Evening star., 1943-09-27
Gratifying Appointments

Inc changes which the President
has made in his official family -
changes that place increased respon-
sibilities upon the shoulders of Ed
ward R. Stettinius, jr., and Leo
T. Crowley - should meet with a
favorable reception throughout the
| country.
There are two principal reasons
for approving these appointments.
First, in the case of Mr.. Crowley, they
tend to centralize important war
time economic functions under one
| individual. Heretofore these func-
tions have been scattered among
several agencies, condition which
seldom is productive of good results,
and the experience in this instance
was no exception to that rule. Sec
ond, the appointments are gratifying
because of the caliber of the men in
volved.
The records of both are we'll known.
Mr.. Stettinius, who has been named
to succeed Sumner Welles as Under
secretary of State, came to Washing
ton in 1910 from the Craftsmanship
OF the board of the United States
Steel Corporation His early expert
ence in Washington, first as chair
man of the War Resources Board and
then as chairman of the priorities
board of the Office of Production
Management, was not happy one.
He was criticized by some New Deal
ers and labor spokesmen for what
they regarded as needless delays in
converting industry from a peace
time to wartime basis. This crit
icism, or most of it, was not justi-
fed, but Mr.. Stettinius took it"
gracefully. His faculty for getting
along with people was standing him
in good stead. Some time later, re-
portedly at the suggestion of Harry
Hopkins, he was named lendlease
administrator, and the record that
he has made there, both in his ad-
ministrative capacity and in his rela-
tions with Congress and the people,
speaks for itself.
Mr.. Stettinius once undertook to
explain the reasons underlying the
success of the lend-lease program.
mo one in our organization" he said,
"has any interest in personal ad-
vancement. We are all down here to
do a job and win the war, and when
it's over we intend to go back to
whatever we were doing before" Mr..
Stettinius will take the point of view
with him to the State Department,
and it is an attitude which augurs
we'll for his success in his new post.
Mr.. Crowley has much the same
concept of his functions as wartime
public servant. Like Mr. Stettinius,
he has successful background in
"big business" but he, too, believes
that he is in Washington to do a job,
and he wants to get it done. When
MIR. Crowley was picked by the Pres
ident few weeks ago to take over
the foreign economic activities that
had been subject of controversy be-
tween Vice President Wallace and
Secretary of Commerce Jones he
summed up his attitude toward his
new job in these words: "It would
be foolish on my part to go in Ito his
new post and start Immediately to
disrupt an established setup. The big
thing, it seems to me, is to follow the
foreign policy of the President and
Secretary of State Hull, and that is
what am going to do" This is evi-
dence Of sense of proportion that
will serve him we'll as he takes over
his larger responsibilities within the
framework of State Department
policy.
Both men have this in common:
Despite their own exceptional abil-
tiles, they are willing and able to stay
within the policies laid down by their
official superiors. Neither man will
attempt to substitute his own judg-
ment for the judgment of the Presi-
dent and Mr.. Hull on matters of gov
ernmental policy. And this, when all
is said and done, is the essence of
successful administration, whether
in Government or in private business.