The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-30

| ueaung IN foreign
business of three other government
corporations, the control of all U. S
imports and exports, and he heads
up the country's biggest bank in
surance business besides.
His responsibilities run into the
multi-billions of dollars, making the
Rockefellers and the Morgans look
like pikers by comparison. Yet he
never ran for political office and
works for the government without
pay, taking his compensation from
his private business job as president
of the Standard Gas and Electric
Co. of Chicago, from which he has
leave Of absence to work for Uncle
Sam.
Crowley came to Washington in
1884 from the Wisconsin Banking
Review Board to head up the gov
ernment's new Federal Deposit In
surance Corporation, which protests
every bank depositors funds up to
$4,000. FDIC is still Crowley's pride
and pet and he won't give up his
job as its president as long as he
is in government service.
In 1899, when he was offered the
job as president of Standard Gas
Crowley did send his resignation in
to the President, but it wasn't &C
cepted. Crowley had performed le-
gion service in swinging Wisconsin
and the northwest Progressive into
line behind the Roosevelt ticket, in
return for Democratic support of
the Progressive in state and local
matters. The President didn't want
to let him go.
At one time, he is supposed to
have been offered Craftsmanship of
the Democratic National Committee.
Crowley didn't take it, but he be-
came political adviser and stayed
in Washington.
A QUIET LIFE,
WITH GIN RUMMY
He leads a relatively quiet life.
He lives in the Mayflower Hotel
apartments in downtown Washing
ton, gets to work by 9 and usually
quits on time, which is 4:3O or S.
Often he takes some of his apart
ment heads back to the hotel with
him for supper, then session of
gin rummy and chewing the fat
over some of their problems
Crowley also cheWs cigars-half
a dozen of them a day-but he
seldoms lights up because of sinus
infection and doctors orders, which
also make him a teetotaler.
Crowleys pals in Washington in
clude, principally, the men he works
with. He prides himself on being
great picker of men. He has had to
discharge only two in the nine years
he has been in Washington. Crowley
is a great delegator of authority to
subordinates.
He is close to, and liked by the
big delegation of congressman who
live at the Mayflower.
John K. Mckee Of the Federal
Reserve Board is a particular crony,
and so is Jesse Jones, from whose
RFC, ironically enough, Crowley is
taking over the Export-Import Bank,
Rubber Reserve Corporation, Pc
troleum Development Corporation,
U. S. Commercial Co., and the
foreign programs in Defense Plant
Corporation Defense Supplies Cor
poration and Metals Reserve Cor
poration. Crowley frequently takes
Sunday morning breakfast in the
Jones apartment at the Shoreham,
and they talk things over there.
CHANCE TO
GO TO PRISON
Divorcing all these government
companies from the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation and passing
them over to Crowley's new Office
of Economic Warfare may take
weeks or months. Crowley has said
that he doesn't want to change ex-
listing organizations any more than
necessary, but all the RFC sub
salaries are so interrelated that
prying them loose is complicated.
When the separation is made, 1t
appears now that Secretary Jones
will have lost only one prize port
folio-that of the Export Import
Bank. For the rest, Jones is the
winner and the laugh may be on
Crowley, for all these other foreign
operations involve secret wartime
deals, such as preclusive buying
which canot escape being the sub
iect of congressional Investigations
when the war is over.