THE ADMINISTRATION: Almost Indispensable

For the 16 nations of Western Europe, the face of ECA will be the face of ECA's ambassador-at-large. Last week Administrator Paul Hoffman picked W. Averell Harriman for the job. It was a good choice.

As a wartime administrator and ambassador, ex-Businessman Harriman had dealt long and intimately with Europe's politicians and problems. He had attended almost every Big Three conference, had ad ministered lend-lease in London, served as ambassador to Russia and to Great Britain. As Secretary of Commerce, he had dealt with allocations and export licenses; as chairman of the Harriman committee (which took careful measure of the U.S. economy), he had helped fashion ERP. "He is almost the indispensable man," said Hoffman. This week the Senate approved his nomination.

To replace Harriman at Commerce, Harry Truman once again exercised his penchant for mediocre appointees. He picked greying, bespectacled Charles Sawyer, 61-year-old Cincinnati lawyer, Democratic wheelhorse and longtime campaign contributor. Sawyer owns two Ohio radio stations, a newspaper, and is a director of the Cincinnati Reds. A perennial delegate to Democratic conventions, he was a national committeeman from 1936 to 1944, was once lieutenant governor of Ohio, in 1940 was the state's favorite-son candidate for President. Franklin Roosevelt appointed him ambassador to Belgium and minister to Luxemburg in 1944. He and Harry Truman are old friends.