Evening star., 1941-01-19
DOllar>a>Year Men Increasing
AS Defense Tempo Quickens
List of Those Aiding in Program Reads Like a
Directory of Directors; Some Are
Anti.Roosevelt Men
By Marqnis ". ChHdS.

AS the defense program gathers mo-
mentun, the number of dollar-a-year
men in Washington increases in the
same ratio. From every industry, from
nearly every important firm, they have
been summoned to contribute their spe-
cial knowledge and skill to the vast
construction program that Is really just
beginning.
1t was one of President Roosevelt's
boasts during the election campaign
last fall that he had brought several
hundred of the best business eXecu-
tives in the United States" to Wash
ington to help in the task of rearma-
ment. And it is true that the list
reads like a Who's Who of big busi-
ness or, perhaps, like the. Directory of
Directors. A few receive compensation
from the Government but the majority
give their services free
Some of these business executives
who have enlisted in the defense drive
are full-time employees spending long
hours over Washington desk or rang
ing across the country on special mis-
sions. Others are consultants who come
from New York, from Pittsburgh, from
Boston and Philadelphia for two or
three days a week
Hints of Unhappiness.
The juxtaposition of big business and
the New Deal seems a little strange
to those who have watched Washing
ton expand under the Roosevelt drive
for reform. And now and then there
is evidence that these strange bedfel-
lows are not altogether happy. Since
the election, hints have come from the
New Dealers that the President could
be expected to curtail the powers Of
big business and correspondingly en-
hance the position of those who have
directed the New Deal.
But the trend still appears to be in
the opposite direction. The President
has strengthened the controls of busi-
nessmen at the top, and more and
more executives are committing between
New York and Washington in connec-
ton with the defense effort.
The most conspicuous figure is, of
course, the big, slow-spoken Danish
born industrialist, William S. Knudsen,
to whom the President has delegated
far-reaching responsibility for the sue
cess of the program. Knudsen was pres
ident Of General Motors, an industrial
empire touching almost every phase of
American life, before he came into
Government. Now, with Sidney Hill
man, representing labor, Knudsen is at
the top of the defense pyramid.
Stettinius and Many Others.
Sharing this lofty height with Knud-
sen, Edward r. Stettinius, jr., is the
other large-scale industrialist on the
defense commission. He is-literally
and fguratively-the fair-haired boy
who rose, while still comparatively
young, to the top of United States Steel,
industrial empire like that of General
Motors. Many such younger men, lead
ers in their own field, have come to
Washington since last summer.
Naturally a concentration of execu-
tives is found on the defense commits
sion, for 1t is there that the chief
problems of Government and industry
uluSG Uc WOIhcu OuG. Lie idlcSG uSG
shows IS men with the commission bor-
rowed from business and serving at
Isl per annum," to use the official
phrase.
Here, working under Stettinius and
Knudsen, are many big names. w.
Averill Hartman, chairman of the board
Of the Union Pacific Railroad, is trans
portation liaison and export licensing
officer on Stettinius' administrative staff.
William L. Bait, head of the American
branch OF the great S. K. F. steel firm,
Is section executive of the mining and
mineral products section. c. E. Adams,
chairman of the Air Reduction Corp,
Is Stettinius' executive assistant. Ralph
Budd, president of the Burlington Rail-
road, is defense commissioner, in
charge of transportation.
Clarence Francis, president of Gen.
eral Foods, is in charge of agricultural
and forest products. Marion B. Folsom,
treasurer. of Eastman Kodak, is assist
ant to Bait. In the chemical and all