Moving the Kitchen

In their attempts to resist the federal drive toward school desegregation, Southern officials have found a ready whipping boy in U.S. Education Com missioner Harold Howe II. Though Howe has strictly followed the dictates of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, his zeal in implementing racial guidelines in the Deep South has fostered the belief among Southern Congressmen that he has discriminated against their districts while ignoring similar imbalances in Northern cities. Last week, in an obvious horse trade aimed at rallying reluctant Southern support for its hard-pressed $3.5 billion school-aid bill, the Johnson Administration transferred civil rights enforcement powers from Howe and the four other Health, Education and Welfare Department commissioners, and put them directly under Department Secretary John Gardner.

HEW officials denied any implication that the shift would mean a permanent slowdown in desegregation efforts; indeed centralization might in time speed up integration of welfare programs and of nursing homes. Unquestionably, though, it will result in at least a temporary pause while administrative gears are shifted. For Gardner, one of the ablest and most popular Administration figures on Capitol Hill, the shift promises nothing but trouble. Asked if it meant "transferring the kitchen across the street"--putting the heat on him instead of Howe--Gardner smiled wanly and replied: "I wouldn't be surprised."

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