Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 8 December 1944 — Page 1

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KEEP FAITH \wiff)US—\ \by buying \ WAR BONDS

THE POST-DEMOCRAT The Only Democratic Paper In Delaware County Carrying the Union Label

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VOLUME 25—NUMBER 26.

MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1941.

PRICE: FIVE CENTS

LATE NEWS f I * • • • • ’ <**» 4 ; •< • : i '• M st|sii

S. S.. MUNCIE

lauKiched

—

Wide Interest Is Shown In State Election Probe

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Richmond, Calif.—The S. S. Muncie Victory, a 10,800 ton cargo ves- j sel was launched yesterday from i the Richmond shipyards by Mrs. Dorothy Swift, second woman to be employed by the Durham Manur faoturing Company of Muncie,

Indiana.

Mrs. Swift, also secretary of the United Steel Workers Local 2220 (CIO), was accompanied from Muncie by F. M. Kirkpatrick, assistant to the president of Durham, a war industry manufacturing propellors for LST’s. Mrs. Oscar B. Abbot, wife of Brig. Gen. O. B. Abbot, commanding general of Camp Beale, Calif., was maid of honor. SUCCESSORS TO GRIFFITH. Chicago.—The Big Ten Board of Athletic Directors today appointed K. L. (Jug) Wilson of Northwestern, H. O. (Fritz) Crisler of Michigan, and L. W. St. John of Ohio State, to serve as a three-man executive committee to govern the conference’s athletic policies until the directors select a successor to Commissioner John L. Griffith. Gus Mackey, Purdue athletic director and head of the board, said the committee would carry on until the appointment of a commissioner, which probably will be made at the Big Ten’s March meeting. The selection of Griffith’s successor will be made by the athletic directors with approval of the Board of Faculty representatives.

CIG FAMINE IS STILL UNBROKEN

WASTE PAPER SALE Chicago—Two bundles of wastepaper 15 inches high would get you a package of your favorite brand of cigarettes in Chicago today. Designed to boost the wastepaper salvage drive, the offer was made by a school which had about 500 packs of the precious cigarettes in stock. Money received from the sale of the wastepaper will be used to purchase supplies, including more cigarettes, for servicemen’s centers, the school announced.

AUTHOR

oFOUND

DEAD

Mexico City — Robert Tasker, author and screen writer, was found dead in his fashionable Chapultepec District Home yesterday and police investigation indicated suicide by poison. Friends of Tasker said he threatened to take his life after a quarrel with his wife, the former Gladys Flores, a granddaughter of Costa Rica’s ex-president. Two years ago the 43-year-old writer left Hollywood where Tie collaborated on the scenario of “Big House,” a motion picture based on prison life. Tasker had served a term in San Quentin, where he wrote a novel, “Grim Haven” which won him attention

as a writer.

LAFOLLETTE SPEAKS Washingtno — Sen. Robert M. LaFollette, P., Wis., joining the fight for the St. Lawrence seaway, charged the senate today that public utilities were conducting an “underground” campaign against

the project.

La Follette charged also that a number of newspapers were using “canned” editorials supplied by autility-supported “propaganda agency,” attacking the St. Lawrence project. He named E. Hofer and sons of Portland, Ore., as the editorial-writing agency which, he said, federal trade commission investigations showed “on the roc* ord” to be supported by utility

corporations.

TO HOLD POLIO DRIVE New York—President Roosevelt, dedicating his birthday for the. twelfth consecutive year to the fight against infantile paralysis,, declared today that the battle' against the disease “is a fight to the finish and the terms are unconditional surrender.” “Not until we have removed the shadow of the crippler from the future of every child can we furl the flags of battle and still the trumpets of attack,” the president said in a letter to Basil O'Connor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

. o

VETS MAKE TOYS Indianapolis— Ihirty-five wounded veterahs of World War II made cihldren’s toys today at Billings General hospital. From their hospital beds, men who recently engaged in combat on widespread battlefronts tunned their hands as w e I I as their thoughts to the Christmas season. Paht- of the toys fashioned by the Veterans will go to. their own children, nieces and nephews. Others will make the Yuletide merrier for unfortunate tots. The work was supervised by the American F?ed Cross Arts and Skills Corps and the hospital’s own *ocQup r atj.<maJ therapy, divisipn

Homer E. Gapehart Has Made Good Copy For Writers Since Election—Time £ven Takes A Punch At Indiana’s SenatorElect—GOP Leaders Are Fearful of Election Probe Which Is Being Conducted.

