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Show j Washington, D. C. ! STIMSON GIVEN FULL ! . AUTHORITY ; Henry L. Stimson. Republican : secretary of war, and th" only man in the United States who has served ;in three cabinets (Taft's, Hoover's rand Roosevelt's) is proceeding cautiously. cau-tiously. But he has been given com- plete authority by Roosevelt to reorganize re-organize the entire war department, even including the ousting of Demo-cratic Demo-cratic appointees. The inside story of Stimson's appointment ap-pointment can now be told. It so happened that he had ust delivered a strong pro-allied address i nt the Yale uni- versity com- imencemcnt exei ! ciscs, when he got home and re- ceived the long (distance call from : Roosevelt inviting ' him to become t secretary of war. "Mr. Presi-.dent," Presi-.dent," replied i Stimson, "I have ; just delivered an tsddress which no Henry L. Stimson i ,man in high official position should tmake." "I know all about your speech," iHoosevelt replied in effect, "and I j still want you to be secretary of war." Stimson then replied that the deci-ision deci-ision was so momentous that he , -wanted two or three hours to talk it cover with his wife and close friends. : ! "Take all the time you want, Hen-iy," Hen-iy," said the President. ' ; Note To get the full significance ,of this exchange, it is necessary to jremember that Stimson and Roose-j Roose-j velt had fought each other in New '.York state politics ever since 1910, i-when Stimson ran for governor and : RnnspvplL iust out of Harvard, ran Lfor the state senate. - After two or three hours Stim-json Stim-json telephoned the President and :.accepted the appointment. Howev-ler, Howev-ler, he added one condition, i "I'm not as young as I used to jbe," he said, "and I can't work 18 1 and 20 hours a day any more. Therefore There-fore I've got to have men around J.me whom I know intimately and can j absolutely trust. A tremendous re-.! re-.! sponsibility will be on my shoul-jders," shoul-jders," Stimson added, "and I can-!not can-!not afford to fail." To this Roosevelt replied in ban--.taring tone: "Appoint anyone you I f-want, Henry. The only thing I ask , lis not to appoint too many Repub- j 'ilicans at the very first." I Stimson apparently did not catch j ithe joking note in the President's I voice, for he replied: "You can irest assured, Mr. President, that ;whether Democrats or Republicans, Jthey will be good men." 1 ' The first man Stimson asked to 'help him in Washington was a Democrat, Dem-ocrat, Benedict Crowell, now president presi-dent of the Central National bank of Cleveland and formerly assistant .secretary of war under Woodrow 'Wilson. He is also a close friend of RooFevelt's, who was then assistant assis-tant secretary of the navy. Crowell 5 got to know Stimson when the war ; department was under bitter Repub-ilican Repub-ilican attack in 1920, and Stimson, a j Republican and an ex-secretary of iwar, defended him. So - this time Stimson asked t Crowell to help him, by going to ' Washington and making a quiet sur-ivey sur-ivey of the situation inside the war i department. Stimson had not yet Ibeen confirmed by the senate and -could not make the survey himself. But he wanted to know all the facts I In advance in order to waste no i time once he took the oath of office. Crowell made the survey and re-L-ported that the production of new j-war weapons and material was progressing pro-gressing most satisfactorily. How- ever, he found the war department rent with feuds and the personnel ; situation badly in need of reorganisation. reorgani-sation. This is one of the first jobs Stimson Stim-son is tackling. There will be an important shakeup in high rank .army officers. NEW NAVAL BOSS ; Col. Frank Knox, new Republican : secretary of the navy, already has been sized up by the admirals. They describe their new boss this way: "Hard-boiled and seems to know his -stuff." Naval officers frankly admit, however, how-ever, that they don't like Knox which is a good omen. For the admirals ad-mirals never like a secretary of the navy who really runs the show. And in the navy today they certainly need a two-fisted secretary. . Note It is significant that Knox is clearing all naval changes through Roosevelt, The President still keeps the navy as his governmental pet ' MERRY-GO-ROUND , Ex-Senator George McGill of Kansas, Kan-sas, lame-ducked In the 1938 G. O. P. cleanup, is hot after the Land Bank commissionership that will become vacant August 1, when incumbent Roy Green leaves to become president presi-dent of the University of Colorado. McGill has the backing of American Farm bureau moguls who have bucked the administration on land bank policies which won't help :UcGill'i chances. |
