President Roosevelt's Team
BY S. K.
IT would be true to say that never before has the world awaited more eagerly a change of Government in . the United States than at the present time. President Roosevelt will have to prove, himself a miracle-worker; and will need to have supernatural luck, if his Adminis- tration is to justify one-fourth of the hopes which sur- round him at the moment of his entering the White House. He assumes office with a buoyancy such as the .Presidenoy-has -not-known. for a quarter of a century. As I write, Washington is on the eve of a joyous inaugura; tion. Here is a capital resplendent in the midst of a vast economic ruin, with the famous smile of Franklin Roosevelt flashing out its promise of " a new deal." In what manner, to begin with, may we expect the promise to be honoured ?
In England, I assume, there has been some disappoint- ment over the personnel of the Cabinet. After the election the British public was assured by Washington correspondents, and others speaking from sound know- ledge, of two things in especial—first, that Mr. Roosevelt was distinguished by a desire to provide himself with the ablest advisers, and secondly, that the Democrats were better off than their opponents in having a number of leaders exceptional in knowledge and experience, from whom the President could choose his principal colleagues. Rather too lightly and confidently certain names were bandied about in connexion with the State Department and the Treasury—Newton Baker, Norman Davis, John W: Davis, Owen D. Young, and even the unique Al Smith, notwithstanding the peculiarity of his position ..and_his.definite severance from public affairs.
It was to a large extent forgotten that a President, and especially a Democratic President, is driven to adjust his personal inclinations to personal necessity, and Particu- larly to Congressional facts and probabilities, while it has to be remembered that a public man who for some reason looks to the Press like an almost inevitable Cabinet officer (Cabinet Minister is a term unknown in America) may for other reasons not be available at all. Among the men prominently discussed of late there were one or two who- could not be seriously considered for the Cabinet. There was at least one for whom no offer would have been a temptation. There was one, of high qualifications, who made no secret of his ardent desire for the leading place but .who, it is clear, did not fit into the President's plan. Political England, I doubt not, wished to be given the . opportunity of congratulating at any rate two or three American statesmen who have become known in. Europe. . Mr. Roosevelt may have been ready to fall in with their wishes—I do not know. But the appoint- ments are mainly political in character, and it is known in Washington that in several instances acceptance of office was not obtained without some amount of presidential pressure.
Presidents have differed greatly in the matter of choos- ing Senators for Cabinet and other offices. Mr. Roosevelt- has gone to the Senate for his Secretary of-State and for his Secretary of the Navy. As an experienced politician he knows the importance of strengthening. the Executive by putting into the Cabinet one or two men who are . familiar with all the ways of Congreas. hlr: Cordell Hull, of Tennessee, has .been 'in Senate only a short time, but he has spent many years in-the House of Representatives. His standing in both Houses is high. His knowledge is chiefly American ; in particular he is a master of the tariff question, which from the beginning he has; attacked from the low-tariff side. He is as near to a free-trader as can be found in these times among American politicians, and it is of course no unimportant point that in the immediate future the Department of State must be con- cerned with the discussion of international questions continually impinging on the province of tariffS Senator. Swanson, who takes charge of the Navy Depart- ment, is known in AmericaHand in and Geneva —as a conditional big-navy man. That is to say, he is identified with the assumption that the days of American naval subservience are over. No Power can again be permitted to occupy a position superior on the sea to that of the United States, and he will be for building without regard to expenditure if, in his judgement, the vital -interest of American equality should be imperilled.
. Secretary Swanson counts as a Conservative Democrat, as do a few.other members of the new Cabinet. But it is important to note that the body as a whole represents the Progressive wing of the party—Mr. Roosevelt has begun with a group of appointments which furnish unmistakable evidence that the Administration is to be in line with the electoral platform and with the President's outspoken campaign speeches. Of Mi. Woodin, the New York business man who succeeds Mr.- Ogden Mills, after Mr.
Mellon, at the Treasury, I say nothing here, for the simple and sufficient reason that the policy of the Treasury will declare itself in action from day to day. • But two of these Cabinet appointments in particular are everywhere regarded as indicative of this decision—that of Mr. Ickes (pronounced in two syllables) to the Department of the Interior, and that of the admirable Miss France's Perkins, for several years . Labour Commissioner in New York State, as Secretary of Labour—a most important office, :which in the three Republican Cabinets was filled by men whose qualifications were invisible. Miss Perkins is splendidly equipped in knowledge, in- broad experience, and in character. She belongs to that finest side of modern Ainerica—the field Of direct and ekpert study, broadened by continuous contact with the actual problems of industry, employment and urban coriditionS. It would not surprise anyone who is acquainted with Miss Perkins' record during Governor Roosevelt's regime in. New York State if as head of the Labour Department she shOuld prove to be an outstanding Success.
One point of special contemporary interest may be remarked. The party rule has been applied in its strictness to the Cabinets- of the three succeSsiVe Repub- lican Administrations. It might have been expected that, after spending twelve years in the wilderness with his party, a Democratic President would be no less rigid, as the party- bosses doubtless wanted him to be. Mr. Roosevelt has put into his Cabinet three men (out of ten) who have counted as Republicans until quite - recently.
To the outsider, even the well-informed outsider, the two familiar party labels have come in recent years to mean little or'nothing. - Can it be that in the near future the pas- sion of their supposed antagonism may begin to fade away
Previous page