V

The spotlight of national political interest, today, centers on Indiana. Announcement that the U. S. Senate committee on campaign expenditures and irregularities had decided to conduct a full and sweeping investigation of the Nov. 7 election in this state has made headlines in metropolitan papers from

coast to coast. Reason for the wide-spread interest is to determine whether a that Indiana, according to the official tabulation of dress ” probe is wa,Tanted

the state vote, slows that Indiana went Republican 875,891 to 781,403 (the Dewey-Roosevelt figures) while other comparable states went for Roosevelt. Rut, adding to the extensive nat-! — —

the alleged disfranchisement of

Senate Committee Wonders If Manufacturers

Are Responsible

The cigarette shortage is going jlo be investigated by the Senate i War Investigating Committee, headed by Senator James M. Mead

(Dem., N. Y.).

Agents of the committee are doing some preliminary spade work,

“full

ional interest in the Indiana scene, have been numerous ' newspaper and magazine stories about Homer E. Capehart, whose claimed election to the Senate is the bullseye of the investigation target. Capehart, the juke-box manufacturer, former Democrat, colorful promoter of the famed cornfield conference and also of the Wendell Willkie notification ceremonies at Elwood, Ind., has made “good copy” for writers, but his publicity, for the most part, has been negative. Even Time magazine, published by Clare Booth Luce’s husband, took a telling punch at Capehart this week. Speaking of him as “Indiana’s ham-handed phonograph tycoon,” Time said, “he could not wait to don the toga. Six weeks before his senatorial term begins he bustled into Washington, promptly called a press conference.” Then this publication adds, “To newsmen he was vague on one subject—his international views. He was more specific on another; his senate committee

ambitions.”

Time declared that Capehart has his eye on such topflight assignments as finance commerce, naval and military affairs committees. “On each of these subjects, he confided modestly, he is something of an expert,” Time said. “Back in their offices, the fifteen newsmen who had shown up for this “sneak preview” of the Capehart senatorial career did not write

thousands of Indiana Democrats and look over any evidence of excessive campaign expenditures. Senators Stewart and Ball will decide whether or not they shall conduct additional hearings in other .localities in the state after examining evidence prepared by the

investigators.

LEYTEUATTLE NEARS CLIMAX

7 Divisions Strike At Once At Main Japanese Positions

Cigarette manufacturers offer all sorts of explanations for the shortage. At first they tried to pin responsibility on an administration policy that has restricted tobacco production. The War Food Administration showed that the farmers themselves had voted for the restriction to avert bankruptcy, that harvests during the last two years have been ample and that stocks now an hand are ade-

i quale for 11 months.

Another Alibi

acy to swing the election by disfranchisement of voters can be developed remains to be seen There is no doubt, however, concerning the actual disfranchisement of thousands of Democrats.

o

Small Boy Given Chance To Live

Denver, Dec. 8.— An apparently succesful operation for a bladder ailment, which once had been pronounced incurabel, gave three-year-old Forrest “Nubbins” Hoffman a fighting chance today to see another Christmas, perhaps even happier than the make-be-lieve Yule celebration his parents

very favorable reviews. Said one gave him Nov. 19

reporter, who had spent most of his time eyeing the Capehart physiognomy: ‘Another Galento,

without the punch’.”

That Indiana Republican leaders are growing quite fearful of the result of the Senate investigation in Indiana is apparent. At the

Surgeons operated upon Nubbins to remove an obstruction at the, neck of the bladder this morning, and after the ordeal hospital at tendants said the boy’s cbndition was good. ’ • V 4 ■ ■ ; An hour later Nubbihs began to recover from the anesthetic. , At-

Claypool hotel in Indianapolis, Itehdahts said that while At at* several of the G.O.P. workers, who peared the operation was success*

are frequent lobby loafers, have approached members of the Senate’s investigation staff with pointed inquiries concerning the progress of the investigation. The arrival, this week, of several investigators of the committee of which Senator Theodore Green, of Rhode Island, is chairman, and the anticipated arrival of Robert T. Murphy, chief counsel of the "committee, is expected to accelerate the investigation work. Murphy will be in charge of the questioning of witnesses and pros-

pective witnesses.

