Evening star., 1943-06-29
TUESDAY
Exit Mr.. Davis

There Will be very genuine regret
that the country, at this critical
period, has lost the services of so
able a man as War Food Admins
traitor Chester c. Davis And there
is cause for still greater regret in the
picture of the reasons for his de-
parture which has been given to the
public.
Mr.. Davis was drafted" by the
President three months ago from his
Federal Reserve post to take over
direction of the administrations
tottering food program. Because of
Mr.. Davis recognized ability, the
appointment was widely acclaimed,
although there was grave doubt at
the time that he had been given
powers commensurate with his re-
EponSibilitieS. Now, ninety days later,
his resignation is accepted by the
President in a letter which makes
no pretenSe Of hiding bad feeling.
There were two basic reasons for
MIR. Davis decision to resign: First,
because he found that he had as
sumed a public responsibility while
the authority, not only over broad
food policy, but day-to-day decision,
Is being exercised elsewhere" Sec
ond, because he was not in sympathy
with, and lacked confidence in the
efficacy of the administrations roll
back subsidy program. These GER
tainly are valid reasons for reSigna-
ton, and Mr. Davis should be COM
mended for stating them with can
dor. But the President, in his letter
accepting the resignation, made full
use of innuendo to rebuke Mr.. Davis.
With respect to his lack of author
ity, Mr.. Davis had stated that he was
not even consulted in the decision to
apply the rollback subsidy program
a decision which had vital bearing
on the job that he was supposed to
supervise. He added that he had
never been able to get to the nerve
center" where food policy is formu-
lated, and that he did not know who
actually made the policy. In other
words, he discovered that he had
been cast in the role of errand boy,
expected to carry out policies in the
shaping of which he had no voice.
Mr.. Roosevelt did not meet this COM
plant squarely. Instead, he implied
that Mr.. Davis was unco-operative
and unwilling to accept decisions of
the stabilization director. Actually,
Mr.. Davis had asked only for a voice
In the shaping of these decisions
and, so far as the record shows, had
not sought authority to ignore them
Amplifying his distrust of the type
Of subsidies advocated by the PreSi-
dent, Mr.. Davis said he did not be-
lieve they could be effective unless
accompanied by current tax and
savings programs capable of draining
off excess purchasing power. Mr.
Roosevelt answered this by implying
that Mr.. Davis was not in sympathy
with the objective of holding down
the cost of living. 1T would be
unfair to you,' the President wrote,
ito insist that you remain in your
position when you feel that, all
things considered, you cannot whole
heartedly support program to hold
down the cost of living" This is tan
tamount to saying that there is no
place in the administration for any
one who does not subscribe whole
heartedly to the Presidents program,
no matter what its defects. And
even as to defects, the President
takes no responsibility. He blamed
Congress for the lack of a real tax
program, although the responsibility
lies at least in part with his adminiS-
tration, and he ignored the reasons
for the failure to devise an effective
savings program, which is the direct
result of his unWillingneSs to recon-
mend compulsory savings.
There will be few to envy Judge
Marvin Jones as he steps into Mr..
Davis official shoes. Presumably, he
is expected to administer the food
program by unquestioning compli-
ance with the administrations plan
"a plan which seeks to cry down,
without remedying, obvious and fatal
deficiencies. 1t would be foolishly
optimistic to suppose that he will be
able to overcome the political, tenn
peramental and organizational OBJ
stacles which brought about the
downfall of Mr.. Davis and, before