Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-12-23
BY HUGH s. JOHNSON

authority III any llSH-'NN''Ni''
executive order.
He had a personal letter from
the war departmens telling him
10 do the job. This he did by
the simple force of his person
ality and by assuming the nee
essary authority whenever he
had TO use (which was very
rarely.
He dealt man TO man with
people whose only desire was TO
get the job done, too.
THERE was practically no
Il pride of office. juriSdlctlonal
jealousy or bureaucratic red
tape impeding his efforts. In
the rare instances where such
obstacles did arise. those re-
sponSible for the distractions
were removed
There could be a lot Of such
removals right now The relief
from command of the generals
and admiral holding the reSpon-
Sibility for the Pacific hasco
was universally approved.
No matter who else was re-
Sponsihle for that disaster, they
held the positions Of response
bility and therefore they had TO
60. But why should We conflne
this head-chopplng TO the mill
tary and naval authorities?
Our production effort is far
more important at present, both
10 us and TO our allies. than any
military effort We might make
at this time. l have heard no
one. whose opinion merits con-
sideration. express any degree of
satisfaction with our production
effort 10 date.
Since this is the case. why
don't some civilian heads roll :?
What is the difference between
a general Of the army and a
general Of production? Evidently
the OPM has heard the whetting
Of the headmans sword They
have just published an admins
trative order which purportS TO
"streamline' their mess.
S FAR aS one can make out
"A from the almost incohereni
wording Of the order, II provides
that those industrial branches
which hitherto reported to the
division of civilian supply Cthat
IS Mr. Leon Henderson, viii now
report directly 10 the director
general and the associate dircc-
tor general.
Without Stressing the obvious
Tact that no one can report sue
ceSSfully 10 two masters. this
order apparently, detractS from
the authority of the only man
IN this whole picture who even
vaguely approaches the stature
of Mr. Baruch II IT doesn't, il
IS mere cyewaSh.
I know Leon Henderson well
and disagree with him on many
points. But there is one thing
that you've got 10 admire about
this guy He takes the ball and
runs with IT, With far less
authority than the grandioSe
Observation-Disclosures order provides
for Mr.. Hillman and Mr.. Knud-
sen. he has accomplished far
more than they.
Undoubtedly he gets into the
hides of lot Of his associates.
Either his head or theirs should
drop in the basket. The great
firmneSs shown in the Pacific
army and navy affairs was uni
Sersally approved If it means
anything, II is just as necessary
IN this case to confirm the grow
ing popular confidence in our
war effort.
Doubtless. the heads Of some
Of Mr.. Henderson'S associates
should go, too. But Leon is an
able, young technician with
brains. His better men are the
boys that are going 10 win the
war on the industrial as we'll as
1.-The military
As IN the case of Pacific COM
manders. the doors must replace
those who have had the indus
trial ball for over a year and
h a We been fumbling it-and
sometimes running backwards.
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