Evening star., 1944-01-30
FEA and State Department
Split Over World Economics
Conflict of War and Peace Time Theories
Continues Despite Efforts to Bring
Complete Coordination
By Blair BoHes.

r Bolles.
Board. Hector Lazo, who was in charge
OF exports. left FEA in favor of a Job
with Loose Wiles Biscuit Co. The de-
partures have reduced the number of
men in FEA acquainted with the routine
Of It's operations.
Leo Crowley, the foreign economic ad-
ministrator, has been unable to attract
the capable men he needs to succeed
those who have left. In many instances
the best he has been able to do is to get
New York businessmen to divide their
week to enable them to serve FEA few
days. Howard Schubart, director of the
important supplies branch, until week
ago spent much of his time in New York
on his job with Lazard Freres, the bank
ers. Now he has left FEA.
Crowley's Time Divided.
So four months after he took the post
Mr.. Crowley still lacks a unified COM
mand over the United States conduct
Of economic warfare. FEA is only one
job OF Administrator Crowley's. He also
Is alien property custodian and head of
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The many dissatisfied workers and Off
cials in FEA wonder whether Mr.. Crow
ley has too many jobs or whether he
takes any interest in giving teeth to
the economic warfare program.
The program relates to the future as
well as to the present. Many FEA off,
cials see the agency as the Govern
ment's arm in the formulation of post
war economic policy. Some of them, like
Oscar Cox, general counsel, hope for an
energetic governmental promotion Of
export and import trade after the war
to help keep American production on a
high level and to help develop the econ
omies OF potentially rich countries like
China.
But no policies are fashioned. The State
Department discourages action that
would extend beyond the trade agree
mentS conception, which is based on the
thought that international trade will
rise to the best expectable height if trade
barriers like tariffs, quotas, exchange
control and barter systems are brought
down within reasonable bounds. Here is
an theological conflict that helps to
feed the FEA's irritation with the State
Department, where some officials hope
fully predict the demise of FEA.
The Springboard for the controversy is
article of the master lease-lend agree
ment, which provides that the signatory
governments will Cooperate for the i'm
provement Of trade in a manner to pro-
mote peace when the war is done. The
thinkers in the saddle at the State De-
partment argue that that means CO.
operation in the trade agreements idea.
Others argue that it calls for interna-
tional cooperative planning.
The State Department has gone
through frequent changes in its efforts
to keep the upper hand in foreign eco
nomic policy. Last summer it estab-
lished the Ofice of Foreign Economic
Co. ordination, with Thomas Finletter as
deputy administrator. OFEC's inepti-
tude is believed to have hastened the
birth Of FEA, and five weeks after that
birth, on November II, Mr.. Hull created
five special advisory offices whose hold
ers were to maintain liaison with FEA.
Here, again, liaison was incomplete,
and the growing difference over post
war policy served to emphasize the gulf
between State and FEA.
Now Mr.. Hull has set up the Office of
Economic Affairs, under Harry Hawkins,
veteran of II years in the department
who was in charge of the trade agree
mentS program, and an Office of War
time Economic Affairs, under Charles
P.Taft, the brother of Senator Taft, Re-
publican, of Ohio. Mr.. Taft held one
of the five advisory Offices of November
II. Both Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Hawkins are
responsible to Assistant Secretary Dean
Acheson, who has been in charge of
economic matters in the past. Until now
the State Department has suffered from
imperfect coordination also between its
own political and economic sections