Evening star., 1945-01-22
For Services Rendered

Secretary of Commerce, and the
manner in which it was done, will
come as jarring shock to those
who had taken at face value the in
dications that Mr.. Roosevelt was de-
termined to put aside partisan pol
itics SO that united people might
"get on with the war"
This was the import of his message
Friday night to the members of the
Electoral College, message in which
he spoke of the gravity of the hour"
and in which he urged "all good citi-
zens to unite to wage the war with
renewed strength" This also was
the theme of his fourth inaugural,
a ceremony that was we'll attuned
to the supreme test" through which
he said the Nation was passing. And
now it becames painfully clear that,
while expressing these admirable
sentiments, the President was also
shaping up in his mind his letter of
Saturday to Mr.. Jones-a letter
which was political from beginning
to end and capable of disturbing the
national harmony for which he had
been appealing.
The President had nothing but
praise for Mr.. Jones. He spoke of
his splendid services" and of the
excellent way" in which he had
carried out many difficult tasks
during his service as head of the
lending agencies and the Commerce
Department. The President then
assured his subordinate that he had
''ful confidence" in him and, noting
that there were some diplomatic
posts open, he suggested that Mr..
Jones, if interested, might speak to
Ed Stettinius."
The point was that Mr.. Jones
would be taken care of if he wanted
job, but that despite his splendid
services" he could not remain in
the Commerce post. That had been
promised to Henry Wallace-in set
tlen1ent for political services rem
dered during the recent campaign.
On this point the Presidents letter
had the virtue of complete candor.
Mr.. Wallace, dropped from the vice
presidency for political reasons dur
ing the Democratic convention, had
nevertheless displayed utmost devo-
ton to our cause" had travelled
almost incessantly working for the
success of the ticket and had been
promised almost any service which
he believes he can satisfactorily per-
form"
On that basis, and on that alone,
Mr.. Jones goes out and Mr.. Wallace
moves in.
AS Secretary of Commerce and as
director of the huge Federal lend
ing agencies Mr.. Wallace will exer-
else potent control over the future
of American business. Yet he has
no experience worthy of mention in
either business or finance. He has
not even a very good opinion of
businessmen as whole. In the sum-
mer of 1943 he was travelling about
the country. At Des Moines he lam
basted the corporations" saying
that I'VE are going to have a glorious
fight, and the sooner it comes and
the hotter it gets the better" At
Detroit he tilted lances with the
American Fascists," whom he did
not name, but who were identified
sufficiently to be recognized as
American businessmen opposed to
the New Deal. A year later, at
Cleveland, he was saying that it had
been necessary to take industry by
the scruf of the neck" to get it into
the war effort.
This, in brief, is the attitude which
the new Secretary of Commerce, as
suming his confirmation, will have
toward American business, or at
least toward that segment known
as "big business" To comprehend
the probable reaction of business,
one might try to visualize what the
attitude of labor would be if Mr..
Roosevelt were to select some one
like Sewell Avery as a new Secretary
of Ia hor