Evening star., 1942-12-01
FuuIty Methods

There Is no question about the
necessity of the Nationwide ration
ing of gasoline, which became effec-
morning. To have postponed it, in
response to the laSt-ditch protests of
some congressional opponents, or to
have softened the restrictions de-
signed to conserve existing rubber
tireS, would have been most unWiSe.
Such action would not have allevi-
ated the relatively unimportant
hardShipS involved, and which are
inevitable, and sign of wavering
on the part of the rationing author
tiles in Washington might have
weakened their subsequent programs
affecting other commodities. The
firmness shown by the President and
his advisers, in the face of pleas and
objections, is commendable.
But it will be a mistake if the
rumblings of discomfort in Congress,
which merely reflect public senti-
ment in the Nation, are not studied
closely by the administrative agencies
In Washington in an effort to find
out, and to remedy, what lies behind
them. Senator Vandenberg told the
Senate yesterday that the Nation
wide program was premature and
inadvisable" because of what he
called the totally inadequate" ar
rangements. These, the Senator said,
involve hastily set-up administrative
machinery which has undertaken so
great task that it threatens to
break down in confusion and chaos"
The protests from Michigan, he said,
are duplicated in the protests which
reach members Of Congress from all
over the country
These protests reflect a failure in
Washington to take into account
local problems, which, if they are
solved at all, must be solved on the
spot. The farmers of Kansas, for
instance, have been indignant over
the fact that Office of Defense
Transportation applications for truck
gasoline we're sent to Detroit and
passed on by persons unfamiliar with
farming operations or the individual
needs of the farmers. Senator VAN
denberg quoted letters from farmers
In Michigan who have to travel all
the way across the State and appear
personally before a rationing board
in order to get a reconsideration of
allotment of gasoline for trucks. 1t
might have been more simple if the
Off1ce of Defense Transportation had
worked with the farmers through
the farm agents, who know the
farmers and their needs. But the
farm agents have been by-passed and
entirely new agencies created.
An article in Sundays Star indi-
Gated apprehension by some officials
lest the fuel rationing program break
down in some of the larger cities be-
cause of the vast amount of COM
plicated administrative procedure
which has been ordered from Wash
ington.
A Senate committee. under chair
manship of Senator Byrd is about to
begin an inquiry into the nature and
extent Of the paperwork, question
naires, etc, which are being sent by
various Government agencies to citi-
sens corporations and small business
establishments. The indiscriminate
and uncontrolled flood of such de-
mands involving labor, time and
expense on the part of the citizens,
has reached incredible proportions.
And it is the feeling on the part of
citizens that these constant demands
are wholly unnecessary, that they
represent the whimsical decisions of
iobholders in Washington instead of
a necessary part of the war effort,
that Is breaking down public conf
.dence in and respect for the really
essential rationing programs.