Evening star., 1943-09-06

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Jeffers didn't David Lawrence.
want the job of rubber director or
any other job in Washington AS
president of the Union Pacific Rail-
road he had his hands full operat-
ing a trunk line in wartime. But
the chairman of the Union Pacific's
board of directors is Averill Harri-
man, q close friend of President
Roosevelt now serving the Govern
ment at London, and the Hartman
interests are powerful in the owner
ship of the Union Pacific.
So Mr.. Jeffers was persuaded to
come. He was indeed drafted. And
1t can be said of him today-that he
came, he saw, and he conquered
Having no ak to grind, no political
ambition to serve, no idiology to de-
fend or oppose, and no interest in
camouf1aging some one elses mis-
takes or placating some incompe-
tent officials feelings, Mr.. Jeffers
charted his own course. He had a
job to do and he showed all Wash
ington and the country how to get
1t done.
Spoke Out BIuntly.
In the first place, when sum-
Honed before congressional COM
mittee for a hearing, he spoke
bluntly and frankly and let it be
known that he wouldn't be high
pressured by politics or anything
else into doing something he
thought unsound. The whole coun-
try applauded his outspoken re-
marks.
Then Mr.. Jeffers found himself at
variance with some of the lesser
Army and Navy officers who, con-
scientious about their appointed
tasks, nevertheless were in his judg-
ment interfering with his assign
ment to get our synthetic rubber
plants built promptly. If the Army
and Navy officers were right then
some one had given Mr.. Jeffers a
wrong steer as to his authority and
goals. He forced showdown even
though 1t made some unpalatable
publicity and seemed to reveal a
bit of friction inside the ranks of
the administration. But in the end
ffr. Jeffers' point was accepted-he
vas permitted to have a fixed per-
centage of materials and supplies
With which to build the synthetic
rubber plants - percentage he
agreed was adequate though not as
much as he would have liked. He
showed himself to be both practical
and reasonable as well as assertive
Decisions Made Quickly.
After few skirmishes, all Wash
ingten knew it was best to let Bill
Jefers alone to do his job as he
had set out to do. But even those
who had disagreed. admitted that
when one did business with the
Jeffers Office it was easy to get
decision-an answer right away and
not un-around or a stall.
But Mr. Jeffers did something
else even more important than what
has been disclosed thus far. The
day he came to Washington last
September he began to train sue
cessor. He picked as his assistant
Col. Bradley Dewey and made up his
mind that as soon as his assistant
knew enough to take over the Job,
he, Bill Jeffers, would 60 back to his
railroad. He even fixed a date
July land was able to accomplish
1t within a few weeks of his time
limit. 1t can never be said of him
that he cherished the slightest idea
OF warming seat permanently in
Washington or getting enmeshed in
Its intrigues of bureaucratic rami-
ncations. There are many men who
come here and make the same reso-
luton but they don't know how to
fire" themselves-to get such good
assistants that they themselves can
retire from the scene.
His Vigor Will Be Kissed.
Bill Jeffers describes himself
sometimes as "just an easy-going
1rishman" but he has f1rmness. a
vigor, an incisiveness and an execu-
tive capacity which, while it will be
missed in Washington is already be-
ing utilized running that big trunk
line artery to the Pacific Coast in
the midst of a war which will see
bigger and better percentages of
our output moving across the con-
tinent and eventually into japanese
territory. And, incidentally, Amer
ica's synthetic rubber problem
critical last autumn-is today licked.
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