Evening star., 1952-11-14
ESQ Interior Officials
Face COP. Ak, but
$1,000 Appear Safe

Some $50 Interior Department.
officials and a handful of conf
Dental secretaries-face the ak aSI
a result of the Republican victory.
The rest of the 81, 900 employees
Of the far-fiung empire Of the
Interior Department are covered
by civil service regulations. Pre-
sumably they have nothing to
fear unless the Republican ad-
miniStration puts through large
scale reductions in force in the
Federal departments.
Leading the list Of those sure
to go is Interior Secretary Oscar
Chapman. He has been Secretary
since November. 1949. and has
long career behind him on the
side of the Democrats.
In 1910 and 1914, he had super
vision of campaign activities for
President Roosevelt on the Pacific
Coast. In 1948 he was practically
President Truman's only friend
and did much of the spade work
for that campaign.
Top AppOintees.
officials in the Interior Depart
ment who are appointed by the
President, with Senate approval,
include:
The undersecretary of interior,
three assistant secretaries, the
solicitor. the governors of Alaska,
Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Guam andl
American Samoa: the secretary of
Hawaii and the heads of the Bu-
reau of Mines, the Bureau of In
dian Affairs and the Geological
Survey.
The President appoints. without
Senate approval, the following:
The head of the Bureau of Rec
lamation, the secretary of the
Virgin Islands, the high commits
sioner of trust territory; the secre-
tary Of Guam, the secretary oil
Alaska.
The more than 200 attorneysI
connected with the Interior De-
partment are appointed by the In
terror Secretary. Some have civil
service status. but most of theml
don't. Presumably they would be
among those susceptible to re-
placement also.
Group of Aides Affected.
A group of 16 secretaries and
assistants to the top department
officials also are outside civil Serv-
Ice and new brass probably would
bring in their own.
The Secretary of the Interior
also appoints outside civil service
the administrator of the Bonne-
vile Power Administration, the
general manager of the Alaska
Railroad and the administrator
OF number of defense agencies
coming under the Interior Depart
ment.
The Interior Undersecretary isl
Vernon D. Northup, we'll known inI
Washington after nearly 80 years
OF Government service. Robert M
Mckinney, newspaper publisher
from Santa Fe, N. Mex, and Joel
D. WolfSohn, who has been in thel
Interior Department for 18 years,
are the two assistant secretaries.
The third position Of assistant sec
retary is vacant.
Mastin G. White, Interior De-
partment solicitor for number of
years. also holds an appointive of
fee. !
Gruening a Fighter.
A well-known figure who holds
one of the shaky appointive Offices
is Ernest Gruening, Governor of
Alaska since 1889. He is knownl
as fighter and a one-man cham
ber of commerce for Alaska. He
was an original and devout New
Dealer. who got his early school
ing doing publicity in the 1924
presidential campaign of Senator
Robert M. La Toilette, sr.
Also occupying one of those
shaky posts is Carlton Skinner.
the first civilian Governor of
Guam. He was named to that
post in 1949 Before that he was
a Washington newspaperman and
handled public relations for the
Interior Department from 1916
to 1949.
Ebert Thomas, former Demo-
cratic Senator from Utah, is the
high commissioner of trust terri
tory, with Offices in Hawaii He
was defeated for the Senate in
1850, but named to the post a
few months later by President Tru-
man. The trust territory is made
up of SO inhabited islands of the
Pacific in the Mariana. Caroline
and Marshall chains.
Al