Evening star., 1938-11-29

cabinet officers resignation and 1
would be handed to him. A yer!
different proposition from purge
Of the Senate, for example.
The present technique Of the cab
met burgers is to circulate stories
in the newspapers that this cabinet
officer and that are persona non
grata at the White House; that II
is only a question of time when
these gentlemen will no longer be
among the Presidents advisers and
chief executive officers. Apparently
the idea back of this program Is
that the cabinet officers whose
scalps are desired will one day &c
to the President and say: Sir here
Is my resignation" Or that at least
they will go to the President and
state their willingness to quit If he
has any one else in mind for their
posts.
1t is no secret that some OF the
members of the "inner circle" ano
some very close to the White House
are peddling the news that men,
bers Of the cabinet are not long tc
remain in their present positions
There is no particular difficulty
about getting such reports pub
lished.
Purge Not Easy.
1t Is not pleasant duty for any
President to request the resignation
Of one or more of his cabinet Off
GERS; it is not a pleasant duty even
to suggest to a member of his Off
cial family that the presence of that
cabinet officer is no longer desirable
at the council table. Biographers
Of President Roosevelt have written
that the President is soft-hearted
and prefers to let men remain in
Office rather than to ask them to
resign.
Either the President is permitting
some of the inner circle to spread
the rumors of coming retirements OF
cabinet officers, or some of these
gentlemen have come to the conclu-
sion that they will help the Presi-
dent out of an embarrassing situa-
tion-without consulting the Presi-
dent. When member of the cabi-
net reads in newspaper that his
retirement is expected soon, and the
report is bolstered with a statement
that this report comes from q. most
authoritative source" it can only
make him wonder what is wrong, il
anything, with his relations with the
President, or with the conduct of
his Office.
1t Is possible, Of course, that the
rumors of coming retirements from
the Cabinet are spread by gentle
men who are merely themselves
anxious to see Cabinet officers
ousted, either because they them
selves do not like. the attitude of
these Cabinet officers on public
affairs or the conduct of their
departments, or for some more per-
sonal reason.
Many Named for Purge.
One member of the Cabinet al
ready has announced his retire
mentor rather the President has
announced it-Attorney General Ho.
mer S Cummings. Mr.. Cummings
the President said, has long been
anxious to return to private practice
Of the law. presumably to make
money. The pay of a Cabinet
ofdcer is relatively small-only s15,-
600 a year. But the rumors of q
purge" cover half dozen others
including Postmaster General Far
ley, Secretary Roper of the Depart.
ment Of Commerce, Secretary Wood
ring Of the War Department, Sec.
retary Perkins of the Department
of Labor and Secretary Swanson
of the Navy Department.
Only four members of the Cabinet
have been untouched by the rumors
of approaching retirement-more OF
less forced retirement-in these So
called authoritative reports. They
are Secretary Cordell Hull of the
State Department, Secretary Nor
genthau of the Treasury Depart
ment, Secretary Ickes of the Interior
Department and Secretary Wallace
Of the Department of Agriculture
The explanation for these exemp-
tions may lie in the fact that the