Evening star., 1945-04-05

u protest that Lowell Mellett.
Vinson was not a businessman, to
ask what he knew about banking
to inquire whether he had ever met
a payroll? No. They asked all
those things of Henry Wallace, who
in the Commodity Credit Corp. had
managed a tremendous banking
operation, and who in successful
private business had met sizable
payroll, and then turned him down
Unanimously. they confirmed Mr.
Vinsor-not a banker, not a busi-
nessman, not a payroll-meeter.
Could it be because Vinson is a
man without opinions? No. As
director of economic stabilization
Mr.. Vinson set himself across the
path of one powerful group after
another. He carried out the Presi-
dents orders to hold the line against
imitation, but he did it without
making enemies. When the OPA,
yielding to the demands of the oil
producers, recommended a 35-cent
increase in the price of crude oil,
Mr.. Vinson refused to permit 1t,
even though Petroleum Adminis-
traitor Ickes supported the recon-
mendation. An effort was made in
Congress to override Mr.. WILSON'S
decision, with Speaker Rayburn
himself taking the floor for that
purpose. The House, in which he
had served IA years, supported Mr..
Vinson. The battle left no scars
Mr.. Rayburn remained Mr.. Wilson'S
friend and Representative Disney Of
Oklahoma, author of the overriding
resolution, a few weeks later made
a speech virtually nominating Mr..
Vinson for President.
Opposed Wage Boost.
It was the same when Mr.. Vinson
rejected a proposed increase in the
wages of railroad labor, an increase
which other Government agencies
had Endorsed. Yet the railroad
brotherhoods still regard Mr.. Vinson
as their friend.
. Despite the protests of War Food
Administrator Marvin Jones, Mr..
Vinson kept a ceiling on live ami
mails. Farm leaders still regard him
as a friend.
How does he do it? All sorts of
reasons are given. One is his ca
pacity to master the details of any
problem put up to him. They say
he carries the fine statistics of the
cost of living index around in his
head the way small boy carries
the batting averages OF big league
ball players-or the same way that
Mr.. Vinson himself carries baseball
averages.
Another explanation is that "the
Judge" is a man of infinite patience,
of infinite endurance as a listener.
The best explanation, however, is
perhaps summed up in the state
ment that Mr.. Vinson likes folks.
If you like folks, folks like you.
Maybe that's it. Mr.. Vinson has
gone through life making friends
and remaining loyal to the friend
ship. When the President called
him on the telephone, saying he
wanted him to take wartime job,
Mr.. Vinson agreed without asking
what the job was. He asked only
whether it would require his resig-
nation from the Circuit Court of
Appeals. When told that it would,
he still did not ask the obvious ques-
tion and was unable to tell his asso-
ciates when he broke the news of his
intended resignation. The job, in
cidentaliy, was economic stabiliza-
ton director.
Recommended Others.
His loyalty not being of the kind
that merely reaches upward, he rec
commended to the President the ap-
pointment of his friend Ben Cohen
as his successor on the bench.
All of this relates only to Mr.. Vim
sons character and it surely takes
a little more than character to beat
the game in Washington. Well,
when Mr.. Vinson was leaving little
Centre College, burdened with scho-
lastic honors, there was something