Evening star., 1942-12-18
Mr.. Henderson Resians

The resignation of Leon Henderson
as head of the Office Of Price Admin
istration comes at time when he
had reached the end of his usefulness
in that capacity. And the probable
tiles are that Mr.. Henderson, under
standing this, was ready and willing
to step aside.
His views on this score were set
forth during a press conference last
summer, when he was engaged in a
losing battle with Congress for sub
sides to help maintain price ceilings.
A reporter had asked him if he
would resign if his continuance in
office stood in the way of getting the
subsidies, and he had replied in the
affirmative.
CAS- see It," he said, my JOB is to
resist pressures of all kinds; to make
the determinations; to hold the line
as far as you can hold it and hope to
survive. I am not so much worried
about this resignation item. Person.
alities are just supposed to be chewed
up and expended, like paper clips
and rubber bands. I don't chew so
easily =, but have a boss.
Over period of time we have had
only one working relationship, and
that was that when I reached the
end Of my usefulness I would say,
'Good-by,' and I think I would leave
1t to him on that" 1t is in this spirit
that Mr.. Henderson, as price admin
istrator, and the President have come
to the parting OF the ways.
Looking back, it seems clear enough
that there are two main reasons for
Mr.. Hendersons early departure:
First, he was in post where it was
inevitable that he should make enc
mics, and, second, he has had a gift
for making them unnecessarily. In
his fight for his price control pro-
gram, Mr.. Henderson has played no
favorites. He antagonized labor by
his insistence on wage stabilization
and longer work-week. He antag-
onized the farmers by clamping CELL
ings on the prices of their products.
He antagoniZed the Senate by re-
fusing to play any politics in the
selection of State OPA officials. And
he antagonized a host of people who
have no pressure group affiliations
because, being the "top man" in OPA,
he was the natural target for their
resentment over the unfamiliar in
conveniences and needless annoy,
ances of the various rationing
programs.
The assumption is debatable, but
the probabilities are that Mr.. Hender-
son would have had smoother sailing
II he had known how to sugar-coat
the bitter medicine that he had to
pass out. But Mr.. Henderson either
did not know how, or he did not care.
His policy was to hew to the line.
letting the chips and the adjectives
fall at random, with the result that
1t has become necessary for him to
step down in order to save OPA from
the wrath Of an incoming Congress.
Present indications are that Mr..
Henderson will be succeeded some
time next month by Senator Prentiss
Brown Of Michigan, who was de-
feated in the November elections, and
that the latter intends to relax some
OF the harsher rationing orders and
to rely more on voluntary agreements
than compulsion in the effort to
conserve and distribute equitably the
stocks OF scarce goods. If this fore
cast Is borne out, there will be less
OF the "crack down" technique in the
OPA Of the future and more de-
pendence on the willingness Of the
American people to comply volun-
tarily with the conservation pro-
grams which the war has made
inevitable. This, certainly, will make
the price-control and rationing pro-
grams more popular with the people.
But 1t remains to be seen whether
1t will also produce the necessary
results.