The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1943-05-06
DISORDER IN THE OPA

The chaos in the OPA, which now
has attained alarming proportions, is
not the fault of Senator Prentiss
Brown, the administrator, nor of Sen
ator Clyde Herring, his chief aide.
They inherited the mess from Mr..
Leon Henderson, who in less than a
year, constructed one of the most gro
tesque and absurd governmental ag-
encies ever conceived.
1t not only is swollen out of all pro-
portion to need but the ideas upon
which it was based disregard the les
sons of experience and clash with
common sense. For a long time the
inability of this top-heavy and lop-
| sided organization to function with
any degree of effectiveness was con-
cealed by the torrent of favorable
publicity which poured over its direc-
tor and his operations. But things
had begun to crumble before Mr.. Hen
derson was pushed out by his chief,
and the confusion had reached an I'M
precedented stage.
**#
Not until he had been installed in
the job for some weeks was it posi-
BILE for Mr.. Brown to appreciate the
degree to which the organization was
riddled with cliques, feuds, insubordi-
nation, underwriting and incompe-
tency He found an utterly disorderly
and disorganized machine, greatly
overmanned and ridiculously under
geared, with no real sense of dlrec-
ton and no clear-cut policy. One of
the best examples of what Mr.. Brown
had to contend with is provided in
the legal department of his agency
He discovered when he took hold that
there were 2,700 lawyers on the pay
roll-about 500 of them in Washing
ton and the rest scattered all over
the country.
Searching for something to justify
so enormous legal staff, Mr.. Brown
made an investigation of the British
Price Administration which has beer
functioning for four years with slight
friction and general success. Instead
of 2,7O0 lawyers, Mr.. Brown found
that the total legal staff of the Brit,
ish Price Administration was ten.
About his own OPA lawyers, Mr.
Brown speedily discovered that they
by no means were content to draw uT
legal documents and carry out in
structions. A very large number Of
them conceived of themselves as pol
lev makers, entitled to sit in on al
!. conferences and be consulted on al
major decisions.
With the assistance of Mr.. Herring
instead of coddling these young law
t wears Mr.. Brown has been trying t.
weed out some of the more unneces
: sary ones; to lessen the confusion ant
establish order. Some weeks ago, h
} told friend that, of course, he neve
| would be able to curtail his legal stat
7 to ten, but before he was through
: there would be a good many less thai
) 2,7OO.
How long it will take Mr.. Brow
5 and Mr.. Herring to get results an
5 how much they can get in the way o
f results, no matter how long they take
5 remains to be seen Two things hadi
4 cap them. One is that, though the
f are both able and clear headed, tn
2 Messrs. Brown and Herring are no
c ruthless men-and no very great re
= suits in the way of really reorganizini
, this monstrosity can be obtained with
s out considerable degree of ruthless
+ ness. Mr. Brown has achieved an I'M
provemment through the removal G
: some of the more preposterous of tn
n young men who posed as "indisper
!. sables" in his organization, but Their
:, are so many incompctents tucke
n away in so many places that sweepln
c them all out is formidable job.
: The other handicap is even create
1t is the handicap imposed by tn
+ sheer weight of a years growtl
: Though this vast organization vol
t bles and rolls, twists, turns and -four
: ders, still, in a sense, it is "goin
+ concern" and it seems impossible no.
f to destroy it utterly and build agal
/. from the bottom, though that is wha
f ought to be done and probably wha
C Mr.. Brown would like to do. But, eve
= if he and Mr.. Herring were ruthles
/. enough to do that, it could not
2 done without full Presidential sane
ton and support And that will nc
: be given.
: For one thing it would involve pull
S lie admission that Mr.. Roosevelt
S whole course from the beginning c
c OPA has been wrong. 1t would b
: equal to saying that he not only faile
to lay down a sound policy at tn
y start but failed to appoint the rigr
! man and that he had wasted an in
d mcnsc amount of time and none!
{ Though the President did discove
lnr ". 90