Evening star., 1946-09-25
Letters to The Star
Continues the Debate About
Army Officers in PWA.

My letter to you concerning certain
factual inaccuracies in ex-Secretary
Ickes' column, which you were good
enough to publish in your issue Of Sep
tember T. has called forth a reply from
Mr. Ickes which, Enthusiastically, con-
tains q further inaccuracy.
MIR. Ickes says that the professional
soldiers originally in the Public Works
Administration were legacies from the
nucleus of an organization originally
set up by the late Gen. Hugh johnson,
that mot one of them had any power
to pass upon policy" and that Mr..
Wiener makes an arranv misstatement
when he says that I applied to the
Army and obtained from it additional
soldiers"
PWA Memorandum 6495, dated Feb
ruary 10, 1894. addressed to State En-
gineers and signed For the Admins
TRAITOR" announces the names of an ex-
pediting force then just organized i'll
the Projects Division. Included there
in were Comdrs. Gaffney, Tobin, and
Stevenson and 1t. Darden of the United
States Navy, and Capt. Tunis and 1t
Twichell of the United States Army.
There was also 1t. Schaaf, but at this
point I cannot recall his branch of the
service. All of these gentlemen were
officers on. the active list, detailed to
PWA by the War and Navy Depart
ments If Administrator Ickes did not
ask for them, who did? We have his
assurance that the Army officers al
ready working for him-Maj. dater
Major GeneraD Philip B. Fleming, the
executive officer of the PWA, and Maj
Oater Major GeneraD Robert w. Craw-
ford, an executive assistant-had no
power to pass upon policy. And by
statute all the powers of the PWA were
vested in the administrator N. I. r. A.,
Section 201(a.
1t was these eXpediters whom I had
In mind when wrote on September
that Mr.. Ickes later asked for and got
more professional soldiers for PWA.
But appreciate that in Mr.. Ickes' book
a correction of this nature, backed up
by record references, passed for pettifog-
ging. Other people, who do not share
the ex-Secretary's penchant for inac-
curacy, may feel that invective Is =
pretty poor substitute for informa-
ton.
Perhaps, should add that my pur-
pose In writing you the first time was
simply to set the record straight, and not,
as Mr. Ickes charges, to express my
"own prejudices and personal dislike"
Apart from the circumstance that 1t Is
always poor tactics in any controversy
to impute ones own motives to others,
the word prejudice" implies a pre-
Judgment, while my own firm convic-
ton that Mr.. Ickes is conStitutionally
allergic to facts represents considered
after Judgment based upon long obser-
walton, a view which, I submit Is once
more fully corroborated by the present
correspondence.
FREDERICK BERNAYS WIENER.
More Reactions to Wallace
To the Editor of The Star:
I would like to say to Henry A. Wall
lace: Congratulations upon your years
of service to our country and success
to you and to all who are engaged in
what is about the only job now worth
doing-the continuing fight for peace"
E. d. G.
Mr.. Wallace says: ITO achieve lasting
peace, we must study in detail how the
Russian character was formed" But
the Russian character has nothing to
do with our foreign policy. Doesn't Mr..
Wallace realize that our relations with
the Russian people for all practical
purposes are nonexistent? The only
relations we have are those with Soviet
government officials who, as every one
knows, take their orders either from
Stain directly or from members OF the
Politbureau-who answer to one man
only namely Stain. In other words,
we deal with Stain exclusively.
I fought in the recent war as an
infantryman, and I know quite well
what war means with all its anguish
and suffering But having fought for
freedom and human liberty once, am
perfectly willing to do 1t again.
F. G. HELLER.
To the Editor OF The Star:
For the second time in late years
that cabinet officer has spoken outside
of the line of his Office and purported to
establish fundamental changes in the
policy Of the administration of which
he was part.
The other alteration was THAT Of
Henry Morgenthau, the one that caused
q great deluge Of blood on the western
front, and destroyed, ultimately, the
three-century- old policy of balance Of
power In Europe, and has been, in fact,
one Of the most powerful blows at the
British Empire, as it resulted in . VISA
Wis with Russia, and Russia is now striv-
ing to cut the so-called life line of the
British Empire.
England went to war with Germany
primarily to protect her existence as an
empire and now Russia is as big q
menace to it as Hitler's Germany ever
was. BY the destruction of Germany.
Russia Is left as its direct legatee of all
the menaces that caused England to act,
as aforesaid, plus its ideology, which is
as bad as, If not worse than, that Of
Hitler. Since the wars conclusion Russia
has committed practically every offense
with which Germany was charged.
GEORGE w. WILLIAMS.
President Roosevelt. Indiscreet?
To the Editor OF The Star:
Reading Elliott RooSevelts articles in