Evening star., 1943-07-18

are held in the Office of Edwin A. Halsey,
secretary of the Senate. Jones operates,
moreover, on a bipartisan basis. Con-
servative big business whether Repub-
lican or Democratic, rises and calls him
blessed
1t was no more than logical, in conse-
quence, that chairmen of congressional
investigating committees should have
fallen over themselves in declining to
undertake proposed inquiry into the
accusations brought by Vice President
Wallace
On his vote-getting expedition, Jones
condescends so far as to make himself
agreeable to reporters. AS publisher Of
the Houston Chronicle, he holds a card
to the Capitols press galleries. At stra-
tegic moments he circulates benignly
among newsmen and makes sure they
are acquainted with the right angle"
on affairs at hand.
In short, he is the most tireless and
dynamic one-man lobby in Washington.
| Observing him in the act of buttonholing
| other solons in the anterooms of the
upper chamber, Senator Bennett Champ
Clark of Missouri recently permitted a
long -smoldering indignation to boil over
IF were member of the House." Clark
exclaimed, Il would move the impeach-
ment of the Secretary of Commerce!"
The vulnerable spot in the Secretary's
| position is that his tenure of Office de-
| pends on the pleasure of the White
House. At any time the President could
ask and enforce his resignation. The
blow has never fallen, and thereby hangs
tale which poses one OF the curious
enigmas of public life. 1t is the tale of
| the cabinet members relations with his
chief.
President "Surprised"
The President was technically veracious
IN announcing at press conference
that he was as surprised" as any one
by the Vice Presidents broadside against
Jones' The text had not then arrived at
his desk. But there is ground for believ-
ing that some days earlier Wallace had
advised him of the acute tension which
had risen between the Reconstruction
Finance Corp and the Board of Eco
nomic Warfare and that Wallace an
ncunced his purpose to take steps about
4 the crisis. Presumably he received no
order to desist
On the other hand, the President re-
Trained from extreme disciplinary action
| against Jones in the most scandalous and
| topf1lght braWl of the war effort Mr..
| Roosevelt could not fire Wallace as Vice
| President, but he had the power to oust
Jones as Secretary of Commerce and
chief of RIGS domestic functions. This
power he declined to use Why?
In the first place, the President is
notoriously reluctant to cashier mud
Cling appointees His semiofficial
blographer Emil Ludwig, explains that
Mr. Roosevelt is an aristocrat, and that
an aristocrat, while chastising dis
loyalty without mercy, would think it
"indelicate" to dismiss dependent for
incompetence
In the second place, it need not be sup
posed that the White House is unaware
of the Jesse Jones empire on Capitol
Hill, or regards it with anything less
than prudent respect Finally, Jones
proved his capacity as a trouble maker
during the National Democratic Conven-
ton at Chicago in 1910, and no one
knows what he may have in mind for
1914.
| He was an active and pertinacious
candidate for the vice presidential nom
| nation In caucus of the Texas dele
! cation, he was defeated 3 to | by Sam
| Rayburn. Undaunted by this reverse in
| his own State, Jones sought the aid of
other delegations. 1t was arranged that
his name should be presented by the
vengeful James A. Farley. 1t was a plan
full Of dynamite for the Roosevelt man
at having Henry A. Wallace pushed
down its throat. At the psychological
moment, Jones withdrew from the race
| Wallace marched off with the plum, and
this circumstance may account in part
| for the excessive bitterness of the RFC-
! BEW wrangle
| "Took the Rap"
On September 10, Just three months
| after the Texan had relieved the admin
istration of what might have proved a
major embarrassment, he was appointed
| to post he had intensely coveted-that
| is, membership in the cabinet. At the
same time the White. House drove
| through Congress a special bill enabling
the Secretary of Commerce to retain the
| job OF Federal Loan Administrator The
latter position was abolished in the re-
organization of February. 1912, which
placed the entire RFC system, until then
| independent, under the direction and
supervision of the Secretary of Com
merce.
| Furthermore, according to his defend
ers, Jones holds the White House in his
oebt because he tock the rap" for Presi-
| dent Roosevelt ever the synthetic rubber
Continued on Page C-3, Column A.