The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-15
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
By JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, May 14-lne ueWSeL zeal IN
Washington is over at the department of JUS
tice 1t was born back in January and its papa
is Bob Jackson, who first paced the justice col.
ridors then as Attorney General Of the United
States.
Typical of the newest deal is an occurrence
which took place the other day at a staff confer
ence. The one-time country lawyer who now is
the nations No. 1, attorney, was presiding. An
official asked what to be done about EN-.
ployes putting their feet the desks.
IF you going to have rule against put
ting feet on the desks,'' answered Jackson, lit
certainly will cramp my style
Another perturbed and jumpy official once
asked the attorney general if he didn't think
there should be a rule against employees read
ing newspapers. That quzzical smile which
Jackson where other men might use anger
irritation spread over his face and he stated
simply that if the men got their work done and
still had time to read the newspapers, why not
Now We getting at the of the newest
deal-the emphasis is on accomplishment, not
on method; or results, not on the routine used
in obtaining them,
Phone Policy Changes
1t is impossible of course, to run depart
mentor any other business, for that matter
with thousands of employees without some pol
icies. I don't mean that the justice department
uOeS IlOL nave tneSe. ltS OIlceS are tea party
parlors Actually, jackson leaves the routine
matters of office administration to his depart
ment heads, but his personal policy of eliminat-
ing strict regulations is seeping all the way
down to the third assistant secretaries.
There was time, for example, when any JUS
tice employe, picking up the telephone to make a
call was asked sternly by the operator: rs this
call personal or business?" Jackson quashed that
explaining that he assumed all government
lrooy hot lie tn
be made from government telephones and that
if he couldn't rely on their integrity in such
matters without asking each time, then they
shouldn't be government employees
Formerly, too, there was a general under
standing that all workers in the department had
to be at their desks from a.. m. until 4:3O p.
m.-the normal working day in these parts. Here
again, the emphasis is results
From the newsman's standpoint, Jackson has
raised his popularity several notches by rescind-
ing another rule-that which forbade any Off
cial to tell a reporter anything more than that
"all information is handled through the press
Office" Now, officials talk their heads off if
they feel that way about it.
Maybe Life Rule
Maybe all this emphasis On accomplishment
dates back to the days after Jackson's gradua-
ton from the Jamestown IN. " high school.
Only IL years old. Bob spent year in James
town law office, another year in the Albany Law
school, and had to wait months for his 21st
birthday before he could be admitted to the
bar. He's probably the most eminent practcing
attorney in the country today with law de-
gree.
If the legal profession of those days had re-
quired degrees before admission to the bar, young
Bob might have had to take Aunt Lena Jack
sons advice and become farmer.
jackson has made one strict rule however.
Oddly enough, it is one which may catch the at
torney general himself It is: any one resigning
to run for Office can't come back to the depart
ment if he loses.
OF course, if the justice departments newest
dealer got mixed up in the presidential or vice
presidential races-and lost-he could hardly
expect to come back anyway.