Order No. 1

In Washington last week the correspondents who cover the Treasury Department hit upon an item of news which made them wince. It was General Order No. 1 of Acting Secretary Morgenthau, to the effect that hereafter all Treasury news must come from him or a single press relations expert. The order meant that newsmen could no longer gossip, even anonymously, with subordinate Treasury officials who for years had given them many a friendly steer through the complexities of fiscal affairs. Largely because these informal and informative contacts had lately resulted in Treasury news and views out of harmony with the President's monetary program Secretary Morgenthau clapped on his gag as a matter of uniform administrative policy.

The man he selected to control Treasury news was Herbert E. Gaston, onetime night editor of the defunct New York World, who helped found the liberal Federated Press service as a medium for labor news. Even the fact that an experienced and liberal minded confrere had been given the job was not enough to make the correspondents believe Mr. Morgenthau's disavowal of censorship. Always quick to resent such tactics the correspondents promptly expressed their feelings in a letter to President Roosevelt at Warm Springs: "We . . . formally protest against the rigid restrictions imposed by Mr. Morgenthau. . . . The Secretary's order includes factual or statistical information ordinarily available to the Press through officials. . . . It is our belief that the goodwill between the Treasury Department and the Press, built up in the last 15 years, has been seriously impaired. . . ." Well aware was President Roosevelt of the political necessity of keeping on good terms with the Press, of the impossibility of stopping each & every news leak at the Treasury. Next day Secretary Morgenthau realized his mistake when he modified General Order No. 1 so that correspondents could still interview minor officials on matters of fact but reserved for his own office all statements of policy and opinion.

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