Senator Tom Stewart, Democrat of Tennessee, and Joseph Ball, Republican of Minnesota, to conduct hearings for the committee, are expected to reach Indianapolis soon after December 15. They will weigh all evidence concerning

NOTES ON LEGISLATURE

Thirteen Democratic Senators and 31 Democratic Representatives, in the Eighty-Fourth General Assembly, to convene Jan. 4, are preparing to make themselves heard. With plans to introduce bills aimed at carrying out all Democratic state platform pledges and all campaign promises approved at the caucus of the legislators, last week,

the minority members are ready to start work..

Party leaders, including Senator Walter Vermillion of Anderson, who was reelected Senate minority leader, and Representative Robert Heller, iof Decatur, who was reelected House minority leader, believe that several of the Democratic bills will be of a nature that they will claim sufficient public support to force Republican legislators to vote for them.' . ’ ' " . * r

Enthusiasm of the Democratic minority r /n>ariifest at the caucus, shows that the Democrats, intend to stand to*gether to support legislation they believe >wilR)e beneficial to the state,' Likewise, party leaders say, there will be militant opposition pffered to any legislative proposals which the Democrats believe mimical to the best interests of the people, of Indiana. “There will be no shirking of our duty as minority members.; We believe we can. serve the state .well by acting as a check against any dangerous legislation which , the majority party may propose-as “party policy bills,’’ the spokesir^an of the Democratic cau-

cus declared. : v r ;L / ‘ L : V '

Smashed

| The final alibi of manufacturers ! was that consumption has so great-

The question of whether or not j ly increased that it is impossible Homer E. Capehart will be seated Ho keep up with it.

as a member of the U. S. Senate,! That was also shattered when definitely hinges on the result of j the Treasury revealed that producthis probe and the hearings to be I tion for civilians is virtually at conducted by Stewart and Ball.! tost year’s level, and that the slight There is no point to any predie- j difference in output would not actions on the outcome. Whether or count for bare shelves in stores

not convincing proof of a conspir- i throughout the country.

The Senate committee is looking into an angle that has not been given much attention by the news-

papers.

It is recalled that a few weeks ago cigarette manufacturers •“ganged up” and descended in force on the Office of Price Adm’infstration to press a demand for a price increase. Curioua( Coincidence; The O.P.A. refused to yield, contending that manufacturers’ profits \yere already higher than could be justified. The manufacturers were also reminded that they had been protected by a price ceiling on leaf tobacco and by the wage

“freeze.”

It is significant that shortly after the O.P.A. had rendered its decision the cigarette shortage began to develop. Whether there is any connection between the two incidents is a matter the Senate committee will carefully examine. ", O. P. A. officials pointed out the similarity between the cigarette shortage and a shortage of lowcost clothing for men, women and children.: U i When textile manufacturers ■were unable to obtain price increases from the O.P.A., they simply refused to produce textiles. The Senate committee wonders whether cigarette manufacturers may not have taken a leaf out of the textile manufacturers’ book. It s a safe bet, the Senators are on the right trail.—Labor. o —— Financial Status Of Civil City Funds The total balances in all civil city funds at the close of November amounted .to '$I7«,6i27.7S, according to the monthly report of City Controller John D. Lewis and Treasurer ILester E. Holloway. Receipts dor last month to the city treasury were $13,791.18 while the disbursements amounted to $67,801.67 from all funds. The balances at the end of Novemlber, 19413, totalled $1*5‘2,405,55. The November receipts in city funds were. $3,576.16 to -the general fund, $12.50 to the' parks, $12.30 in the gasoline tax fund, $4,361.30 to the sewage works bond and interest redemption account, $826.66 in the defense savings allotment fund $2091.13 to the sewage works operating account, and $2,759'J13 in the withholding tax fund. Expenditures were made last month ifrom the general fund in, the, amount of $49,473.06, the parks spent $2;84lJ51, the use of $5,079.48 was made from the gasoline tax fund,- $6,936.32 was expended from the sewage works operating account, $870' was disbursed from the defense savings ' allotment fund and $2,600.74 was paid from the withholding tax account. ■ The December tax settlement will' be made within the next ten days which will increase the fund balances at the close of the year and provide sufficient revenue for the city to meet obligations without borrowing money early in 1945. . The county treasurer’s office -repofts the sale off 4627.20 for fntao' gible. .tax stamps during Tdet mouth. .Such 1944 stamps will ibe available until January' Ihth whenthey must be returned to the stite Tax Iboard and 1945 stamps will be 'ready Tor sale.

ful it still was too eafly to reach' any definite conclusion about the

boy’s recovery.

