Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-08
Attempt TO Sabotage
Hoover Report Is Seer
Before Il Is Issued
Roosevelt Worshippers'
Scored for Attacks on
Reorganization PIuns
By Frank r. Kent

ance is the current effort Of thu
more bigoted Roosevelt worshiper,
to sabotage the Hoover Commits.
sion's report on reorganization Of
the Government-even before they
know what the report is; even wher
they privately admit the acute neec
of the proposed reorganization
even when, as instanced by the
Eberstadt subcommittee report or
the armed services. the recommen.
dations accord with those of thu
Secretary of Defense, Mr.. Forrestal
and are favored by Mr.. Truman.
These saboteurs would not b.
worth noticing except that wher
added to the great army of Fedora
jobholders, their protecting con.
gressmen and the always antiecon'
omy labor bosses, they may have
just enough influence to block thu
more vital portions of the reorgan.
1zation plan. 1t is typical that theil
method should be not discussion c,
the merits of the report but criticism
of Mr.. Hoover. This is SO petty thai
1t ought to revolt decent men every.
where.
No more unselfish and patriotic
service has been rendered by any
man in this country for years thar
that upon which for the past IL
months Mr.. Hoover, at the age o.
IA, has been expanding his time anc
energy. He undertook this job al
the request of the President and ir
response to unanimous resolution
Of Congress.
Report Free from Politics.
Those who know the nature of the
report and the manner in which
the task forces" have worked agree
that in addition to being the most
thorough ever prepared by a Gov
eminent commission, it is also the
freest from politics and partisan
ship.
Yet, If politics and partisanship
are not injected, it will not be the
fault of those most actively in OPP
position. For example, we are told
that while there is waste and dupli-
cation this cannot be cured by a
blueprint" or arbitrary dictum. II
The only way to rescue the Gov
eminent from begging down is
gradually and through "compro-
mise OF course, this makes nc
sense. Over the past twelve years
q monstrous growth has occurred
It's cost is beyond all reason; its
inefficiency almost incredible. Un-
checked, the inevitable end is the
most devastating kind of chaos
Clearly, the job of reducing to
manageable proportions cannot be
done with q penknife or a nail file
Clearly, it can only be done with
an ak welded by President and
Congress. The job Of the Hoover
Commission is to show where the
ak can be applied to do the greatest
good and the least harm.
Faced by the facts, the opposition
does not diminish because 1t Is the
kind of opposition which is not af-
feeted by facts. Instead, 1t snipes
at Mr.. Hoover. He, we are in
formed, Is not the man to blue
print" this reform because he has
an engineering type of mind" Also
he is a "reactionary" Worse still,
he is not o New Dealer and believes
the New Deal responsible for the
indefensible size, cost and ineffi-
cheney of Government. Well, for
heavens sake! What else can he
believe? What else can any rational
person possibly believe? What
other answer is there?
Puerile Bleating.
All this bleating about Mr. Hoover
is as puerile as it is unworthy
Though slightly reminiscent of the
old Nicholson 1929 smearing, the
obvious design is to hold on the pay
roll the hundreds Of thousands oil
Roosevelt New Dealers who came in
during the second Roosevelt term
and want to stay permanently. But
back Of that is the desire to protect
the Roosevelt reputation, to sustain
the baseless legend that personally
he was uniformly wise and good and
all his policies sound and benign
in the way so smugly set out In the
greasily eulogistic book Of Robert
Sherwood-"Roosevelt and Hop
kins." To face the facts that the
Roosevelt policies have resulted In
o situation where drastic reorgani-
zation is essential to avert govern
mental disaster naturally clashes
with this legend.
Since Mr.. Roosevelt's death there
has developed a veritable holy OF
holes in Washington. It Is guarded
as the Jews used to guard the Ark
of the Covenant. In the center is
the Roosevelt legend which it is
held sacrilege to question. Yet, the
facts make the legend absurd-not
only as to the Roosevelt record in
domestic affairs but also in foreign
affairs. Certainly. at least some OF
the blame for the unfortunate state
OF the world today is due to his idea
that Stain was fine cid fellow
whom he could jolly along, handle
the way be did the American poll
ticians. In Mr.. Roosevelt's day the
State Department was completely
under control of the President and
he could have cleaned it up any
time he so desired. That he had the
facts is shown by the undisputed
testimony. That the extraordinary
infiltration of communistic fellow
travellers was largely due to his
oversympathetic attitude toward
Russia is difficult to deny.
Yet, supporters of the Roosevelt:
legend who are trying to nullify the
Hoover Commission are trying just
as hard to discredit the exposure
of the State Department traitors
In the second Roosevelt term. The
significant thing is that in both
cases these supporters are identical