Show Round Merry By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. S ALLEN Editors Editor's Note The Note The Brass Ring is good for forone forone forone one free ride on The Washington Merry Go Round the enjoyment of which is up to the rider This week it goes to Nathan Straus head of the U. U S. S housing authority WASHINGTON The The president in one of his franker moods once remarked Wh What What t Washington needs is s about 15 good decapita decapita- Since then Mr Roosevelt has been either too busy or too tender-hearted tender to wield the axe so The Washington Merry Go Round Merry Round always anxious to be of service has prepared a guillotine guillotine guillotine guillo guillo- tine list for or him At the top of the list solely on the basis of his record we nominate for decapitation Nathan Straus administrator of the United States housing authority Mr Straus is a very pleasant well-meaning well man who has probably promised more and accomplished accomplished accomplished ac ac- ac- ac less than any of the numerous and varied political personalities Roosevelt has brought to Washington He started out by boasting that he could run the housing authority with only em em- The people from Ickes' Ickes old P W A housing division he said would be dismissed But today the inherited from Ickes have grown to 1100 in the Washington office alone to say nothing of an additional staff in the field Next Nathan issued a fanfare regarding all the housing projects he was starting Every day or so his busy publicity office listed new cities for which funds had been allocated But now one year after assuming office it turns out that all the Straus ballyhoo was merely over the earmarking of funds It did not mean the a actual thal building of housing projects Few Houses Started Cold fact is that the list of actual contracts signed with municipalities has been been pitifully small while that of projects actually begun has been even smaller With the exception of the apartments started by New Yorks York's fiery Little Flower LaGuardia Straus has not even dug a hole in the ground probably will not be beable beable beable able to do so until early 1939 All this after a year and three months of work Furthermore it now turns out that many of the projects approved by Straus were those on which the old housing division had done all the preliminary Once when Straus came forward forward forward for for- ward with one of his Hollywood announcements announcements announcements announce announce- ments of ten projects allotted for close examination examination v nation showed that with the exception of one tiny enterprise in Austin Texas he had merely dusted off the old projects and taken the credit for them Complete Vacuum As an n executive and administrator Straus is a total vacuum Not only does he he fail ail to delegate responsibility but he likes to keep his 1 associates in their holes Nathan is the type who if he cannot bask in the Klieg lights will not play ball When things first began to go wrong in the housing authority Jim Farley sent Straus his own executive assistant J. J Austin Latimer while Charley Michelson sent him Farmer Murphy Murphy Murphy Mur Mur- phy his ace press assistant But Straus allowed his female secretary who reminds Washington of General Johnsons Johnson's famous Robbie to gang up on Latimer L Sidetracked he took his hat and went back to Farley Farmer Murphy also discovered discovered discovered dis dis- dis- dis covered that Nathan thought he knew all was to know about publicity As Straus expressed expressed expressed ex ex- ex- ex pressed it he had been a newspaper man himself himself himself him him- self once Anxious to read all about himself Straus ordered a large assortment of town out-of-town newspapers newspapers newspapers news news- papers airmailed to his office The bills ran into several hundred dollars a month Eventually his legal advisers informed him that he had no authority under the nie housing act to buy newspapers newspapers news news- newspapers papers at all These antics were too much for Murphy and he returned to the Democratic national com corn High ugh Cost Housing Straus Straus' clowning could be overlooked if he accomplished his objective But the other day he issued a press release on the estimated est cost of ten proposed new housing projects and it was discovered that his costs were running higher higher- than the housing built under P W A. A Furthermore Straus' Straus figures were mere estimates esti esti- mat mates matOs s while the P W A figures were final and actual cost of construction always runs 15 to 25 per cent more than estimates Finally in order to cut his costs of construction construction construe construe- tion Straus is eliminating central heating which P W A used and is getting away from the substantial substantial substantial sub sub- fireproof structures built by P W A. A All of this is hard to believe But talk to the technical experts under Nathan Straus and itis it itis itis is even worse Straus' Straus experts actually are hoping hoping hoping hop hop- ing that their boss will not get the additional money from congress which he wants because he hasn't been able to handle what he has Additional Additional Additional Ad Ad- money they say would be wasted Straus' Straus most amazing saving has just come cometo cometo cometo to light He has been able to cut down the original original original inal rent figures set by Ickes by 57 cents per room per month P W A rent figure however allowed for return to the government of 55 per cent of the original cost So Straus in order to shave down rents 57 cents per room per m month nth tossed out of the window 55 per cent of the cost of the pr projects In other words the treasury treasury treasury treas treas- ury is now minus Note Another te Another high official will shortly be nominated by The Washington Round Merry-Go-Round for Roosevelt's list of decapitations Copyright 1938 for The Telegram |