C.I.O. Out

Of all the Eisenhower Cabinet officers, Labor Secretary Martin Durkin has had the hardest time getting a team together. The department's new solicitor, ex-Congressman Harry Routzohn, died of a heart attack 39 days after he was confirmed. His post and three other top-level jobs remained open until last week.

Cause of the delay was ex-Pipefitter Durkin's wish to get a C.I.O. man in one of the Labor Department's three assistant secretaryships. When C.I.O. President Walter Reuther nominated Labor Lobbyist John Edelman for Assistant Secretary in charge of labor standards, A.F.L. man Durkin okayed him. But the White House, sounding out senatorial opinion on Edelman, found that several Republican Senators were dead set against approving a man who had been a Socialist, then a New Dealer, then a Fair Dealer. Result: stalemate. The White House never submitted Edelman's name to the Senate; Reuther stubbornly refused to submit any other name to Durkin; Durkin held off submitting other names to the White House. The awkward silence dragged on for months, while rumors drifted about that Durkin was ready to resign in disgust.

Finally Durkin got tired of waiting, decided to go ahead without a C.I.O. representative. Fortnight ago he sent the White House four nominations: P: For Assistant Secretary in charge of labor standards, instead of Edelman: Harrison Clayton Hobart, 64, an assistant grand chief engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and a self-styled "rock-ribbed Republican." P:For Assistant Secretary (international labor affairs): Spencer Miller Jr., 62, adult-education specialist, president of the union-sponsored International University in Springfield. Mass.

P:For Assistant Secretary (manpower): Milton M. Olander, 52, industrial-relations director of Toledo's Owens-Illinois Glass Co., and onetime member of the Wage Stabilization Board.

P:For Solicitor: Stuart Rothman, 39. St. Paul lawyer, specialist in public housing.

The White House promptly passed three of the four names along to the Senate. The fourth nominee, Olander, was stricken with last-minute doubts about whether he wanted the job after all. Last week the Senate Labor Committee approved Rothman, and quick approval of Hobart and Miller was in prospect.

If Olander backs out, Durkin will probably look for another businessman to fill the post. In any case, there is no longer a Labor Department vacancy waiting for the C.I.O. Of the C.I.O. brass, Durkin says hopefully: "They know I tried."

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