U.S. At War: Mr. Morgenthau Pays a Call

With the air of a man looking over his shoulder, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. slipped quietly into the Capitol last week. He walked quickly through the corridors, shouldered his way past a group of sightseers, disappeared through an office door.

Inside, at a lunch table set for two, sat North Carolina’s stubborn, gnarled old Congressman Robert L. Doughton, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee. For embarrassed Mr. Morgenthau, the lunch was doubtless a painful experience. For Mr. Doughton, it was a gala, never-to-be-forgotten occasion.

Mr. Morgenthau had seldom paid much attention to rustic, rawboned “Muley” Doughton, except to be annoyed at his dirt farmer’s conservatism. Nor had Mr. Morgenthau, full of the righteousness of his own tax schemes, ever regarded Mr. Doughton’s committee as particularly qualified for its job of originating the nation’s tax laws. But now Mr. Morgenthau, whose influence on Capitol Hill had dropped below zero, was paying his belated respects.

For a few hours after his guest had departed, old Muley Doughton magnanimously held his tongue. Then, unable to restrain himself any longer, he had his office issue a communique whose note of triumph was the louder for being restrained: “Mr. Morgenthau said that . . . he was anxious to cooperate with . . . Congress in the most helpful way possible in working out a satisfactory tax program. Secretary Morgenthau made it plain . . . that he was most anxious to continue to work in harmony with the committee in whatever manner it was deemed would produce the best results. . . .”

There were no counterclaims.