The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-28
Today & Tomorrow
BY WALTER LIPPMANN

The unseen1y row between the President
and Congress over the tax bill stems directly
from Mr.. Roosevelts refusal to reorganize
his Cabinet.
The President was elected for third term
in 1910 because the nation knew that it had
to prepare for war and that very probably
it would have to 60 to war. With this in mind
the War and Navy Departments were placed
in the hands of new men-Stimson and knox,
Patterson and Forrestal, McCloy and Bard
Lovett and Gates. For the mobilization of war
industry, for lend-lease and shipping, though
there was a good deal of funbling in the
early days, the same rule applied: new men,
chosen for their known ability and uncon-
nected with the Democratic or New Deal
politics, were brought to Washington-men
like Nelson, Wilson and Bait men like Stet-
tinius and Douglas. These men and others
like them whose names will no doubt be in
'cluded when the nation makes up its roll of
honor have been the civilian organizers Of
victory.
But for the so-called home front, though
he has himself insisted repeatedly that it is
nseparable from the fighting front, Mr..
Roosevelt has chung to his old pre-war ap-
pointees and henchmen. That is the suf-
ficient explanation why, while the military
the war is so unsatisfactory
The affair of the tax bill is a conclusive
demonstration. No one will assume or pre-
tend that Mr.. Roosevelt could or does have
any mastery of the intricate problem of war
finance. Few men have. He has to rely
upon the Treasury. So does Congress. The
Treasury alone is in a position to speak
with knowledge and authority. But in fact the
4Iaro
is no one in the Treasury who processes to
deal with war finance, not Secretary Morgen-
thau or the general counsel, Mr.. Randolph
Paul, to whom Congress will listen. It is idle
to say that Congress will not listen to any
one from the Administrations Congress lis
tens very intently and cordially to men of
proven knowledge Of their field and ability
in action-to men like Marshall and King,
Stimson, Ickes and Baruch.
Men speak with authority when they are
known to be the masters Of their subject.
The plain fact is that Secretary Morgenthau
is not the master of, he is not even very
ant pupil in the field of war finance. It is
credit to his modesty that he does not pre-
tend to be and he has been according to his
lights a devoted public servant. But this is
war and the Secretary of the Treasury should
be more than a good chief clerk of the Treas
ury Department. He should himself be the
master OIL IllS pIOD1SlllS VI war 11IIoI1CS, zap
able of leading opinion and shaping policy
and directing his subordinates. Now the fact
that the President does not have Secretary
of the Treasury upon whose judgment he
can lean has meant that Mr.. Roosevelts fis-
cal policies have been no more than a col
lection of unconsidered, casual and often con-
Trajectory statements based on memoranda
supplied by small subordinates in the Treas
ury Department.
The message vetoing the tax bill, which
Infatuated Congress, is on its face something
that could not have been written, or even
studied carefully, by the President himself:
I do not know who supplied the ill-natured
phrases and the bad manners; whoever ne u.s.
he is a most unsuitable person to have any
thing to do with the high responsibility OF the
Presidents leadership of Congress and the
country. But it is evident that the calcula-
lions and the specific criticisms OF the tax
bill must have come from the Treasury ex-
perts.
Now the character of these CRITICISMS is
evidence that the Treasury is at present I'M
equal to its task in war; The objection to
eliminating the automatic increases under the
social security law is good example In one
paragraph the message complains that this