Evening star., 1942-01-29

and practices David Lawrence.
were all suspect because a small
minority were accused OF cutting
corners In the financial world.
Because it was politically fash
bnable to denounce businessmen,
many New Dealers have developed
a sort of contempt for business ad-
ministration as such. And yet the
Pearl Harbor fiasco could never have
happened in the ordinary routine
OF large business organization. 1t
couldn't have happened on the rail-
roads which moved 100000 troops
recently in record time and it
couldn't have happened in any large
industrial enterprise where the full
1illment Of any vital order had been
intrusted to any key executive or
his subordinates.
While there was an era in Ameri-
can life when success in business
administration and efficiency was
overemphasized, few will question
today the fact that efficient organi-
cation such as Germany has per-
fected in wartime is absolutely in
dispensable to the successful opera
tion of a military service. The
greatest surprise has, therefore, been
expressed among business folks that
either the Army or Navy could be
50 poorly equipped in its executive
mechanism as to permit important
orders to be issued without a check
up by anybody to determine
whether such orders were fulfilled.
Business Lessons Ignored.
The New Deal administration has
assiduously cultivated the idea that
business methods are something to
Be treated with suspicion. To some
extent every administration in
Washington has ignored the lessons
Of business discipline but that's be-
cause the political motive or the
vanity motive interferes. Politics
sometimes becomes 50 much in
grained In a governmental system
that 1t overnows even into the serv-
ices and agencies of Government |
which should be the last to sue
eumb to its wiles.
Thus Washington has heard COM
ment from time to time that gen
erals or adnirals who kow.tow to
the political biswigs Of the present
administration are given favored
posts over and above the heads Of
those who deserve promotions on
merit.
Then there is the tenacity with
which some men in the Army and
Navy have insisted on performing
executive functions in Washington
when they are not fitted for 1t at
all. Some Of them who may be ex-
cellent with troops in the field or
with men on shipboard have had
little experience In actual manage
ment Of business. Yet they handle
enormous war contracts and prop
erty. Civilians. on the other hand,
II introduced into the Army and
Navy and given commissions find a
certain hostility to them because
they haven't won their right to a
uniform through either West Point
or Annapolis.
Dollar-a-Year Men Denounced.
To get trained executives and put
them on q civilian basis is not al
ways satisfactory either. The dol
lar-a-year men for instance who
have volunteered have been de-
nounced as disloyal to the Govern
ment and loyal to their former en-
ployers. While occasional instances
Of this kind may have occurred, the
charge on the whole is baseless and
unfair. Yet it is made by some
members Of Congress every now and
then and results in a disservice to
the war effort because efficient men
do not like to volunteer for war duty
only to be abused by the politi-
clans.
1t is Z well-known fact that the
ablest men in America are not in
Washington helping to run the war
machine. The ablest men happen to
be political opponents Of the ad-
ministration and for that reason
the President would not have them
In positions of Importance in the
Government. Mr.. Roosevelt pre-
fers men who for the most part are
his political supporters or personal
friends. The present cabinet has
not been streamlined for war. No
President in recent history has kept
50 many men over a period Of eight
years in his cabinet. Mr.. Roosevelt
rarely fires anybody and when there
Is no likelihood Of dismissal the at
mosphere in any organization soon
reeks Of inemciency and neglect OF
duty.
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