Evening star., 1947-01-22

not unmixed with political prejudice
and personal disappointment.
For example, some of the most
pitiful bleating about this so-called
deeply disturbing" state of affairs
comes from former members Of the
Roosevelt "inner circle" and their
not altogether disinterested literary
aides whose day of White House
privilege has departed and whose
belief is that all virtue and wisdom
went out of the Government when
the Roosevelt regime ended. Thus,
we are told that there is great
contrast between these dreary days
and those halcyon ones when Mr..
Roosevelt was President and crowds
of brilliant young men" were ire
sistibly drawn to the Administra-
ton. The difference now is that
f1rst-class men cannot be induced
so it is said-to take Office under
Mr.. Truman, and there is no pre-
tense of "brilliance.
Sacrifices for War.
1t is all in the point of view. Of
course, it is true that during the
war the biggest men in the country
were willing-even eager-to come
to Washington, glad to make any
sacrifice for the chance of helping
win the war. No man who was
asked could refuse. Many who
would liked to have come were not
asked. When the war was over 1t
was inevitable that most of these
should return to private life. Un-
doubtedly, there is less brilliancy
among Government officials now
than then and certainly it is more
difficult to get men of large affairs
to make sacrifices to serve the Gov
ernment in a peace period.
1t would be strange, indeed, ii
that were not so and there seems
no point in insisting on so obvious
a fact. It is in the comparison OF
the postwar period of Mr.. Truman
with the prewar period of Mr.
Roosevelt that the effort to dispar
age the Truman administration Is
made by members of the small but
extremely articulate@ a group who
once so profitably basked in the
smiles of the late President. Their
effort Is singularly unconvincing-
particularly in regard to the cabinet.
AS a matter of fact it seems likely
that most dispassionate and in
formed men would agree that the
Truman cabinet as a whole is a
better cabinet than any of the
Roosevelt cabinets and that where
Mr.. Truman has put in new man
he has raised and not lowered the
level. Certainly, he did that in re-
placing Henry Morgenthau with
John Snyder as Secretary OF the
Treasury; Francis Biddle with Tom
Clark for Attorney General; Frances
Perkins with Mr.. Schwellenbach for
Secretary of Labor; Henry Wallace
with Averell Hartman as Secretary
of Commerce. Nor will many con-
tend that in naming Gen. George
Marshall as Secretary OF State the
public service has been deterlorated
Some Regrettabie designations.
On the next official plane, the
coming to Washington of such men
as w. Stuart Symington to become
Assistant Secretary of War for Air
John Nicholas Brown to become
Assistant Secretary of the Navy fol
Air and a number of others OF the
same type does not bear out the idea
that it is mo longer possible to get
good men to serve the government
and that we are wholly in the hands
of mediocrities.
The repetitive insistence with
which this argument is put forth
makes it seem more like plain anti
Truman propaganda. not untingeo
with malice than anything else. Te
be sure, it is not easy for Mr.. Tru'
man to induce the men he wants
to come here to take the jobs he
wants them to take and that there
have been some designations which
were regrettable. But that has beer
true in every administration ano
with every President.
The thing that is not true is that
the public service suffers because
the personnel of the Government
now is lower than it was under Mr.
Roosevelt before the war. There
may not be as much of certain
kind of brillance now, but there is
much less malevolence. There was
more drama and showmanship un-
- L, sr r-e