OCR Text |
Show Merry-Go-Round ' h Outside Interests 5 Hurt Krug's Cabinet Influence By Drew PmhTim 1 LOS ANGELES Two morals cat be drawn from th quiet exit of feisty, likable, .', JftO-pound Julius A. Xrag arcs tha Tra man cabinet: No. l It doesn't pay for a msa hi pvb-II pvb-II Ufa to be publicised with Hollywood pretties. . No. 1 Th press cant criticta one of Harry Truman's cabinet member If they want him to resign. Criticism manly freeze a man In th cabinet. In th case of Secretary of th Interior -. "Cap" King, some of ths nswspapers played up ths Johnny Meyers parties and ths Hoi- , lywood beauties who entertained Krug v whan hs was chairman of ths war produs- tloa board. And at ths tims this had a tendency to solidify "Cap's" position la tha cabtnst for ths president invariably ral- lie to his cabtnst' defense when they ars under attack. That, however, was three year ago. ) ' And for th past year Krug and Trumaa -have not been getting along at alt Tha I parka have flown aa several occasions. Oas seething . Her written to ths socio- tary of ths Interior by ths president waa ' the kind, aa president writs to a cabinet member unless hs wants him to resign. j . Krug also had mors of his Interior ds . pertinent bills vetoed than any other cab- Inetear In resent history. And when th head of th cabinet, tha president, turns thumbs down on ths legislativs proposals of a member of his own official family,' you can expect a restgnstlon. On top of ail this, Krug got himself involved in litigation over a $750,000 loan . hs had floated to finance th purchase of a textile mill near Knaxvffle, Tenn. Hot la Cosgrees While "Cap" testified In congress about Irrigation and wild life, ths senators couldn't help having smiles on their face as they thought of those Johnny Meyers expense accounts. Naturally this undermined "Cap's" ability to battls thing ' out with congress, mads it difficult to gat his legislativs program okehed. And this. In turn, was on reason for th White House vetoes. . Uks any man with a fixed tncom and high income taxes, "Cap" couldn't males any real money without borrowing and try ' tag for a capital gains tax. Probably this was why ha mads a small investment in . ths Los Angslea Ram football team and also why hs borrowed $700,000 to hold an 1 1 1 1 -1 . t I Uu Bwm1-Ia Will- factory in Tennessee. 8o fsr as this columnist can see, there ' was nothing wrong with "Cap" Krug's la- vestment In Broo aside. Hs got his original origi-nal investment la the mill before hs en-tered en-tered ths cabinet It is true that after he ' entered the cabinet he borrowed $700,000 to secure control of the mill and later bor- . rowed another $750,000 to pay off ths first loan. However, this type of transaction la i no different from that practiced by many businessmen today. ,. New York vs. D. C In Secretary Krug's ease, however, the deal hurt him .' In two ways. Ia th tint place. It do- tractsd from the tune he spent la Wash- , ington. During many weeks he lived five 1 dsys a wssk In Nsw York, flew down be ,' Washington Friday mornings for cabinet ' meetings. 'I Ths other way the textile deal hurt -him was . that Nathan Shsinman, from whom Krug borrowed $750,000 on April 16, 1848, now wants ens phase of his sgree- ' meat arbitrated. He claims that he was to be the exclusive sales agent for Brook- ' side Mills and that Krug and his partner, Thomas Epstein, ewe him $90,000 In cons- ' missions. I To block this arbitration, Krug and En- ' tela havs asked for aa injunction in tha ' Nsw York supreme court, claiming that Sheinman's proposed arbitration "represents "repre-sents a blatant attempt oa Sheinman's part to ssizs control of Brooksids Mills . through a misuss of arbitration." Assuming that Krug is entirely right, and Judge Bernard Bote in has ruled In his favor on two out of three counts, never- .' theless it I difficult for any cabinet officer offi-cer to keep his mind oa Intricate financial -deals plus ths 101 details connected with -supervising Alaskan defense, strikes In Hawaii, Ha-waii, the reclamation fight In California, education of ths Nsvajos ia Artsona, na- tional parks from Ysuowstons to Yosemlta and the economic worries of Puerto Rica Copyright 1949, Bell Syndicate. The tragic, fact about Juilua A. Krug la that most of his lifs hs wss aa A-l pub-he pub-he servant Hs started with a great career. He did a bang-up Job with the Tennessee Valley authority, then cams Into ths cabinet at ths ags of M, the youngest secretary of ths Interior la history. The only interior department businss m New York is Bedloss Island, on which stands the Status of Liberty. Obviously Krug eould not have spent weeks In Nsw York worrying about the upkeep of the Utile of Liberty. and ths Virgin Islands. |