Evening star., 1941-06-01
DepIores Drift in
Defense Program
By ODen L. Scott.

dent Roosevelt insisted upon running
one-man Government At the end of the
first war preparation year the common
complaint still is that Mr.. Roosevelt
insists upon running the whole show
himself.
When the President is in a mood to
make decisions there is a stirring
throughout the Government. When the
President is i'll or in mood OF inde-
cision the whole machinery of Govern
ment slows noticeably. When the Presi-
dent wants something of Congress the
legislative machine comes to life. When
the President has no particular requests
to make of Congress that arm of Gov
ernment languishes.
1t has been the same all during the
Roosevelt years. The White House
pretty much is the Government.
That fact takes on immense impor-
tance at this time when the United
States is trying to prepare for war. The
reason why is that President Roosevelt
during his years in Office has been
weakest on the side of administration.
When the job at hand is so vast as to
call for broad delegation of authority
in the field Of labor relations and finance
and relations with industry the Presi-
dent shows to some disadvantage. His
talents run in other directions
The presidency is a many-sided job.
A President, first of all, must be a
political leader. He must be able to
offer an appeal that will attract to his
support majority of the people. Presi-
dent Roosevelt is a master of that art.
A President in these days must be a
strategiSt of first rank He must be
able to outmaneuver other strategists
of the Hitler and Matsuoka and Mus
solini stripe. That Mr.. Roosevelt is
master in that art his foreign opponents
probably would admit.
Then President must serve as COM
mander in chief of the Army and Navy.
This is almost a full-time job in itself
during a period like the present. Mr..
Roosevelt performs the task in a way
that brings him commendation of the
admirals and generals.
But the biggest job of all Is the adj
ministrative job.
Right now the United States is seeking
to build vast armament industry. 1t
is trying to organize itself in a way that
will permit diversion of at least one
quarter of its energies to war prepara-
tion. 1t seeks to do in one or two years
what Hitler, with dictatorial powers, did
in Germany in seven years. This task
calls for the highest degree of organ
izing ability and of planning.
In this part of the job, measured by
almost any terms, the President is not
doing so we'll.
During one year of effort the United
States, under Roosevelt leadership, has
succeeded in turning six billion dollars
into an enlarged Army and Navy. Meas
ured in terms of national effort Hitler
and Prime Minister Churchill did at
least five times as we'll during the same
year.
The one obvious fact is that Mr.. Roose-
welt is not succeeding in his effort TO
create an effective defense organization.
There are two reasons for this lack
of success One is the fact that the
President has too many other jobs to do
to permit him to administer a vast de-
fense machine. The other is the fact
that Mr.. Roosevelt refuses to select COM
petent men and to delegate to those
men the absolute authority they require
to get results
Why the President hesitates to dele
gate more than nominal authority is a
mystery Mr.. Roosevelt's critics say this
hesitation grows from an innate desire to
WELD all possible power himself Mr..
Roosevelts friends say his hesitation is
traceable to the fact that the right man
to WELD authority has not been found.
These friends say President Roosevelt
sought to give industrialists chance to
run the defense machine. He soon dis
covered they were more interested in
maintaining business-as-usual and in
finding ways to scrap the New Deal than
in getting results at any cost. Then the
President tried to pump a little more
life into the defense machine by in
stalling Harry Hopkins as the man who
could speak for him. There is no sign
as yet that Mr.. Hopkins is doing better
than the President or than the business
men,
The hard fact seems to be that this
country won't really get going in its
effort to catch up in the arms race until
Mr.. Roosevelt is ready to trust real
power to men who then are held fully
responsible for results. This power must
include authority to talk as frankly to
labor leaders as to business leaders and
1t must include power to upset the idea
of business as usual II that becomes
necessary.
AS it is now, President Roosevelt is
acting almost wholly on his own.
The Presidents so-called war cabinet"
Is far less important than its name
sounds Of its members, Secretary Of
State Hull has been most important for
his opposition to use of economic weap-
ons against Germany and Japan on the
ground that other nations might get
hurt, too. Secretary of War Stimson
is not we'll Secretary of the Navy Knox
confines himself to naval affairs in which
the President himself is very active.
Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau
goes along with the President on most
issues.
At the o. P. NJ, which is supposed to
direct the production effort, William
Knudsen, the director, is without ade-
n,1ate authority and is inclined to accept