The operation was performed at Mercy hospital when doctors decided that Nubbins was sufficiently recovered from a slight cold which had bothered him for sev-

eral days.

If .Nubbins lives until Dec. 25 this will be the year of two Chirstmases for him. His parents, sympathetic neighbors, and warmhearted persons from across the nation joined to give the boy a Christmas celebration in advance at his home in Cheyenne, Wyo., because his physician had feared he would not live long enough for a visit fropi the real Santa Claus.. — o There are 57 Army Ordnance 37-mm. cannon in a U. IS. Infantry

f,f.s

' : London, Dec. 8.—The Hhited ! States third army, fighting eight :■> fea ' miles’ inside Germany’s Saar. Basin, reached the suburbs of Saarbrucken today and penetrated a mile, and half into the Siegfried line defenses in a mounting battle for the great mining

and industrial region.

On the .other side of the world, the struggle, for Leyte Island in Philippines appeared to be nearing a climax as seven American di-

^"U7 Ck Japa 0 „ n Le a1 ' j'

around Ormoe. At the same time, B--29 Supeitfortresses maintained their aerial stabs at earthquake shaken Tokyo* Japanese broadcasts indicated, and Washington announced that American warships and a heavy force of Liberator bombers had joined the B-29’s in attacking Two Jima in the Volcano Islands south of Japan. On the eastern front, Soviet forces smashed toward Budapest and the Austrian frontier in fur

ious fighting in which Moscow ! Peaceful,

reported that 40,000 German reserves brought in from Italy and tlm western front for the battle Of Hungary were being routed. In Italy, a communique announced that British and Polish troops southwest of Faenza further enlarged their bridgehead bver the Lamone rtver, capturing Castel Raniero and Olmatello.

City Needs More Facts On Water Works Proposal

II. S. MILITARY POWER, THEME

Old Adage of “Haste Makes Waste” Could Apply To Local Proposal; Purchase Price of Utility Has Never Been Mentioned But Council Called for Special Meeting to Consider Hiring Agent; Suddenness of

Action Not Favored By Public.

Prime Minister Churchill | Speech Might Have i

Been Alarming

Prime Minister Winston Church-' t j. t\/t i 7 , , . . ill, speaking at a great American : . Last Monday night the city council in regular Thanksgiving Day observance i n session received a proposal in writing prepared by England, was moved by his prac- George W. Myers, local attorney with the Brady and entotion"tQ Vl an g approvi^g 11 estimate! Watson law firm, to hire him on a four per cent fee of American military power that I basis, for the purpose of buying the Muncie Water bU 0 n h henrt'"by“hir »!SlWS*niW 01 * 8 , b y the Action was delayed on the prowith some alarm. : posal when several councilmen objected to an immedhe'lid y to r tteyL t BMerAmIhi iate . r< ? 11 cal }. s0 President Harry Kleinfelder called a cans, “and when)we feel the tnuh; special meeting of the council for next Monday night of the facts which are before us, | to discuss the plan for council action.

that in three or four years the i qq ie general public wonders peace-loving people of'about all the hurry to act on the the United States, with all the j proposal which was submitted for variety and freedom of their life ; a first time last Monday and in such contrast to the iron dis-: scheduled for a special order of cipline which has concerned so j business one week later. The local many other communities — when water works purchase has been we see that in three or four years ' discussed and proposed

the United States has in sober {city council since its original sub-

by every

v—v —Cio in ituuiujii smut: ns utlginal !

fact BECOME THE GREATEST I mittance early in 1930. So far no MILITARY, NAVAL AND AIR I purchase price has ever been pro-

POWER IN THE WORLD—that I j posed for the utility.

The battle o»f Athens went into say to you in this time of war is Since the general bonded indebtits sixth day with British artil-j itself a subject for profound' edness of the city is nearly ex-

thanksgiving.” {hausted by statutory limitations. That would have been a surpris jit would be necessary to finance

EL'AS troops in and around the ing and amazing statement in any the project by the issuance of rev-

lery, tanks, airplanes and infantry battling stubbornly-resisting

city. In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded a vote of confidence in the House of Commons on his government’s policy of intervention in Greece,

Italy and Belgium.

The blazing battle of the Saar Basin brought admissions from Germiin propagandists which seemed to be preparing the, jpeople for news of its loss. A German front

environment except that of

present war.

