The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-02-07
Here's First Real Story
 Of Ickes-
 West Feud

West Feud Washington, Feb. 7-Affairs in the Department of Interior are even more preposterous than usual and it looks as if Secretary Honest liar old" Ickes, in liquidating the office staff of Undersecretary Charles West has managed to liquidate his pet project-the proposed Department of Conservation.
 This is 8 rather complicated and involved story, but 1t loses none of it's interest for that. Also, it involves the future of Ickes, with which an increasing number of New Dealers are concerned.
 The clean-out of Vests office staff was about as conspicuous a slap in the face as a cabinet mem- Der could give 8 subordinate. It was one of the most astonishing incidents in the history of the New Deal and is commonly re- ferred to with adjectives more stinging.
 Charlie West was Roosevelt's chief liaison man with Congress. He was undersecretary of the Interior, with nominal duties, in order to give him an office and salary with which to operate.
 The arrangement appeared to be satisfactory to Ickes, who with the help of his assistant and admin istrative officer Ebert K. Burlew seemed to have no trouble running the department.
 West Became Vocal
 But West began to think that he was the victim of Ickes-Burlew es- pionage and wire tapping and he became very vocal about it. He was no more bitter in his criticisms of Ickes and Burlew than many other of Ickes' under officials have been, but West didn't care who knew it. It appears he even started little investigation of alleged wiretapping on his own.
 Ickes has his story about that
 and West has his but in the up- shot IckeS summoned West, bawl- ed him out unmercifully and or dered him from his presence. This was shortly after Housing Admin istrator Nathan Straus had pro- tested at staff meeting Ickes' assertion that he had a right to tap departmental telephone wires.
 From then on it was understood that West eventually would be step ping out, probably to take one of the six presidential assistant jobs congress was expected to create. The Fight on Burlew
 First Assistant Secretary Theodore Walters died and Ickes got Roose- welt to nominate Burlew to succeed him. Certain senatorial opposition to Burlew'S confirmation became ap- parent. Some was inspired, as the Ickes group charges from the strong lobby fighting to keep the Depart ment of Agriculture's Forest Service out of the Department of Conser- vation" recommended in the Presi- dents organization plan and pro- vided in the Byrnes bill. The lobby includes lumber interests.
 But it also was obvious that cer- tain Interior officials and exoffi-
 cials were secretly in the anti Burlew fight, although others stayed clear, admittedly in fear of their jobs.
 Louis R. Glavis, former chief sleuth for Ickes, was called by a Senate committee and testified mildly. to the astonishment of friends with whom he had talked not long before. The whole department had been at high tension; IckeS tele- phoned four times from Chicago to learn what Glavis had said. Among several widely circulated reports as to the Glavis testimony, the kindest was that his old friend Justice Brandeis had persuaded him that he should not attack Burlew.
 Ickes Blamed West
 Ickes got the idea, rightly or wrongly, that West was behind the Burlew attack. With spleen and relish, in Vests absence, he fired or transferred four of the five per- sons on Vests staff. Some of his closest associate threw up their hands in dismay as his poor judg- ment.
 Original resentment against Burlew in the department long since had expanded to include Ickes-in the case of many sub ordinates-and this gave the Sec- retary's enemies chance to press their claim that he was a mean,
 selfish, unpleasant bureaucrat.
 Men who had been lobbying loy- ally for a Department of ConServa- tion threw up the sponge. The queS- tion of how Roosevelt felt as be- tween West and Ickes was left up in the air.
 Those who defend Tckes insist correctly that he has been an able, fearless, oratorical hatchet man for Roosevelt and that his pub lie record is honest.
 They say that he must be pre- served as 8 valuable, hard-hitting New Deal progressive and that aside from his liberal critics he also has accumulated a more dis reputable collection oi enemies than any other high New Deal officials.
 Others insist that Ickes, a fight ing foe of faScism, has instilled fascism into government by creat- ing a department where men speak frankly only in whiSperS-and never over the telephone.
 Meanwhile, Burlew has not yet been confirmed by the Senate and work at the Department of Interior proceeds at a relatively slow pace. Copyright, 1888, NEA Service, Incl ICANTOR REINHORN