ROOSEVELT IN CHECK

Jerking the attention of the nation away from a bristling Europe back towards its own capital, President Roosevelt's removal of Arthur E. Morgan as T.V.A. chairman strikes a sour note in the policies of the chief executive. He has raised a delicate legal question that may drag on for months, but whatever the decision, this struggle of personalities is another proof of the peculiar opportunism which the President has always possessed. He is a chess player whose plan consists of a vast desire to win, whose method is to cope with each situation when it comes up and not before, hardly troubling himself to look more than one move ahead. This time he seems to have worked himself into a hole.

At the head of the T.V.A., the President chose three men with opposite notions, not for the general efficiency of the organization but merely to satisfy the various interested parties. As the sparks flew between Arthur Morgan and his subordinate associations, Mr. Roosevelt though it was their turn to move, not his, and sat back satisfied. The rupture came over Senator Berry's marble claim, for Mr. Morgan was thoroughly disgusted by then with the corruption, waste, and monopolistic intention of his organization. But it was Morgan's demand for a thorough Congressional investigation that brought the President face to face with the rather doubtful condition of the T.V.A. Not relishing any embarrassing revelation so close to the congressional elections the President's countermove was a hasty summons of ]the three directors to a White House "trial."

There, the chief executive discovered that his awesome presence did not terrify Mr. Morgan into submission; quite on the other hand the latter refused to give any evidence to support his charges except during a formal Congressional investigation. The President thus opposed, responed by removing the opposition, and Mr. Morgan was relieved of his burdens of office.

Mr. Roosevelt has won a few pawns but his king is in check. The very act of removing Arthur Morgan made a Congressional investigation inevitable, and the President could only answer that he had always wanted one anyway. By his maneuvering, he now stands to lose an important legal decision, he has aroused public opinion, and the fact of the T.V.A. and other similar organization may be seriously imperilled by the court decision and the investigation of Congress.