Evening star., 1938-12-27

OllC llCdu VI d
division or de- D"''u hA"fe"'e
partment. If the choice is a poor
one, the reflection is upon the gen.
eral manager and not primarily his
subordinates. It's an internal rather
than an external problem.
For nearly six years now Mr..
Roosevelt has been running the Ma
tlonal Government, making its poll
cies, issuing instructions to the cabi-
net secretaries and in general carry
Ing on his administration very much
after the fashion of other dominant
personalities like President Wilson
and President Theodore Roosevelt.
The cabinet secretaries are rarely
IN the limelight, except as they are
directed to do specific things by the
man In the White House.
So whether Mr.. Roosevelt picks
Gov. Murphy for the attorney gen.
eralship or for the Department of
Labor, or neither, or whether he ele-
Yates Solicitor General Robert Jack
son to be Attorney General, it really
isn't as much subject of public
concern as it would be if the United
States had a parliamentary system
OF government wherein the cabinet
can be made responsible directly to
the wishes of the people. Both
Messrs. Jackson and Murphy are
able exponents of the New Deal
philosophy and are the type of
public servants who know how to
execute the principles of the admin
iStration.
Murphy's Record Good.
Unfortunately for Mr.. Murphy he
has been under fire because of his
handling of the sit-down strikes in
Michigan but public criticism has
been somewhat unfair because 1t
was President Roosevelt himself who
kept directing the Michigan Cover
nor from behind the scenes. Per-
haps that is one of the reasons why
Mr.. Roosevelt feels personal re-
sponsibility for the events which
led to Mr.. Murphy's defeat in the
last election. With the exception
Of this one mistake-the sit-doWn
strike-the Michigan Governor has
made rather excellent record in
public life, having handled, for in
stance, the job of Governor General
of the Philippines most satisfac-
torily. He would be a worthwhile
addition to the official family.
AS for Mr.. Jackson, the Solicitor
General, he is already conspicuous
figure In New Deal councils, but his
elevation to the attorney general
ship might mean the bringing of
some order out of the chaos that has
existed since the consent decree"
confusion was introduced by a we'll
meaning but misguided prosecutor
of ambiguously written antitrust
laws.
There is a big job ahead in the
Department Of Justice, and that is
to help draft real set of antitrust
laws which will promote fair compe-
tition instead of sitting it, and some
craftsmanship might prove whole
some thing especially as the Con-
gress gets ready to revise the anti
trust legislation as a whole.
Views on Legislation.
incidentally, there has been much
misunderstanding on the subject of
legislation written in the executive
agencies. The other day it was dis
closed that the administration was
going to let the members of Con-
gress prepare the laws and that
drafts from the executive agencies
would be taboo. This is grave mis-
take, for there never was anything
wrong about letting the experts in
the executive departments and agen-
cies draft laws. The trouble came
when these agencies were permitted
to lobby on Capitol Hill and pass
Judgment on what the White House
was supposed to want. If the execu-
tive bureaus drafted the legislation
and Congress, after appropriate hear
ings, really revised the drafts and put
the legislation into workable form,
nobody would object to the academic
circumstance that measures origi-
mated in the executive branch of the
Government. Under the parliament
tary system, the cabinet takes the
initiative in proposing legislation
because the cabinet ministers
are elected as a part of the ma
tority party. Closer collaboration be-
tween the executive and legislative
branches of the Government is desir-
able at all times but until the execu-
tive, cabinet and agencies have some
responsibility to the public direct,
they create dissension and misunder-
standings if they try to force legisla-
tion on the Congress. Because of the
widespread criticism of so-called
must" legislation, the administra-
tion now has gone to the other ex-
treme or ordering hands off by the
executive agencies with respect to the
drafts of legislation, but it would be
surprising If the administration lead
ers, accustomed as they are to taking
orders, wouldn't make their own
drafts of proposed laws and take
them to the department secretaries
and their aides for advice and ap-
proval.
(Copyright. 1889