Evening star., 1946-09-16
Wallace Should Quit,
Take Issue to Polls
Commentator Calls Step Only
Solution to Mixup
By David La,crence

About the only way really to clear up
the Wallace Truman -Byrnes muddle on
foreign policy would be for Secretary
Wallace to resign and take the issue to
the country.
This would leave President Truman
free to continue his support of ths
Byrnes policy and would free the Amer
lean Government from any misunder-
standings abroad as to the direction of
the policies of the State Department It
would also carry out the thought which
may have been in President Trumans
mind when he said that all he approved
was Mr.. Wallace's right" to make the
speech.
Actually Mr.. Wallace had no right
at all to make an address as Secretary
OF Commerce which dealt with the sub
lectS that are customarily handled by
the Secretary of State. Teamwork in
CABINET hitherto has been the objective
OF every President. AS for the cabinet
1t has never been considered a public
forum for the open expression OF diff
ferent views and hence MIR. Truman was
wrong in supposing that he could have
TWO cabinet members talking publicly
on opposite sides of national policy.
Might Be Handicapped.
1t may well be that Mr.. Wallacs
would be handicapped In expressing
his views If he stayed in the cabinet.
He would be in duty bound to hew to
the line of administration policy. As
an ex-cabinet member he would have no
such inhibitions. So far as the moldinv
of public opinion is concerned, Mr..
Wallace would have the right to en-
deavor to get as many Americans as
possible to support his view and also to
persuade them to influence the admin
1stration to change its policies toward
Russia, Britain or any other foreign
power.
But this right of free expression
outside the cabinet is not to be con-
fused with the so-called right to spread
disunlty so far as the administration
own policies are concerned or to en-
courage foreign governments to believe
that our Governments policy Is in a
state OF fiJx and has been submitted to
public discussion before the Chief Exec
utlVe makes up his mind to continue or
reverse an existing policy.
Mr.. Wallace can be credited with a
sincere desire to express what he be-
heves Is the proper policy to be OBJ
served toward Russia, but President
Truman put his foot in it when he
announced to the press that he ap-
proved the speech in advance. The
denial that he intended to convey such
meaning is clumsy and about the worst
example of presidential inepitude since
the days when the late President Hard
ing, Republican, crossed up his own
Secretary of State, Charles Evans
Hughes, by remark in a press confer
ence which plainly showed he didn't
know what his own foreign policy really
was.
Was Truman Mapping.
The most charitable explanation of
the whole incident is that Mr.. Truman
didn't have his mind on the subject
when Henry Wallace was telling him
or reading to him, what he wanted to
say in the New York speech. A super
hclal examination of the Wallace draft
could have led Mr.. Truman to believe
1t was merely an attempt to present a
balanced point OF view as to Russia.
But whatever may have been Mr.. Tru-
mans mistaken impression of the speech,
he surely was wrong in allowing any
address at all on this subject, for foreign
policy Is not the province of the Sec
retary of Commerce
Mr.. Truman may have had the idea
that he was compelled politically to let
Henry Wallace say what he pleased or
that 1t would create embarrassment with
the left wing" Senator Pepper, Demo-
crat, OF Florida makes pro- Russian
speeches and they are printed in full
IN Moscow newspapers, but Senators are
law unto themselves and everybody
knows that such expressions are licensed
by senatorial custom and no foreign
government takes them seriously as criti-
cisms. When Secretary Wallace, how
ever, attacks the government of Great
Britain, apologies are in order because
he is member of the Presidents cab
met and international courtesy requires
that the Secretary of State express a
nations foreign policy or else that con-
trary expressions be formally disavowed.
Mr. Truman is in hole and Mr.. Wallace
can pull him out of it. and do his own
cause more good by resigning now and
debating the issue before the peoples of
the world.
A somewhat similar episode occurred
In 1915, when William Jennings Bryan
resigned from the cabinet of President
Wilson because the latter wanted to
send Germany stern note about the
torpedoing of the Lusitania, on which
many American lives were lost. Secre-
tary Bryan wanted to send a softly word
ed note of an appeasement nature. Mr..
Bryan resigned and carried his case to
the country, but public opinion did not
support him. If Mr.. Wallace resigned
now it would certainly make the issue
clear cut, and give Secretary Byrnes the
standing he needs to carry on negotia-
tions In Paris without the feeling that
he is being undermined back home with
in the Presidents cabinet
Reproduction Rights Reserved)
Maybe HoIf-BIind?