Evening star., 1944-03-26
Dewey
Continued From Page C-1.)

out these plans with a 31-to-21 ma
Jority in the Senate and a 90-to-6O
majority in the Assembly.
Careful in Appointments.
Dewey has told friends that he
stopped practicing law the instant
he was sworn in as Governor and
became an executive. The State
government is more than 95 per cent
under civil service, but he went after
the top men, He retained a few
Democrats, but in most departments
he made new appointments and
prodded the old officials into action.
He persuaded high-salaried private
persons to enter the States service,
and about fourth of his appointees
were bright and energetic men in
their 30s. He greatly annoyed the
small-time party politicians, who
were thirsting for spoils, by insisting
that all applicants for jobs paying
more than $2,500 a year be investi-
gated by the State police.
With the Roosevelt-Barkley row
over executive and legislative powers
a matter of news, Dewey's hackers
can be relied upon to make the most
OF the Governors effective relation
ship with his coordinate Branch in
the Statehouse. In New York both
Republican and Democratic legisla-
tors are strictly disciplined by the
party organization leaders, but
Dewey has eased the way for his
legislative programs by frequent
conferences at the executive man.
sion with Senate and Assembly party
leaders, plus the State controller.
He even put over a State reappor-
tlonment, which cost the party a
couple of seats in the Assembly, but
added two Senators. Democrats in
slst that he made a political mis-
take by attacking the Democratic
city machine at Albany, headed by
Dan O'Connell, but the more cynical
OF these political rivals think the
Governors investigation will be
stalled off until after the Republi-
can National Convention.
There has been complete change
In the attitude of Albany CORE
spondents toward Dewey as head
OF the party and Dewey the Cover
nor. Some reporters attribute this
change to his shrewd selection of
James c. Hagerty, a young political
writer on the New York Times and
the son of James A. Hagerty, the
Times great political correspondent.
as his press relations man. Young
Hagerty has been a great help. He
knows news, State politics, local,
State and national reporters, and
he seems to have the Governors
complete confidence. Persons around
the Governor say that another ex-
planation is that on his transient
trips to Albany Dewey met different
reporters at each press conference
and did not know whom he could
trust. AS Governor, these informants
say, Dewey has met the reporters
month after month and mutual re-
spect and understanding have taken
the place of skepticism and hostility.
Popular at Mackinac.
This writer remembers Dewey at
Philadelphia in 1910 and met him
again at the Republican Mackinac
Island Conference last September.
DeWey's improvement in public re-
lations during the intervening years
has been tremendous. He was popu-
lar with the other Governors at
Mackinac and he got along with
the press. 1t was at this conference
that he made his famous statement
that he favored a postwar alliance
or understanding with Great Britain
and, If possible, with Soviet Russia
and China as the start on an inter-
national organization for the
maintenance of peace.
For this effrontery to the "isola-
tionists" and to anti-British feeling
Dewey was read out of the party by
Robert r. Mccormick in the Chi
|cago Tribune. This was not a new
experience for the young Governor
Mccormick had Illuminated in identi-
cal vein twice before, once when
Dewey Endorsed the United Service
Organizations and again when, after
some foundering, he advocated
enactment of the first lease-lend
bill. Dewey has not been worried on
any of these occasions, knowing that
they bring him support locally and
nationally.
At the Mackinac press conference
Dewey had been asked to comment
on Washington dispatch in the
Detroit News, which listed about 20
points on which President Roosevelt
and Prime Minister Churchill were