Evening star., 1945-04-30

MI. I1eTpeII 1OOfeT, ana kepG SuCQ
men as Senator Byrd of Virginia
and Senator Taft of Ohio at an
unco-operative distance.
This was particularly unfortunate
In the case Of the long fight which
Senator Byrd has been making to
reduce the governmental waste and
lessen duplication and confusion
No great progress could be achieved
in that fight in the face of admins
tration hostility. And the admins
tration was hostile all the way
through-bureaus, boards, commits
sions, department heads and White
House. The total weight was used
against the Byrd Economy Commit
tee. That under such conditions it
achieved anything at all was a re-
markable performance. The very
considerable economies the commit
tee compelled constitute tribute
to the energy and determination
with which it went about the job.
A few days ago the Byrd commit
tee made report REVEALING the
enormous extent and vast compile
tiles of the system of Government
owned corporations which has
grown up in recent years. This,
coupled with Senator Byrd's visit
to the White House and the known
cordial relations between him and
President Truman, call attention to
the Improvement in the prospects
of getting the Government back
again to manageable size and in
manageable state.
Controllers Views Cited.
That 1t is not in that state now
is attested net only by Senator Byrd,
but most impressively by Lindsay
Carter Warren, controller general,
who, as his term runs for Is years
and he cannot succeed himself, is
certainly in a position to be more
independent than any other Gov
ernment official.
Speaking on this subject of Gov
ernment corporations, brought up
by SenatorrByrd, Controller Warren
testified before the Senate Bank
ing Committee as follows:
'If the present trend continues
or is not curbed, we soon will have a
government by Government cor
porations. A large part of the Gov
ernment today is operating indie
pendently of congressional control
and is free of accountability to the
Executive. Indeed, this thing We
call government has reached such
gargantuan proportions that it is
sprawled all over the lot. 1t has
become greater than Congress, its
creator, and, at times, arrogantly
snaps it's fingers in the face of Con-
gress.
Scientific REORGANIZATION.
THE most necessary thing I know
of is a thoroughgoing reorgan1za-
tion of the executive branch. 1t
should be done scientifically, but
once the decision is made, then a
bush-ax or meat cleaver should be
used"
Coming from a man with no con-
ceivable selfish purpose to serve,
words such as these ought not toI
be ignored or forgotten. They goI
to the root of situation fraught
with considerable national peril. In
dealing with it, President Truman is
in better position than was Mr..
Roosevelt. For one thing, he is not
on bad personal terms with the man
leading the effort for retrenchment
and simplification. For another, this
duplication and multiplication did
not grow up under him and these
Government corporations, etc, are
not manned by men of his own
choosing.
In brief, though it is still ter
rife job, it should be easier for Mr..
Truman than for Mr.. Roosevelt.
Certainly, the essential cooperation
between President and Congress can
be better achieved.
Distaste for Waste.
It is true, too, that Mr.. Truman
has an orderly mind with a distaste
for confusion and waste. His early
utterances in Missouri politics make
this clear. The fact that he is said
to lean strongly toward the sug-
gested plan of consolidating the
Army, Navy and Air Forces under
one department head, as favored
by Secretary of War Stimson, is an
other indication.
Altogether, there is more than a
little justification for feeling that,