Evening star., 1943-07-06

which left Sec 4o& -
retary of Com David Lawrence.
merce Jones, head of the RFC, out
in the cold He had to stand aside
and see the charges leveled against
him by Vice President Wallace ig-
nored.
So Mr.. Jones, who is a fighter,
simply carried his case to the court
of public opinion, too. And the
public is the gamer thereby For
the Jones letter, addressed to the
chairman of the Senate Appropria-
tions Committee, reveals that while
there has been on the part of the
RFC considerable caution in ap-
proving contracts for the use of
public funds, there has been an at
titude of carelessness toward the
expenditure of public funds on the
part of the would-be spenders. The
complaints of the latter have
brought charges against the RFC,
but Mr.. Jones now responds that he
doesn't think it is a major crime to
wish to be careful about the way the
taxpayers money is spent.
Vice President Exceeds Powers.
When the Secretary of Commerce
feels it necessary to say of Mr..
Wallace's statement that his TRADE
is 20 filled with malice innuendos.
half-truths and no truths at all 1t
is certainly bit of understatement
to say that these are just healthy
differences Of opinion as they
were called by one of the members
Of the Board of Economic Warfare
the other day in describing the rea-
sons for the Wallace statement.
1t is interesting, too, that the
Vice President of the United States.
who is member Of the Senate and
can upon occasion cast a vote on
matters of policy and even on ap-
propriat ton bills, should be not only
issuing directives and orders, as re-
vealed by Mr.. Jones statement, but
actually delegating to others such
power to sign important documents
involving hundreds of millions OF
dollars.
Under the Constitution. the Vice
President is a member of the Sem
ate and no member of the Senate
can hold Office under the executive
branch of the Government. Mr..
Jones holds portfolio in the cabi-
net by virtue of an act of Congress,
but there is no statute which per-
mits the Vice President to act in
any executive agency.
President Is to Blame.
The dispute might not have arisen
If the President had had more in
terest in keeping the constitutional
functions of the different branches
of the Government separate. But
from the beginning he mas -ostered
the notion that he is the head of
the whole Government and he does
not hesitate to put Supreme Gourt
justices to work under him or rather
to let them act in an influential ad-
visory position on matters of legis-
lative policy on which some day they
might have to pass.
1t Is true the justices can always
disqualify themselves from sitting
on any question that crises out of
legislation or policies thev helped to
prepare, but that was not the pur-
pose our founding fathers mad Ill
decreeing that the executive legisla-
tive and judicial branches of the
Government should be separate and
coordinate.
The merits of the issues raised
In the Jones' Wallace controversy
should be thoroughly studied by
,ome committee of Congress, because
evidently the administration isn't
interested in getting to the bottom
Of this revelation OF friction as well
as incompetence in handling i'm
portant problems related to the war
effort. But apart from The Issues IL
the controversy itself, public opinion
should demand that the dignity of
the Senate requires hat no luemoer
- including the Vice President -
should violate the Constitution by
holding Office or exercising a"y ca
,cutive power under The President.
Mr.. Jones says that 'squanderine
the peoples money even in wartime
is no proof of patriotism and from
one end of the country to the other,
as the taxpayers this week see 20 per
cent of their wages and salaries
withheld. there will 60 up chorus
of approval
MI. Jones has had a reputation of
trying to buy economically for the
Government. He has been the same,
no matter what the isSue-he be-
leves in acting as a trustee for the
peoples interest He says: The
RFC does not pay 81 for something
it can buy for 81. Maybe no one
does. but the point is that some men
know when you can buy it for 81,
some don't know. and some don't
care as long as they are spending
other peoples money
This is the kind OF criticism which
Congress should welcome ss a cue
fer a thorough inquiry as to what is
happening to the expenditure of
Government funds-the taxpayers
money Maybe as the number of
taxpayers increases, some public
sentiment to that effect will be de-
veloped
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