Evening star., 1946-03-11

Luey eIuauAteQ FRANK X. Kent.
from Mr.. Hannegan himself. !Thi,
: notion was not diminished by the
touching little tributes to his clever
ness as politician with which they
/, were always accompanied. The other
was that one reason for his resigna-
ton invariably given was his al
legged desire to devote all his time
to the exacting duties of the Post
master General. This point was not
impressive. 1t was, in fact. complete
bunk.
OF course, it is practically impos-
sible to make either good or a bad
Postmaster General. The post office
machine is about 160 years old and
1t operates efficiently, no matter
who is Postmaster General or what
he tries to do. 1t operates best when
: the P. G. does nothing, which is
: exactly what most of them have
done.
.. Tinkering Doesn't Pay.
The few who come in with large
Ideas OF reform and Of either ex-
pansion or economy after a while
'sfind that tinkering with the machine
does not pay, and just stop. II Mr..
-Hannegan does not know this, he
might ask his predecessors - Mr..
Farley, Mr.. Walker or Mr.. Hays.
They will tell him.
At any rate, the notion that the
Post ONCE Department requires all
OF Mr.. Hannegan's time has so little
foundation as early to throw doubt
on the genuineness Of these resigna-
tion reports. Now that he has made
his denial, the fact may as well be
stated that there are quite a few
seasoned Democrats here who do
not feel his retirement as chairman
Z would be an unmitigated calamity.
Despite his well-advertised smart
ness, these point out that in the
last campaign there were few evi-
dences of Mr.. Hannegan's political
Sbrilliance. He allowed Mr.. Hillman
and his CLOS PAC to overshadow
the Democratic committee In its
conduct, and. but for the war, there
unquestionably would have been a
party defeat instead of party VIC
tory.
Since last April, when Mr.. Tru-
man came in and he was made
Postmaster General, he has, it is
charged, been notably active in sew
eral directions not one of which is
evidence either of his astuteness as
a politician or his helpfuIness toI
Mr.. Truman.
Still Awed by CIO.
First, apparently he still is awed
by the CIO and, ignoring the fact
that 1t has accumulated much more
public enmity than before, Is insist
ing on the Truman Administration
continuing the political subserviencyI
established as party policy by Mr.. |
Roosevelt. This does not seem too
smart when it is clear the CIO can.
not so Republican anyhow.
Second, Mr.. Hannegan has invited
into Democratic headquarters a |
group Of advanced New Dealers who
are not Democrats at all to aid him |
IN forming party strategy and act
ss liaison officers between the COM
mittee and Congress. The most that
can be said for this idea is that it |
Is new.
Third, Mr.. Hannegan is the chief
political hacker of Edwin Pauley
urged his appointment on MIR. Tru-
man and has been using all his in
f1uence to get him confirmed. It'll
would be difficult to convince many
that from the standpoint of party |
politics this was very smart thing |
Tor a Democratic chairman to do. |
Strongly Opposes Snyder.
Fourth. Mr.. Hannegan has put
himself strongly in opposition to |
John Snyder, war mobilization di- |
rector. Unless injustice is done Mr..
Hannegan by his most enthusiastic
Journalistic spokesman, he has con-
t1nuously urged Mr.. Truman to get
rid OF Mr.. Snyder. At least, so 1t |
has been repeatedly reported.
Inasmuch as Mr.. Snyder is quite |
the best Of those close to the Presi-
dent (not great man but a good |
one), this Hannegan opposition does
not appear helpful at all. Ever since
he has been here Mr.. Snyder has
been the target Of the radical press
and politicians. A consistent CAM
paign has been made against him.
All sorts Of ineptitudes have been
laid at his door. Apparently the
real grievance against Mr.. Snyder
is that he Is relatively a conserva-
tive.
p In an administration in which the
ieft-wing influence is still prepon-
derant, this does not seem a very
terrible crime. Considering these
things, the threat Of Mr.. Hanne-
gan's resignation as national chair
man did not cause CONSERVATION in =