Bull Bill

In Washington few die and none resign, if they can possibly avoid it. "Going Washington" is a disease as definite as "going Hollywood." Czars who have been superseded or are being circumvented cling on desperately, loth to give up their places on the fringe of the spotlight.

One solid, crashing exception has been Union Pacific's bald, blunt, bull-built William M. Jeffers. As rubber czar, he memorized the Baruch report, especially the passage saying that "the program should be bulled through." Operating day & night on a devil-take-the-hindmost policy, "Bull Bill" Jeffers has butted his brow through so many walls, bellowed down so many other czars that he finally got a super-duper WPB priority overriding most other priorities.

Production of octane gas, escort vessels and aircraft might suffer (there is no solid proof yet that it has), but the Bull closed his eyes to others' problems, kept charging ahead. Result: the rubber program is shaping up excellently. Then, wholly uninfected by Washington, he announced that, barring production mishaps, he would resign on July 1 and go back to his job as president of Union Pacific. This was cheering news; apparently one man could surmount the lure of the spotlight.

But last week dopesters hinted that Jeffers might be the czar of a new and independent Civilian Supply Agency, might even run for Senator from Nebraska. Had the Bull been fenced?

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