Evening star., 1945-04-09

traitor, to which ne ndu DeeH dp-
pointed hardly a fortnight ago.
This came as a climax to series
of inside selections we'll calculated
to create a condition of lnbreedlng
not easy to regard as healthy,
without going back of the present
term. now less than three months
old. A number of instances can be
cited-among them the appoint
ment of Mr. Wallace as Secretary
of Commerce and of Mr.. Aubrey
Williams as Rural Identification
Administrator: the appointment
of Senator Guy Gillette of Iowa.
defeated for reelection, as head OF
the Surplus Products Commission;
the shifting of Mr. Archibald Nc
Leish from Librarian of Congress
to Assistant Secretary of State; the
shifting of General Clay from
Deputy War Mobilizer to Civil d.
rector of Postwar Germany.
Earlier Shifting.
Then there was the earlier shift
ing of Mr.. Vinson from Economic
Stabilizer to Loan Administrator;
the shifting of Mr. William H. Davis
from chairman of the War Labor
Board to Economic Stabilizer; the
promotion of DR.. George Taylor
from member of the War Labor
Board to chairman. This, it will be
agreed, Is quite a list for three
months.
If now, as suggested, the President
shifts Mr. Leo Crowley from Fed
eral Economic Administrator TO take
MI. Wilson's place as Federal Loan
Administrator or shifts Mr. Harold
D. Smith from Budget Director, or
Mr.. Daniel Bell from the Treasury,
to take Mr.. Wilson's place and then,
as is custom. shifts some one else
around to fill the latest vacancy, the
record really will be a remarkabl
one.
It is significant of Mr.. Roosevelt's S
deep reluctance to broaden his cir
Gle or go outside for new talent.
Certainly, too, it indicates no be-
lief that this administration, now
in its thirteenth year. needs new
blood though the need is so OBJ
vious that few dispute it. The con-
templated shift of Mr.. Wayne Chat
field Taylor from Under Secretary
of Commerce to be head Of the EX-
port-Import Bank is entirely in line
with the Roosevelt policy of not
expanding the circle.
This need for expansion is in
creasingly apparent to good many
persons here. but it finds no favor
with Mr.. Roosevelt. Certainly, his
most recent appointments all tend
in the other direction. Comment on
this is not intended as reflection
upon the character or qualifications
of the officials who have thus been
shifted from one job to another and
then another. Some of them are
efficient and capable.
But 1t Is worth noting that almost
without exception all of these voted
for Mr.. Roosevelt's fourth term,
which does not sustain the non-
partisan note he has so often
sounded-but seldom justified-since
the war began.
Search for Resson
Realization of this Roosevelt dis
taste for putting new men into ad-
ministrative posts has stimulated
search for the reasons. These can
be listed as follows:
/. Desire to show appreciation of
personal friends and good men by
promoting them;
2. Difficulty of getting conspicu-
ously qualified men from the out
side who voted for him;
3. Reluctance to arouse the re-
sentiment Of his sensitive left wing
and labor friends, who can be de-
pended upon to greet the appoint
ment of any anti-NeW Deal busi-
nessman with loud walls that the
liberals" have been "betrayed";;
4. Inclination to take the easiest
way of dealing with domestic situa-
tionS.
None of these seems particularly
sound All of them together hardly
appear to justify the consistent re-
tuSal to seek new blood" But if
there are any other explanations
they have not yet been advanced.
At any rate, the President has
proceeded so consistently along the
line Of inside selections and shifts
to make clear a wish-if not a de-
termination-to keep the important
governmental posts in the hands of
those who suit him personally and
politically. If this meant compe-