The Wilmington morning star. [volume], December 18, 1942, Page 5, Image 5

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
Today and Tomorrow I
BY WALTER LIPPMANN
e" Henderson has been
'ir' ‘ very poor time with the
'iV pss which is now winding up
^"jfsiness. Yet, if there is any
its bu,aM in the war economy
»ne p erj good relations are
^ere, between the two branches
( .I government, it is between
,f “Lce which regulates the liv
S 0a, the people and the elected
W ° entatives of the people who
fbeing regulated.
'* in Mr. Henderson, who is
vcelleut public servant, in hot
35 !’r with Congress? If we could
f the'answer to that important
ctica5 question, we should know
?!,c,od deal more about how to
1 ngthen the home front where
*4 needs strengthening.
The trouble with Mr. Henderson
. j venture to suggest, that he is
lS', J to do a most difficult task
!rvr conditions which are well
\ impossible. He has to devise
\ to administer a system of
“L-fixing and of rationing in a
Limtry which is ent;rely unused
e siicii regimentation. Now, just
ecause he has to do such radi
]jv novel things, does it not fol
low'that in order to succeed he
needs the continual support, guid
ce'and protection of the old fa
miliar institutions—of the Congress
jjd the well established depart
ments of government?
yet as a matter of fact, Mr.
Henderson is an orphan in a storm.
Tje position in which he has been
Iced is outside the normal re
lationships of the government, and
he will never get on with his job
until he is adopted into the gov
ernment family.
In Canada, from which we have
much to learn in these matters,
Ur. Henderson s opposite number
is not the head of an independent
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entirely. Contains no chloroform
••.svMtii .- and no sweet sugar
•cun. Not habit-rorming. But if
you want something real for a
rede bad cough get a 65 cent bot
tle ■: Bron-chu-line Emulsion from
Brooklyn Pharmacy. Lane's Market
it. Pharmacy or any good drug
•'.! or our guarantee of unmis
:• side satisfaction or money back.
agency. In fact, there are no in
dependent agencies in the Canadi
an War Administration. The Nel
sons, tlie Hendersons, the McNutts,
the Milo Perkinses of Canada are
one and all of them under some
cabinet minister who is in charge
of an established government de
partment.
Mr. Donald Gordon, for exam
ple, who has done so brilliantly
well what Mr. Henderson does, is
under the Ministry of Finance,
which corresponds roughtly to the
Treasury Department. Thus be
tween Mi. Gordon and the Par
liament, there stands a cabinet
minister who is himself a mem
ber of Parliament. The minister
is accountable to the Parliament
for Mr. Gordon’s acts and Mr.
Gordon is accountable to the min
ister. Under this arrangement,
Mr. Gordon’s new agency is both
protected and guided by a min
ister who is in direct and con
tinual contact with Parliament;
grievances are dealt with as they
arise, complaints are answered
when they are made, and Mr.
Gordon does not have to harangue
the Parliament or get himself in
vestigatea every ten days.
Mr. Gordon has, I was told,
made four speeches since he took
on his job. How many has Mr
Henderson made? So many that
he cannot remember them all. So
many that writing them, traveling
to and fro to deliver them, and
then holding press conferences and
issuing statements to correct them,
can hardly have failed to inter
fere with his thinking out how to
make his ceilings and his ration
ing work better.
It is interesting also. I think, to
kncrw how Mr. Gordon’s superior,
the Minister of Finance, usually
spends his day. I cannot vouch
for exact details but essentially it
is about like this: in the morning
Mr. Ilsley is at his office in the
Ministry of Finance working with
his staff. About noon he goes to
the Parliament building and for
an hour or two before lunch there
is a cabinet meeting at which the
government’s policy and position
are decided upon. Then from the
early afternoon the cabinet is in
Parliament answering questions
and explaining and debating their
policies. If the questions at issue
are not in Mr. Ilsley's domain,
he does not have to sit in the
house; he has another office right
in the Parliament building where
he can work, but where he can
also talk with members of Parlia
ment, or go quickly to fhe floor
if a question arises which con
cerns him.
Is it not plain that this is a
system designed to make repre
sentative government work? Here
you have three things which are
largely lacking in Washington. You
have a common policy for the
whole administration. You have
close daily personal contact be
tween the executive and the leg
islature. You have the Hender
sons, Nelsons, and McNutts, who
have complicated technical jobs to
do, in a position where they can
be guided and protected, are ac
countable and yet do not. have to
fight their own battles with the
Congress and with public opinion.
Obviously, under our different
form -of government, the Canadian
system cannot be copied slavishly
and would not work well if such a
thing were attempted. But there
are principles involved which ap
ply'to any efective system of rep
resentative government, and inso
far as we ignore them, we shall
be in trouble.
Thus, there is no reason why we
cannot have a cabinet to settle
administration policy. The present
system under which the head of
each department or agency tries
to settle his big questions directly
with the President is one of the
reasons why there are so many
unsettled questions and so many
feuds. The spectacle of these pub
lie quarrels between Mr. Nelson
and the War Department, Mr. Hull
or Mr. Jones and the Board of
Economic Warfare, Mr. Hender
son and Mr. Ickes or Mr. Wickard
is little short of scandalous. In
deed it is scandalous to have to
read that two members of the
same administration waging the
greatest war in history have had
a fight in which one of them thinks
he has won a “victory” and the
other has suffered a “defeat.” For
t£ie inevitable differences of ipin
ion cMght never to become fights.
They would not if it were the reg
ular practice to discuss them and
settle them in a cabinet meeting.
Nor is there any reason why
the mushroom agencies should not
be placed under regular depart
ments of government—no reason,
that is to say, except that in some
cases the regular departments are
in charge of men who cannot be
removed though they are not equal
to the responsibility.
