The Wilmington morning star., 1944-09-22
Careerist Reaches Ton
BY ARTHUR KROCK

BY ARTHUR KROCK
WASH1NGTON.-Th pinnacle Of Govern
ment employment, except in the State Depart.
ment, has usually meant chief clerkship at
the END OF active service and then retirement
on meager pay. In normal times these limi.
tatlons have prevented innumerable men and
women of appropriate ability from making a
career of Government service This is the
longstanding condition that has impelled the
Secretary of the Navy, Mr.. Forrestal, in sea-
son and out to urge that the top ranks of
Government be opened to trained public SER
wants and that the best possible facilities for
training them be provided
In the State Department number of AS
sistant and Under Secretaries have been ca
reer men, and expandingly during the Roose-
welt Administrations, chiefs of important dip
lomatic missions have been chosen from vet
Grams in the foreign service field. The eleva-
ton of Daniel W. Bell to be Under-Secretary
of the Treasury is another instance of what
Mrs. Forrestal has been talking about But
the outstanding example has now been provid-
ed by the Presidents selection of j. A. Krug
to be Acting Chairman of the War Production
Board.
Mr. Tor "Cap") Krug is trained public
servant. He specialized in public utility power
policies and the industry as whole while a
student at the University Of Wisconsin. Later
he took on a task for the Federal Communi-
cations Commission for which his study quail
fled him. After that he was invited by the
Governor OF Kentucky. now Senator, Albert B.
Chandler, to compose rate controversy there
But no sooner had he been introduced to the
Governor than that official startled him, and
broke every rule Of politics in Kentucky, by
asking him to take charge of all the State
connections with utility services-a job Mr..
Krug carried out under pledge made and
JynvSt 1>yv ~ IL L..
run It as he chose, without political inter-
ference.
The young experts next connection was with
the Tennessee Valley Authority, and there ne
won the personal and official regard of one
Of the truly great though non-professional,
public servants Of this age, John Lord OBrian,
whose contribution to winning this war is as
large as it is unknown. That was Mr.. Krug' S
stepping stone to the high place he now &C.
cupies.
When public power became a matter of
anxiety in the preparedness and then in the
war, programs, Mr.. O'Brian suggested that
the young man from IVA Che is now in his
middle thirties) be brought to Washington to
provide the supply. In those days a power
shortage was being freely predicted by high
officials of the Government, and this prospect
was intensified by the widespread drought that
| reduced to trickle water sources of power
in the following summer.
But under Mr.. Krug's direction the shortage
never appeared He devised economy meas
ures; integrations that shifted the load and
diverted supply to needful areas from less
emergent ones; and public-private power
pool that met our growing requirements.
! Having proved his administrative and engi.
neering skill in this effort, as previously In the
| IVA purchase of Commonwealth and Southern
properties Mr.. Krug was given the direction
of the Program Requirements Committee, an
~. L. L. ~f,,11,
performing until he joined the Navy some
months ago. Working first under Vice Chair
man Eberstadt of WPB, and then under Vice
Chairman Wilson. the young public servant
organized staff which went over the War
waging acquisitions of all departments and
bureaus concerned and trimmed them down to
fit the supply, giving first preference to the
programs of the Army and the Navy. His al
locations were subject to review by the di-
rectors of the War Production Board, consist
| ing of the heads of departments and agencies
chiefly engaged in supplying the war, but very
little alterations were made In Mr.. Krug S
parcels. At the same time, as chief OF the
Office of War Utilities, he was keeping abreast
of his special field.
| In the midst of all this Mr.. Krug Technical.
ly he is still Lieutenant Commander Krug,
USNR, inactive) originated or brought to full
development the mobile plants which have
solved power problems on both the home and
/ combat fronts. -Four OF IueSe nave Ueen DULL
| to move on rivers and lakes to points where
extra supply is needed or shortages threaten.
ed, and they have generated sufficient energy
to meet requirements. The armed services
have adopted them for use abroad, assisting
floating and port operations of all kinds that
use power Doubtless they will in time appear
as amphibious or even triphibious providing
new instrument for war and peace.
When the President sent Chairman Nelson
of WPB to China, and Vice Chairman Wilson
resigned, Mr.. O'Brian urged that the Navy be
asked to release Lieutenant Commander Krue
to serve as acting chairman, and Secretary
Forrestal and the Army authorities enthu
sastcally supported the idea.
!, The political and economic PHILOSOPHERS
which seem to be the bases of his WPB policy
have been received with great satisfaction
by believers in the free-enterprise system ano
the advocates Of Government surrender of war
time controls as rapidly as possible Mr.. Krus
hopes, through the services OF WPB men who
have CONG from industry and through WIPES