Evening star., 1945-05-28

the ground that FRANK X. Aent.
in the Senate he was a New Deal
rubber stamp, with strong radical
tendencies, and that he was in
dorsed by the notorious Seattle labor
boss-Dave Beck.
That does not sound very good,
but when one recalls the extreme
devotion of Nine Perkins to all New
Deal panaceas and, among various
other things, her attitude toward
sit-down strikes, etc, it seems that
at least the level has not been low
cred.
In the matter of the Attorney
Generalship, the gain is clearer.
Here the President found in Office
a crusading, fanatical official, who
actively allied himself with the ex-
treme left wingers and preached
a political doctrine of administra-
tion-labor combination to the ex-
clusion of business. He replaces
him by promoting a Texas lawyer
who has spent eight years as Assist
ant Attorney General, with good
record and conservatively inclined.
Politically. he is protege of Sena-
tor Tom Connally and Speaker Sam
Rayburn. Certainly, he is not in
herently hostile to industry.
But the biggest lift is in the
Agriculture Department. There Mr..
Truman not only selected an OBJ
viously better equipped man as
Secretary but made the changes
in the food-control machinery for
which demand had long been made
and which certainly were long
overdue
He really did more than that.
He accepted the resignation Of Mr..
Marvin Jones as Food Admins
traitor, amalgamated that office with
the Secretaryship of Agriculture and
named as Secretary Congressman
Clinton Anderson of New Mexico,
who recently, as head of House
food investigating committee, made
a trenchant report to the President
pointing out the number Of con-
flicting agencies dealing with food,
deploring the confusion and urging
the President to coordinate"
Well, Mr.. Truman not only "co-
ordinated" by making the Secretary
of Agriculture also the Food Ad-
ministrator, which is clearly sensi-
BILE, but he put the sharp critic of
confusion who loudly called for CO.
ordination in position to cure-if
he can-the concedely sick situa-
ton to which he points. Thus. Mr..
Truman has intelligently moved to
clean up the managerial mess Gre
ated by the Roosevelt set-up, the
absurdity of which caused two food
administrators to resign and strains
even the late Presidents most wor-
shipful friends to defend.
1t will be interesting to see how
far the new Secretary, with far
greater power, can go in straighten-
ing things out and already there
are indications that he is going to
try pretty hard. Clearly, Mr.. Tru-
man had to do considerable maneu-
vering to get what he wanted in
this matter. And it was not easy,
because it involved the shifting OF
three men instead of two.
The caliber of Secretary Wickard
is pretty well shown by his willing
ness to accept a subordinate posi-
ton in the department OF which he
had been the head. There will be
some senatorial opposition to his
confirmation as Rural Electrical
ton Administrator, and it seems
somewhat unfortunate that he had
to be taken care of" in so impor-
tant a place
Common Sense Attitude.
No further Cabinet changes are
expected Immediately, though that
does not mean that others will not
be made eventually. 1t is true that
when asked if Mr.. Morgenthau had
rendered his resignation, Mr.. Tru-
man replied that he had not and
if he had he would not have ac-
cepted it. And when asked if he
contemplated a change in the Sec
retary of State, he emphatically
said: II do not"
But, it is pointed out, these replies
do not guarantee CABINET security
for either Mr.. Morgenthau or Mr.
Stettinius. The President easily
might refuse to accept Mr.. Morgen-
thau's resignation on one day but
be willing to accept it the next.
And the same rule applies to con-
temptation of a new Secretary of
State.
And Mr.. Truman himself pointed
out that he has in his possession the
resignation of every important ap-
pointive governmental official
Those disposed to use every Tru-
man act as yardstick to determine
whether he is moving to the right
or to the left will find themselves
just where they were before these
Cabinet changes were announced,