Evening star., 1942-01-17


Congress really David Lawrence.
writes the laws specifying how the
executive departments and bureaus
shall function and that the Chief
Executive hasn't the power to dele
gate things that the Congress says
are to be done by the President.
The new executive order states
first of all, that the production
board of which Mr.. Nelson has been
named chairman "is established
within the Office for Emergency
Management OF the executive Of
hces." One has to turn to the orig
inal executive order creating the
Office for Emergency Management
to find that it consists of five diff
ferent bureaus or boards, all OF
which are on the same level with
that Of the new production board.
These nve are the White House
Office or staff, the Bureau of the
Budget, the National Resources
Planning Board, the Liaison Office
for Personnel Management and the
Once of Government Reports.
An Advisory Unit.
1t is further stated in the original
executive order that the ONCE for
Emergency Management shall "ad-
wise and assist the President" or
that it shall serve as a division of
the Executive Office" or that it
shall serve as a channel of COM
munication between such agencies
and the President" and similar
functions.
The whole idea Of the Office for
Emergency Management is to ad-
wise the President. There is nothing
in the original order or in the one
just announced which gives au-
thority to anybody to fire anybody.
The other Federal departments.
establishments and agencies are
notified by the new executive order
that they shall comply with the
policies, plans, methods and pro-
cedures in respect to war procure
ment as determined by the chair
man (Mr. Nelson)." But nothing
is indicated as to how departments
which have statutory duties are to
comply and what will happen to
them if they don't.
1t will be noticed also that "the
Army and Navy Munitions Board
shall report to the President through
the chairman Of the War Production
Board" The language used does
not provide that the Army and Navy
Munitions Board, which awards con-
tracts and establishes priorities for
military material. shall report to
the chairman" The words used are
through the chairman" and only
ITO the President"
Maybe it was found that under
our constitutional and congressional
system the Army and Navy are def
mite entities which cannot be man.
aged except as provided by Congress.
The simple way out of it, of course,
was to make Mr.. Nelson either Sec
retary of War or Secretary of the
Navy or a general in command of
military production.
Cabinet System Antiquated.
Mr.. Roosevelt did put William
Knudsen in uniform, making him a
lieutenant general in charge of pro-
duction for the War Department.
This is a commendable move. In
wartime it is desirable to eliminate
civilians from actual management
responsibility for military tasks and
in this war the awarding of con-
tracts and the supervision of the
fulfllment job is pretty much
military matter.
The real trouble the President is
having is with our antiquated cab
met system. Congress ought to Gre
ate a ministry Of production and
define its duties in wartime and
make the post equal in rank to or
above that Of the Army and Navy.
Years ago cabinet post Of national
defense was urged as q means of
unifying military and naval prepara-
tions. Such post would today be in
order and then there would not be 50
much need for o. P. MS and o. E.
MS and all the other agencies which
have been created by Mr. Roosevelt
In a sort of unofficial exercise of
executive power. The British system
permits of greater fleXibility and a
much more direct check of respon-
sibility by the people on their public
officials.
Mr.. Nelson will do the best he
can with the new executive order
He has been made production chief
In theory and the powers as written
In that order are implicit rather
than explicit. If the President backs
him up and official Washington
comes to realize Mr.. Nelson is really
. boss and can secure respect for his
commands, it won't matter much
what was written in the original
executive order.
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