Evening star., 1949-02-13
Ex-G. 0. P. President
Shuns Politics in
Reorganization
By Gould Lincoln

dent of the United States. is COM
pleting a task, assumed volun-
tarily, which should bring him the
thanks of a debt-ridden, tax-bur-
dened people-his own people. AT
the age of "a, he is working from
breakfast time until night. and
sometimes far into the night, 70
complete report on the reorgan-
ization of the executive branch OF
the Governments great, sprawl
ing institution with payroll that
runs about $6,500,000.000 year.
Mr.. Hoover makes no claims re-
garding the amount which the re-
organization program will save
the people. but some Of his aides
figure it will be no less than $3.-
OOOOOO,00O or S4.O00,OO0,C00 an
nually. Part of the saving vii.
come from a reduced payroll, and
much will come from the avoid
ance of duplication OF work. from
consolidation of agencies and from
greater efficiency.
Mr.. Hoover has been at this task
since the summer of 1s47, when
he became chairman of the Com
mission on Organization OF the
Executive Branch of the Govern
ment, created by an act OF Con-
gress and approved by President
Truman. Mr.. Hoover was the Sc
lection of Republican House
Leader Joseph w. Martin, jr.. then
Speaker of the House. with the
understanding that Mr.. Hoover
should be chairman OF the IL
member commission. And his has
been the driving force and the
organization skill which is pro-
ducing the comprehensive Is
section program of reorganization
which the commission is handing
to Congress, with the sympathetic
interest of the President.
Hard Work His Hobby .
Mr.. Hoover. an engineer oy edu-
cation and practice, admits that
he has been interested in better
and more efficient Government
organization for years-especially
since he himself became Chief Ex-
ecutive in 1929. Efficiency and
Work-hard work-are particular
hobbies of Mr.. Hoover. He has a
theory, too, which he Smilingly
admits-that the way to cheat age
is to keep mentally alert-and use
your mind. Certainly he appears
to have put this theory into prac-
tice with success. Many man
10 or 20 years his junior might
envy his erect carriage. his ruddy
complexion and, above all. his
analytical powers which cut in
eisively into facts and problems
presented to him.
With all his great qualities, Mr..
Hoover is modest man. He is
first TO admit the aid he has re-
ceived from the II other men,
bers of the commission he heads,
from the many task forces"
which have been working for many
months on particular problems OF
governmental reorganization.
The last Republican President,
Mr.. Hoover is keeping out of poll
tics-and politics out of his mind,
as far as that is humanity possible
while conducting THE work of
the Reorganization Commission.
His fellow members of the COM
mission are Democrats and Re-
publicans, from Secretary of State
Acheson, who is vice chairman,
and Secretary of Defense For
restal, and Senator Aiken of Ver-
mont and Representative Brown
of Ohio on down the line. But
they, too. Mr.. Hoover insists, have
gone ABOUT the reorganization
task in an entirely nonpartisan
manner.
Mr.. Hoover has served his coun-
try under Democratic and Repub-
lican Presidents alike, which per-
haps makes his nonpartisan atti-
tude today natural to him. 1t was
when Woodrow Wilson was Presi-
dent that Mr.. Hoover first stepped
into public limelight and into pub
lie Office. He was chairman Of the
American Relief Commission in
London in 1914; chairman for Re-
lief in Belgium from 1915 to 1919,
and United States food admins
traitor from 1917 to 1919. His