Evening star., 1942-05-31
Jesse Jones' Power
Continues to Increase
By OUen L. Scott.

war JODS are plllrg up on Jesse Jones
again at rate that soon may make him
the most important war-job holder In
Washington.
A few short weeks ago there were
those who saw Mr.. Jones edged out of
the center of things. He had refused
to take the blame for the fact that the
United States did not corner all of the
worlds rubber supply. The President
had appeared to take away the power
that he exercised in building defense
houses and in acquiring foreign raw ma
terials.
Yet today Mr.. Jones is in the picture
more than ever. His organization con-
break records in doing SO. The men who
were supposed to take over this Job
simply did not have the machinery to
run it. His organization also continues
to do this country's buying of foreign
raw materials. The men in the Board
Of Economic Warfare who were supposed
to take over direction of this task find
peared at distance.
The result is that Jesse Jones really
has lost no actual power. At the same
time, he is taking on new and highly
important tasks.
One of these new tasks is to backstop
the Governments new system of price
control which reaches to the heart of the
economic system. 1t Is a task of i'm
mense difficulty and one that can lead
to disaster for whole industries and
whole regions. Mr. Jones has been
called upon by Leon Henderson to work
out and to manage a system of subsidies
that will cushion the shock Of price fix
ing and that will prevent slowing of
the economic system yet without en-
couraging ineficiency or leading to too
heavy drains on the national treasury.
This is a job that requires much wis
dom and experience. Mr.. Henderson
turned to Jesse Jones to do it. The job
is one that probably will require the use
of billions of dollars.
Another of the new tasks that Mr..
Jones has taken on Is that of back
stopping this country's new system OF
rationing. His organization is to help
finance, or to acquire, the stock of new
cars in dealers hands. If and when the
time comes to requisition tires, the Re-
construction Finance Corp. that he
heads, will do the job. The same applies
to any requisitioning of cars in the
hands of the public.
Mr.. Jones is financing the new syn
thetic rubber program. He has made
deals involving an outlay of about $780,
100000 to pay for plants enough to pro-
duce 100000 tons of rubber. He is urging
the War Production Beard to expand
this program to ST 900 900 900 in order to
be on the safe side in the matter of
eventual rubber supply.
At the same time. the R. F. c. under
Mr.. Jones guidance, is helping busl-
nesSmen to convert their plants to war
work. The program OF new plant ex-
pansion that he has financed now is so
far along that the w. P. B. is talking
about slowing down future expansion so
that there will be raw materials enough
to feed into the plants that now are
about completed or that will be avail
able as soon as the automobile and other
industries are fully converted to war.
Any one of these operations is full
sized job in itself. Jesse Jones takes
them all in stride and looks for more
1t IS this fact which long has been
matter of amazement to New Dealers
who periodically become convinced that
they can catch Mr.. Jones off base and
bring about his retirement. The fact Is.
however, that the Jones critics proba bly
will continue to be disappointed because
of two factors.
One of these is the know how" that
Jesse Jones has acquired by a long life
of experience. Most of the practical
problems that crop up in Government
operations are merely problems that he
has dealt with on a smaller scale in a
lifetime of business operation, banking,
real estate operation and promotion.
The other factor in Mr. Jones strength
is the R. F. C. organization that he has
built in Washington. The operating
machinery of this organization is recog-
nized as the most efficient in the Gov
ernment. 1t is closely knit and we'll ad-
mlnistered and has attracted and held
very many men of outstanding ability.
AS result, Jesse Jones can take over
jobs and get them done with a minimum
Of fanfare and fuss.
New Dealers, however. never have
liked Mr. Jones. The reason is that he
is not inclined to mix too much reform
with his Government operations. His
is the key position in any system Of
state capitalism. He is the operating
banker within the Government. The
terms and conditions of the loans that
he makes can have very great in
fluence on the character Of the economic
system.
The New Deal would like to have
Jesse Jones use his lending power in
wartime to create a vast system of state
owned industry. This system then would
be available after the war as a system
separate from private industry that
could be used to compete with private
industry or to be a "yardstick" for
measuring the efficiency of private in
dustry's operations or as the nucleus
of program of production for use
rather than profit.
Mr.. Jones has refused to accept the
viewpoint that he should remake the
economic system.
The rubber plants that he is financing
are to be owned by rubber companies,
oil companies and other private in
terests. The steel plants that he is
financing are fitted into the plants of
operating private steel companies and