The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1943-07-22
Mr.. Ickes' Complaint

Just how far our government has gone along the road
to totalitarianism is shown in Secretary Ickes' denumcia-
ton Of the STA year business men who have been draft
and finance to help handle the war program in Washing
ton.
Mr.. Ickes says: IF the war program has broken down
at any point it hasn't been chargeable to the brain
trusters,' to the New Dealers or the bureaucrats.'
1T isn't the New Dealers who have been running this
war" he said before the Sales Executive Club meeting in
New York. Il chollenge anyone to name names and Tx
responsibilities"
Ickes said the toughest job" of converting to war
purposes fell to the Federal Government, and commented
that the President did not turn the job of conversion
over to a New Dealer 'bureaucrat' such as myself"
HE summoned to Washington some Of the greatest
names in industry and put the owners OF them to work:
] have sometimes ventured to think-all by myself, OF
course-that this sudden and great influx of men, who,
while highly competent in their own fields, were mex
perienced and unframed in and unsympathetic with Gov
eminent procedures, was not as well advised as 1t ap-
peared to be.
II not only deprecate, l deplore, monkeyshines in Con-
gress and the miscaling Of signals by public officials
that disturb the peace Of mind of the people and lead
them to suspect that a revolutionary outburst may be
in the making"
The American public by now is aware of the fact that
the real power in Washington is not held by the success
full $1-a year men who have been called to Washington at
a personal sacrifice to serve their country. The public
knows these men have been hamstrung by the bureau
Gratis" as Mr.. Ickes called himself, until they have not
been able to deliver what the country expected.
Instead of being given the authority to carry out what
ever is needed to get the utmost production in our war
program the $1-a year men have found themselves bound
up in red tape and fired upon continually from all direc-
tons by a group of professional government parasites.
Mr.. Ickes might well challenge the American public to
name names and fix responsibilities. The whole of Wash
ington is so tangled up in red tape and conflicting men,
orandums, rules and regulations that we doubt seriously
that all the bright young lawyers on the government
payroll combined could unwind it.
The real power in Washington is held by the men be-
hind the scenes, the group that constitutes the Presi-
dents closest friends and advisors Harry Hopkins,
Felix Frankfurter, Judge Rosenman, Lowell Melett,
Morgantheau, Henry Wallace, Secretary Ickes and a few
others not so well known.
Mr.. Ickes and the rest of this group might well deplore
"monkeyshines" in Congress that let the people in the
hinterland know that everything is not exactly what it
should be in Washington. If his own personal wishes were
followed we are certain the revolution he spoke of
would be completed before the American people woke up
to what is actually going on under the guise of waging a
war.
Fortunately, in spite of everything the Administration
has done, Congress has not been entirely discredited by
the American people. The people have a little confidence
left in Congress and now that Congress is slowly re-
viving to life and self-assertion we may expect even
more from it in the future.
In damning Congress we should bear in mind one of the
first things Hitler and his kind do to a people is cause
them to lose confidence, by one means or another, in
their government. Congress is our government. 1t is the
only safeguard the American people have to guard their
liberties.
The main fault we find with Congress is that it has
given the blank check too much to the President; that it
has in effect abdicated by permitting the Chief Execu-
tive to govern by directives instead of sticking to the
constitution.
But as long as we still have a Congress and one elected
ton will not be successful.