That it is not surprising and amazing now for a British Prime Minister to see cause for British thanksgiving in the attainment by America of such military superiority ,is due to certain obvious

facts.

These' facts are that Britain’s present assurance of victory in

report indicated that mines, smelt- I war is the fruit of the miliing furnaces and war factories j ar y m jgtn America attained, and were being abandoned in the tace j tIiat the ver y survival and exist-

of the relentless American drive. • In the tPacific, the battle to

complete the liberation of Leyte roared to new heights of fury. ‘We w-ill end it and we don’t intend to take too long about it,” L't. Gen. Walter Kreuger, commanding the American sixth army,

told correspondents.

The, 'American divisions, including amphibious forces newly landed at a beachhead below Ormoe, closed in on the Japanese pocket after fending off fierce air attacks and sinking a 13-ship Japanese convoy with about 4,000 reinforcement troops. The Japanese got (Continued On Page Three) GANNETT GROUP CALLED FASCIST

Tax Proposal Denounced By Rep. Wright Patman Of Texas

The Committee for Constitutional Government, headed by Frank Gannett, wealthy reactionary publisher of a string of newspapers, “is the outstanding Fascist group in America,” Congressman Wright Patman (Dem., Texas) told the House on Tuesday in a blistering

speech.

He warned his colleagues that the committee is trying to put over a constitutional amendment restricting to ,25 per cent the amount of taxes Congress may levy on income, gifts and estates. The proposal, Patman said is designed to enable the rich to escape their fair share of taxes and transfer the burden to ordinary Americans. The comipittee has worked so quietly that it has been able to convert the legislatures of 16 states to the proposal, Pattnan said;. t .,- ■ Should the drive, succeed, Pat-' man declared, it would .destroy small business, deprive returning soldiers of relief, wreck the social security program and halt Federad contributions for road building and other improvements. , “The brains” behind the,', $300,-. 000-a-year lobby. Patman declared. is Edward A. Rpmely, convicted during the last war as a German agent and pardoned by President. Cholidge. . ;i . Rumely was indicted for contempt of the House six weeks ago for refusing Jo tell a campaign inr vestigating committee how bis ou ganization is financed' an^ to Bs-;. close the names of.^its '‘angels/L He will, he tgied, rp, January., i-ii : Patman said-the cpmmitte. Jhadi imepyejed some.of .the big eontrit* utors, a pi on g them Joseptf jNl Edwia Pennsylvania oil;.mogul? ..tbe.ii'U Fonts and others of large..'meaner < r—Labor

ence of Britain lies to the credit

of the same mighty force. Beyond these facts, there is

abundant cause for thanksgiving in American military attainments j —not for Britain alone, but all 1

civilization.

America has assembled so great a military force, not for aggression or conquest, but for peace. American military supremacy does not cast a shadow of tyranny and oppression over the world, but sheds a bright light of liberation and freedom upon it. America’s vast military power is not a menace to humanity, but is an agency of human hope, promise and salvation. That is the message Mr. Churchill’s words conveyed to his countrymen, and called “a fitting reason for thanksgiving.” For our part, there is a further message implied—upon our American understanding of which will largely depend our future Thanks-

givings.

We have had great military power before, and have utilized it for

similar purposes.

But we failed in our RESPONSIBILITY for that power by letting

it wane.

If America had sustained its position of world military supremacy after the last war, maintaining it as a force for peace and as a barrier against aggression and tyranny, there would in all probability NEVER HAVE BEEN AN-

OTHER WAR.

Our American responsibility after this war will be the same as that in which we once FAILED. As one of the few nations in the world, if not the only one, having a capacity for vast military power without menace to any other na-tion,-we would he derelict to let ourselves ’become weak again, to let iiotential aggressors out-ani-us again—and thus to, invite still othe? wars when we have the power not only to wiri wais but to

PREVENT them.

Our American ability, as demonstrated now in two great wars, to restore, peace .and. .freedom to the civilised ; world is indeed, fitting cause for international thanksgiving as Mr. Churchill says./ But how much mole cause for thanksgiving iliere would be if, by the {adequate means.with which we maiiAain our o w n permanent peace and security, we could be the agency for preserving the tranquility 'of the w&rld* which has how been, twice-vidfetekfi airdTMf mow being restored.tor, a«hccpjid'.time^ Chicago Herald American.

ter. i .. -O

the j enue bonds which would be re j deemed from the receipts of the utility during its municipal operations. It is contended by those who favor buying the plant that profits from the water works would easily furnish costs of the plant over a period of years and eventually become a source of revenue for the city to relieve some

direct taxation.

