Plucked Feathers

BOARDS & BUREAUS

When able 64-year-old Frank Ramsay McNinch was appointed temporary chairman of the Federal Communications Commission last August (TIME, Aug. 30), told to set it in good order, observers who knew McNinch wondered how long it would be before feathers began to fly. Last week they flew. As organized heretofore, the FCC consisted of three principal departments--Telephone, Telegraph and Broadcast, each with its own $7,000-a-year director. In Washington last week, Chairman McNinch announced that henceforth the seven-man commission would function as a single unit. Said he: "It is a cause of regret to the commission that the move to abolish the divisions automatically abolishes the directors."

No jobholders in Washington had stronger political connections than the FCC division directors. John F. Killeen (Broadcast) was Postmaster General Farley's protege; Robert T. Bartley (Telegraph) is the nephew of House Democratic Leader Sam Rayburn; A. G. Patterson (Telephone) was an assistant to Hugo LaFayette Black when he investigated air and ocean mail contracts (TIME, Oct 9, 1933 et seq.). Amiable Chairman Mc-Ninch said he would be glad to recommend all three for jobs outside his FCC.

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