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UL newspapers generally agreed that the
experience of W. Averill Harriman in
business as well as foreign affairs makes
his choice as Secretary of Commerce a shrewd
and wise one. His statement that he fully
supports President Truman and Secrctary
Byrnes in conducting the US foreign policy
along lines laid down by the late President
Roosevelt is acclaimed as indicating unity
within government on foreign affairs.
Among the few dissenting voices raised is
that of the Chicago Tribune which is of the
opinion that "all that the change means is tha t
Russia has lost an advocate in the Cabinet
and Britain has gained one. The American
people are no better off."
The New York Herald Tribune said in
part: "The appointment amounts to an
emphatic reassertion of the Byrnes policy,
it brings into the Cabinet a man who knows
something at first hand about our biggest
foreign problem. It will go at least a good
way in the domestic Democratic Party poli-
ties to cushion the shock of the Wallace
defection. Mr. Harriman is in his own right
an official of ability. Through his long ser-
vice at the center of industrial mobilization,
wvar and diplomacy, he has steadily grown
in discernment as well as in experience.
Washington Post: "Continuity with New
Deal and Mr. Roosevelt. a standing in the
business community. a knowledge and abililv
in our foreign relations, particularly with
Russia and Britain all these conspire to
make the appointment a wise one ... by all
accou1nts -- and his own statement in London
comes as confirmation --he would 'fight for
peace' by bettering the world's livelihood
and propagating ideas of freedom. Only by
so doing can we live up to the responsib-
ilities thait destinv has put on our (loorsiep of
brought unity on foreign policy to the
Cabinet, and named a New Dealer to a vital
domestic post."
New York Sun: "Here is a man who has
been working closely with Secretary Byrnes
in Paris; who on the basis of his experience
as Ambassador to Moscow as well as to
London, sees eye to eye with the Secretary
on America's foreign policy; and who has
spoken out firmly against appeasement of
Moscow and Stalin.... as he said some
months ago in discussing our policy towards
Russia, he believes the United States must
remain strong, physically and spiritually,
'taking a clear position based on principles
of the United Nations Charter and the prin-
ciples in which American people have pro-
found faith.' That is how Secretary Byrnos
and most of his fellow Americans feel."
Task Facing Congress
Commiienting on the need for preparedness
the New York Herald Tribune declared in
a recent editorial: "The end of hostilities
a year ago saw a repetition of a familiar
\merican prectice -- the hasty and dis-
organized tearing down of a great military
machine. The pressure to get men who had
served faithfully and well until victory back
to civilian life was both natural and pol-
itically irresistible. Far less justifiable was
the refusal of Congress to face up 1o the
need for replacing them. on a sound and
durable basis.
"Meanwhile. however. the wvorld situat iOU
has deteriorated to a point where nearly all
Americans recognize the need a maintaining
the armed services at a high  level, not
simply as a sort of thread to hold a paper
army together - as is this conntry's usual
peacetime habit   but as a force in being
in time of tension."'
Is