Evening star., 1948-06-13


cial and monetary adviser Is Wayne
E. Taylor, former investment banker,
former president of the Export
Import Bank and former Undersec-
retary of Commerce. Mr.. Taylor has
the private means to be a Govern
ment official.
business Heads Best
Mr.. Hoffman is fortunate in that
his presidency of Studebaker and
Craftsmanship of the Committee for
Economic Development gave him a
wide acquaintance among the top
business and financial executives Of
the country. A supersalesman him.
self, he has been able to sell top
industrialists into making the
financial sacrifice required to join
Government service.
He says he is getting the best
results with men who headed their
own comparatively small or medium
sized companies.
They have the executive expert
ence and, since they own all or much
of the stock, they are assured an
adequate private income while in
the public service" he said.
big business is willing to lend a
few top executives, but there are
complications. There is opposition
here in Washington against the use
of dollar -a-year men in peacetime.
There are also difficulties over the
executives seniority, pension and
bonus rights within the companies
themselves that are not faced by the
men who own their own companies.
when we do take men from the
big companies, they are usually the
younger men who have not yet got
into the big money who can afford
to live on Government salaries. I've
had one case recently in which the
young man 1 wanted had been pro-
NOTED to $4,000 year or so ago.
1t was the first big money he and
his family had had. They had lived
up to the limit of their previous
income and had only small savings.
felt I couldn't push him into
Government job just when he was
getting started up the ladder IN
private business.
Rich Ambassadors
Mr.. Hoffman said the men he
wanted for his top jobs were making
from $4,000 to 100000 year in
private business. If they had no
private means while in public serv-
ice, they would find it almost i'm
possible to live with their families
in Washington on $4,000 a year.
Because of his wide acquaintance
with business executives throughout
the country, he has had more luck
than President Truman in per-
suading men of proved ability to
come into the Government. Even
for the highest diplomatic jobs,
such as the Embassies in Soviet
Russia, Belgium and the Union OF
South Africa, the President has
selected men from the armed serv-
ices, 1t. Gen. w. Bedell Smith,
Admiral Alan G. Kirk and Gen.
Thomas Holcomb, respectively.
Like other Presidents before him,
Republican as we'll as Democrat,
President Truman has appointed
rich men to ambassadorial posts
that cost more than the Govern
ment allows for salary and expenses.
He has kept Myron C. Taylor as
Ambassador to the Vatican and
appointed Lewis w. Douglas to the
Court of st. James's, James M. Bruce
to Argentina, George A. Garrett to
Ireland and George U. Bay to Nor
way. Two career men are rich,
James C. Dunn, our Ambassador
to Italy, and Herman Baruch,
brother of Bernard M. Baruch,
Ambassador to Holland.
Perhaps the debate will never end
as to whether rich men in Govern
ment are influenced by their per-
sonal background. In democracy,
the Congress or the Parliament
theoretically directs governmental
policy by the terms of the legisla-
ton it drafts or approves. The ira
ditlonal slogan is Measures, not
men"
Change Reflects Times
In practice, however, a Govern
ment executive is often influenced
by his personal beliefs. The British
statesman, George Canning, of Mon
roe Doctrine fame, put the practical
ahead of the theoretical in these
| words:
| Away with the cant of Measures,
not menp-the idle supposition that
it Is the harness and not the horses
that draw the chariot along. II the
comparison must be made, If dis
tinctions must be taken, men are
everything, measures comparatively
nothing"
| A present-day expression is that
Truman talks liberal but appoints
conservative.
This is not entirely the Presidents
fault. In many instances only the
well-to-do can afford to take the
| Jobs offered and there are more
well-to-do conservatives than there
are well-to-do liberals.
AS compared with the Roosevelt
administration, the tempo and zest
in Government service have changed
during the past three years. In the
early days Of the New Deal, Hopkins,
wallace, Ickes, Tugwell, Moley, Nor
genthau, Hugh johnson, Chester
Davis, Robert H. Jackson and Mar
riner Eccles made and carried out
| 6olicv under President ROOSeyelt'S S