If only this stubborn bottleneck
could be broken, then there would
be no reason why the regular cab
inet members could not make it
theif regular and important busi
ness to keep in direct and inti
mate contact with Congress—in
forming Congress and becoming
informed by Congress, and thus
closing the dangerous gap which
threatens to become wider between
the two ends of Pennsylvania Ave
nue. For this separation produces
an ignorant and, therefore, an an
gry Congress, and an isolated and,
therefore, a frightened and con
fused Administration.
A wise man, F. S. Oliver, once
wrote that “the spirit of the nation
is a great force, but it is one
which cannot always be on the
alert, and, while it sleeps, the
part of noble institutions is to keep
watch,” I venture to think that Mr.
Roosevelt’s advisers, those who
draw up his many successive plans
of “reorganization,” are weakest
in their appreciation of the part
which well designed and well es
tablished and familiar institutions
play in the conduct of affairs, and
how important it is, therefore, to
try wherever possbile to graft new
agencies upon the stock of deeply
rooted institutions.
Almost always they are dispMed
to improvise some new agency,
which looks so easy on paper,
rather thjn to renovate and re
juvenate an old department and
to seek ways to make our estab
lished institutions work. They are
not wise in this and they are for
ever jeopardizing the success of
the new by failing to realize the
virtues of what is old.
TT
Five Miners Rescued
After Big Slate Fall
SHINNSTON, W. V., Dec. 17.—
(JP)—Five miners trapped in the
Consolidation Coal Company’s Num
ber 32 mine at nearby Owings were
rescued tonight approximately 12
hours after they were caught be
hind a huge slate fall.
F. E. Bedale, safety director for
the company, said that Louis Maz
za, a timberman, was the only one
in the group requiring hospitaliza
tion. Mazza was taken to St. Mary’s
hospital at Clarksburg suffering
from shock.
The other four men, entombed
behind a 90-foot wall of debris since
7:30 a. m. today, crawled to the
surface through an opening cut by
bulldozers and rescue workers.
RAILROAD AGE
PARLEY STOPPED
3 Day Conference On Sal
ary Increases Breaks Up
With No Agreement
NEW YORK, Dec. 17.—<JP)—A 3
day conference between railroad
executives and representatives of
railroad unions on a wage increase
demand broke up today without
agreement and union negotiations
announced they would appeal their,
case to the National Mediation j
Board under the Railway Labor
act.
Sudden termination of the nego
tiations was not longed for, rail
representatives having at the out
set forecast an adjournment today
to resume conversations after the
holidays.
A statement issued by the rail
management representatives said:
“The conference between repre
sentatives of 15 non-operating rail
road brotherhoods and the confer
ence committees representing the
railroads, having produced no set
tlement of the pending request for
a 20-cent an hour wage increase, a
minimum wage of 70 cents an hour
and the union shop, the conference
terminated today and the employes
representatives announced that on
Monday they would invoke the ser
vices of the National Mediation
Board.”
ROLLER SKATES
For Boys and Girls
PICKARDS
209 Market St. Dial 3224
* SPECIAL NOTICE *
Due to the unavoidable shortage of help
and other reasons beyond our control we
have been forced to close the branch Post
Office which has been operated at our
service station. We regret that we are no
longer able to render this service to the
public.
CAUSEY’S
12th & Market Sts.
Chief Of Police
Warns Children
About Fireworks
Chief of Police Charles Casteen
said Thursday that with Christmas
only one week off, “it is timely to
remind parents and children again
In regard to the city ordinance
against the shooting of fireworks.”
Chief Casteen said that the warn
ing was again being issued so that
there would be complete under
standing of the regulation. “There
is a city ordinance forbidding the
use of fireworks, and violators of
this ordinance will be punished ac
cording to the law.
“I believe that all children will
carry out this ordinance when they
realize they will be aiding in the|
war effort, in the city’s attempt to'
enforce the ruling, and in the de
creasing possibility of persons be-1
ing injured by the explosives,” Chief
Casteen concluded.
NEW PRESIDENT
NEW BERN. Dec. 17—The Rev.
R. M. Johnston, Disciple minister,
is the new president of the New
Bern Ministerial association, suc
ceeding the Rev. Leon Russell. Me
thodist pastor. The Rev. Thomas
W Fryer. Baptist minister, who
moved here recently from Dunn,
is the new vice president. The Rev
R. E McClure Presbyterian min
ister, continues as secretary-trea
surer.
CONDEMN NAZIS
WASHINGTON. Dec 17 — i/P) —
The United States and other Unit
rd Nation^ governments joined to
day In condemning Germany’s poli
cy oi exterminating the Jews <md
pledged themselves to visit retri
bution on those responsible.
-V
In Butte, Mont., traffic fines may
be paid In scrap — t« to SO pound*
of it.
PARLOR GAMES
Fine For Wartime*
PICKARDS
' ?«." Market St. Dial S8S4
THE OLD JUDGE, SAYS...
“How soon do you leave for camp, Bob?’’
“Next Tuesday, Judge. Bill and George
are leaving the same time. We’re hoping to
wind up in a tank outfit.’’
“Well, the way I’ve seen you handle a
tractor, Bob, you ought to be right at home
in one of those tanks. You’re going to like
the service—they’re a great bunch of fel
lows. Just last week I went down to camp
to see a young nephew of mine and he
introduced me to some of his buddies. Fine
fellows—real he-men just like you and Bill
and George—from good American homes.
Handle themselves well, too.
*'You know, I’ve been checking up on it,
Bob, and I’ve found out that the American
army today is healthier, better disciplined,
better trained, better taken care of than
it has ever been in its history. And you can
take my word for it, Mary, he’ll come back
to you a fine man in great shape. Best of
luck to you, Bob.”
Conference of Alcoholic Bet cron Industries, Inc.
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