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Humphrey has already used his talent tor scouting out partners to build what is urrently the strongest executive team of any branch of the new Administration, ^or his Under Secretary of the Treasury e got Marion Bayard Folsom, 59 treasurer of the Eastman Kodak Co. and chairman of the Committee for Economic Development. (C.E.D. has a healthy respect for military preparedness but wants a pay-as-you-go policy.) For Assistant Secretary Humphrey brought Horace Chapman Rose, 45, from Cleveland. "Chappie" Rose, a lawyer, was once secretary to Justice Holmes, but has been at Humphrey s elbow at M. A. Hanna for five years For special adviser on debt management and monetary policies Humphrey called m W. Randolph Burgess, 63, chairman of the executive committee of the National City Bank of New York. Burgess, a dauntless graduate of the classical economic school, calls a balanced budget "the most sacred principle of sound money."
Problems of Influence. This week when Humphrey came up for confirmation before the Senate Finance Committee he gave the Senators a pleasant surprise by knowing all of their names, and gracefully fielded the routine questions about his holdings & finances. He had resigned all of his official positions (which paid him about $300,000 annually), and all of his directorships. He would keep his stock in Hanna and its principal affiliates. Obviously, the Hanna companies would have tax dealings with Treasury, but Humphrey thought these would be settled at levels below his office. If the decisions came to him, he said, he would consult with the appropriate congressional committees.
"Suppose I sold all my stocks," Humphrey went on. "I've thought of it. What would I do with the money? If I left it in cash in the bank, someone could say I was unduly influencing the bank as Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary has a lot of authority over banks. Or suppose I put it into Government bonds. Certainly there is no one in the country in a better position to influence the bond market than the Secretary of the Treasury."
At one point Colorado's Eugene Millikin addressed Humphrey as "Mr. Hanna." Millikin laughed with the rest at his mistake, and said: "Well, it's a good Republican name." Replied Humphrey:
"That's right, and I'm proud of it."
The committee confirmed him unanimously, and George Humphrey headed off toward downtown Washington to make a good Republican name for himself at the U.S. Treasury.