved for funds and ham
strung by new law, signed by the
President. permitting manufacturers to
nix the price of trade-marked commodi-
ties. The net effect is to talk about
competition and at the same time to
make impossible any effective enforce
ment of competition
X
Cordell Hull, Secretary of State is
striving to adjust tariffs downward and
to reopen world markets so that foreign
trade can return as the great adiuster
OF economic conditions. But the Presi
dent, while encouraging Hull, is support