Under the proposal of Attorney Myers, he would accept the responsibility of ascertaining a fair purchase price for the utility, hire engineers and experts for the purpose of proper investigation and research together with legal advise and counsel, all of this for a of four per cent on the total purchase price of the project. It was estimated by some councilmen that this amount of fees might reach $70,000 to $80,000. It is expected that considerable opposition will be presented at the council meeting next Monday night to discourage such a proposal until further investigation should produce at least a tentative purchase price and the public is more fully advised on necessary facts. It is probable that a great savings would result from not being too hasty over contracting with any one to transact city bus iness. Purchase values have skyrocketed during the past several years and it is most likely that the water works company would demand a greater price even though the miles of the water mains in the city need repairs or replace-

ment.

The suddenness of the proposal to act as the agent for the city to purchase the utility together with the hasty call for council action on the proposal without much knowledge of the deal presented to the public is. not consistant with good taste at this time. Although municipal ownership

of utilities has proven an asset to other cities and should do the same for Muncie. it is not believed advisable for the city to undertake such an obligation now, nor until a large part of the present city indebtedness has been liquidated. Anyway the people of MuriWe do not like the idea of "‘buying, a pig in a poke.” If the holdings of the Muncie Water Co. are to be taken over by the city, the people themselves should be given a chance tt» learn all the facts' concerning the

proposed transaction.

: ^j[ ,N ‘ ,AP /! 0UVENIRS -

Kejuaebuiikport, Me.— Novelist Ken'iie9h";Robe»ts .recently receiv-

■I | ^ ■ in the^ Sovi.h 3 Pac/fur,. M iassoirtmeut of Japanese'- ootios which 'Included at ^musette hag made in America

in Jium^mO-.,.

Gates Asks Tax Workers To Stay Ralph F. Gates, Governor-elect, has made a tour of the Indiana Gross Income Tax Division offices, 141 S. Meridian street, shaking hands with officials and eipployes. It is understood that he has asked that none of the present workers there resign, and that lie has offered to give all of them at least 60 days’ notice when he does want to replace them. „ • January and February are the two busy months in that department. Tax reports and payments flood into the division, beginning the first of the year, and clerks, auditors and other employes are frequently called upon to worklong hours overtime to keep abreast "of the seasonal increase in important work. . Gates realizes that if there should be a mass exodus of present trained workers from the department a mix-up of collections with unpredictable results might occur. Gilbert K. Hewitt, director of the division, is in a turmoil. Many of the trained employes, expecting to be let out as soon as Gates decides he needs their jobs to satisfy job-hungry Republicans, are seeking other work. Some have already left and more claim they will leave soon. They want to get placed while there are yet jobs available elsewhere. It appears that about the middle of the tax-collection period, Hewitt will face an acute problem with many of his most valuable employes gone or on their way out. o One-third of the nation’s 185,000 doctors are serving in the armed forces.

The Senate Eyes The Statesmen

Senate motives obviously were all mixed up in ordering a foreign relations committee hearing on the new State Department nominees before confirmation is voted. The strange coalition that voted for recommitment included strong New Dealers, anti-New Dealers and die-hard isolationists. Senators who fight for responsible American participation in the peace were divided. And well they may have been—for it is impossible to predict whether progressives or reactionaries will dominate the hearings. There is, obviously, ample ground for a responsible investigation—if such can be had. In such an inquiry major attention would be devoted to examining William L. Clayton, the cotton magnate nominated by the President a& assistant secretary in charge of economic affairs. Unless the evidence startlingly reveals strong anti-monopoly views in contrast to the economic philosophy which his record indicates, the public would be well served by rejection of Mr. Clayton’s nomination, despite his admitted abilities. Joseph C. Grew’s highly respected diplomatic gifts and long experience appears to justify his confinnation as undersecretary. The committee, however, could very usefully seek to learn from Mr. Grew to what extent he recognizes the fallacy of his prewar belief in Japanese big business “moderates” and conservative palace statesmen as key hopes for a decent Japan. Nor is there any reason why serious Senators should not reassure themselves concerning Messrs. Rockefeller and MacLeish, nominated as

assistant secretaries.

/j The danger, however, is that committee conservatives and'isolationists can combine to turn the fire against the soundest of all the four nominations, that of Mr. MacLeish. We shall wait and see.—Chicago Sun.