Evening star., 1947-01-19
M: Efficiency Steps Do,Un
Byrnes Is Leaving
an Impressive
Record
Bv Gould Lincoln

mas SeTVeu his CUultFy III dll GIlIcc
branches of the Federal Govern
ment-legislative, executive and
judicial. In each and every job he
has tackled he has proved his worth
as his colleagues testify.
He is retiring now from the Office
of Secretary of State-of his own
free choice. He has been, to quote
a Republican co-worker, Chairman
Vandenberg of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, a Secretary
of State in the finest American
tradition" He has, indeed, carried
the ball in the postwar, peace-seek-
ing period, when the going was
toughest. 1t has been his part to
hammer home an American foreign
policy, with a firmness that finally
impressed Soviet Russia. Greater
steps toward an actually peaceful
world have resulted, despite Henry
A. Wallace's outcry against what he
called a get tough with Russia
policy.
No other man has ever served in
both the House and Senate, as q
member of the Supreme Court, and
in a Presidents cabinet. The
present Chief Justice, Fred M. Vim
son, runs close second, for he, too,
was member of the House, a men,
Der OF the cabinet-but he saw no
service in the Senate. -
It Is that service as United States
Senator that Mr.. Byrnes particu-
larly values-and in which he was
happiest. He left the Senate, after
10 years in that body, to take seat
on the Supreme Court, appointed an
associate justice by the late Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the
Senate, Mr.. Byrnes was a foremost
administration leader-although he
broke with the President on some
domestic issues. Mr.. Roosevelt, how
ever, always regarded Mr.. Byrnes as
one of his most efficient supporters,
a man who could get things done.
He labored hard and long in an
effort to extricate the President
from the morass in which the Presi-
dent found himself when the Su-
preme Court packing bill was
before the Senate in 1887.
Enjoyed Being a Justice.
When Mr.. Byrnes, in July, 1941,
was appointed to the Supreme Court,
the comment was that he had been
rewarded for his services to the
President-and also that the ap-
pointment was in line with Mr..
Roosevelt's desire for liberal court.
After 16 months on the bench,
Mr.. Byrnes resigned in October,
1s42,sin order to accept appointment
as economic stabiIizer-a war job.
At the time 1t was reported that Mr..
Byrnes was cunhappyson the bench.
This was not true. He was enjoy
ing himself. The life was a regular
one. He could-and did-take long
walks with his dog through the park
in the morning and could still do
his work and be in court when it
met at noon. From June to October,
with the court in recess, his time
was his own, except for such work
as was sent to him to do when he
desired.
The fact is that when the Japa-
nese attacked Pearl Harbor in De-
cember, 1941, Mr.. Byrnes wanted to
get into war work. He felt that his
long service in Congress and his
should be used. Soon
after Pearl Harbor he was at the
White House. = An intimate of the
he saw Mr.. Roosevelt
while he was shaving.
"Mr. President" Mr.. Byrnes said,
you were all wrong about your Su-
preme Court BILL
The President, always sensitive
about that measure, jerked his head
around, still partly covered with
lather.
What do you mean, jimmy he
asked ..
well, Mr.. President, you con-
tended at that time no man should
serve on the court after he Is 10
years old. The truth of the matter
is, no man should be appointed to
the court until he is TO-"
Wanted War Work.
Explaining himself, Mr.. Byrnes
related that a suit against the
Bethlehem Steel Co., growing out
of the First World War; was up for
argument in the Supreme Court the
day after Pearl Harbor. 1t was a
case Mr.. Byrnes had known some
thing of when he served on the
House Appropriations Committee
when the First World War ended,
"Tae courts are too SLOW" Mr..
Byrnes told the President. He then
let Mr.. Roosevelt know that If at