The Patronage Problem

For any change-of-party new administration, the problem of patronage has three elements: 1) getting rid of the patronage appointees of the preceding administration to assure loyalty to the new regime, 2) getting good men to fill the vacant jobs, 3) rewarding the politically faithful to keep the party machinery going for future elections. The three-way problem (which the Republicans have not faced since Harding succeeded Wilson) has slowed down the Eisenhower Administration until GOPoliticos are grumbling impatiently. Last week Dwight Eisenhower moved to solve it by shifting control of patronage from White House Aide Sherman Adams to Ike's new, hand-picked National Committee chairman, New Yorker Leonard Hall.

As patronage boss, Hall's No. 1 chore will be to streamline the processing of Republican job seekers. Basically, this means careful clearance with Congressmen and state political bosses before making appointments. Sherman Adams, crusty, hard-working ex-governor of New Hampshire, at first often overlooked this clearance. Then, when the squawks began, he grew so cautious that his office became a bottleneck. Another sore point among state and local partymen: the tendency of eager new Republican bureau heads to hurry the hiring of subordinates, thus bypassing patronage channels.

Before regional and local federal appointments can be made, Len Hall will have to improve the G.O.P. state machinery. The ideal would be an efficient hierarchy of command, reaching down to the counties, along which could flow all applications for jobs. But in most states the G.O.P. operates cumbersomely. New York is a model of political precision: Governor Tom Dewey makes the decisions and keeps a man in Washington to speak for him (ex-Congressman Robert T. Ross). But few states are so well disciplined. In Pennsylvania, appointments need the approval of such feuding bosses as Senator Jim Duff, Governor John Fine, Mason Owlett and Senator Ed Martin.

In essence, the new Eisenhower patronage plan is a delegation of the President's own responsibility for lower-level appointments. All requests for patronage will henceforth go to the Republican National Committee, where Hall and a special assistant will pass on political aspects.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.