Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 March 1944 — Page 7
aerial | in our tent went on with their
TURDAY, MARCH 1, 154
CIN ITALY, March 11 (By Witelas) ~The other sgt. Fleming of e, Mass, and Sgt. Steve Ujhelji — pronounced “You-haley” ~— of
joe
1 organizations d let everyone in the appeals’ the picture 4s 4 farm organiza- | trying to fight | are that these rom the same ary prices for ce ceilings and
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sxpects to cone and get all of
iquidated after - he commented. y question will urpose of the griculture plan
wy
iumorist is one anything, even
the eminent in a coma on he sank lower yf the friends im said sadly,
stepped up and | nder the covers bed. ; “he's not dead, ith warm feet™ e stricken man
his face, the
{| have liked to cannot control 0 be, + could not deny ker side of the minence of the 1bbled from his
Sparkles
vin Cobb could lispelled by the d humorist left" aining instrucs 1s. The bright, parkles in every iry with words, am and dogma jefs, . or elsewhere In after finishing eak. Some will 2 to follow the sacred corns he
affords a fellow that have been , Frankly, I'm
says—iew Wille of a man who t the accepted hypocrisy was gan philosophy, smile, as it was vn underneath y sound fundae
d made others ng instructions e his ashes are nduring monte’ and stories, .
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5,” Cobb wrote And that well Irvin 8, Cobb. vere none when e, either, when
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of his teeth trying to finish. : But he did finish, and before doing so he crashlanded his badly shot-up plane one day so expertly. that he not only saved the lives of his crew, but also - that of a fighter pilot who was landing his plané from the opposite direction and running directly into Hooch. He got the DSC
Crash on the Desert "FINALLY WE got around to my host, 8gt. Alban
. Petchal of Steubenville, O. When he stepped out the -
tent door-to throw out a washpan of water, the other boys told me he had the worst experiences of all. Last summer Petchal was flying as gunner in a
L “flight of bombers coming over from America. They ~ had reached Central Africa, and were flying north
toward the combat zone. Somehow Petchal's plane got separated from the rest of the flight, and wound up far out over the Sahara desert and out of gas. They rode the plane into the sand dunes, which were everywhere, and about two stories high. They bounced across the tops of four and slammed head-on into the fifth.
Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum
JIM STRICKLAND, state OPA director, and four of his assistants worked late Thursday evening at their offices in the four-story Reserve Loan Life bldg. on N. Pennsylvania. When they got ready lo Jeave, they rang the buzzer for the elevator, oper- ) . ated at that time of night by the night watchman. They rang and rang, and no elevator. Finally the night watchman appeared and said he had “lost the elevator.” He attempted to explain—said he had taken a passenger up and got off and walked’ somewhere or other, etc., etc. The boys gave up and walked down while he went on to look for his elevator. “His explanation sounds too much like » an OPA regulation,” commented : ©: one of the walkers. . . . Bud Hook the Hook Drug Co. is a member of the publicity council of the civilian defense council and several meetings. When chided explained he was afraid to registered pharmacist
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they liked Li'l Abner just provides a tie with their former And besides, Abner’s humorous be a little out of place in the army. Or would they!
4 Hat for Fremont
REMEMBER Fremont Power, The Times' old tomato editor? Fremont, who is in the U.S. maritime service, stationed at New Haven, Conn. writes us an
jis i
:
amusing account of his difficulty in getting a navy
"headquarters boys looked out the
Pacific Pattern
NEW YORK, March 11.—Gen, MacArthur's swift drive on Rabaul, one of the chief strategical goals of the United States armed forces in the Pacific, brings to the fore the question of the future political pattern of the Pacific. Since the beginning of the conflict the - United States has been without a political policy in the Pacific. While military officers have generally recognized that the Pacific was leaping in's moment of modern war from the days of Cook and Perry to those of Nimitz and MacArthur, and new strongholds of permanent power were being established, no political initiative for permanent use of bases has been undertaken. Like American titles in the mandated territories of the last war—{fully reserved though never invoked—the question of how the strategic posts taken by the American forces (particularly sir force and navy, with aid of
pattern of security is now on the agenda. American Policy Undefined
ALL THAT can be said of American policy is that it is undefined. Some days after the conferences in "the Middle East between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, the Army-Navy Journal announced that the United States would expect to “control” the Japanese mandated islands after the war. Since the’ islands had gone to Japan as a result of the secret treaty between Britain and Japan of February-March, 1817, over the vigorous dissent of Breckenridge Long, now assistant secretary of state, and since their posession in Japanese hands was instrumental in dooming * to surrender because they lay
“athwart the Honolulu-Manila defense line; it caused
no surprise that the United States did not intend to be barred by Japan from the Philippines a second
My Day
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Friday.—On our arrival in Jamaica we were met by his excellency, - the
Governor and Lady Huggins, as well as several other
‘island officials and Col. Dallin, who is in command of the U. 8 army
bee iif
ZEEE HF
ef
their allies), are to be re-distributed for a permanent
agabond By Ernie Pyle
All thiee men were painfully out, made a shelter out of their life raft under the wigs, and patched up their wounds as best they
They stayed there for three days and nights. On the third day Sgt. Petchal walked eight miles away on a reconnaissance then walked back. thought he saw trees and camels, but it turned out to be the old story book mirage. ie Despite their pitiful condition, they started walking for good on the fourth day. They the wrecked plane with gasoline and set it afire. It was sad to see it burn, They carried a five gdllon can of water between them, slung from a stick. Their wounds pained them constantly. They almost froze at night. Petchal kept getting sick at his stomach. e two officers became semi-delirious and quarreled “violently. One day they saw three planes in the distance, too far away to attract,
Camels Too Rough
FINALLY THEY found tracks, and the same day ran onto a camel caravan. The Arabs fed them and took them with them. The boys tried to ride the camels, but it was so rough and horrible that they finally had to get off and walk. On the night of the 10th day they came fo the end of their rainbow. Soldiers from a French desert outpost rode up to the caravan and took charge of them. They had by then walked more than a hundred miles. ) They were in the hospital for several weeks, and then, after such a harrowing start as that, Sgt. Petchal finally arrived at the front. d since that day he has flown more than 60 combat missions. is due to go home before long. ; : Petchal has been wounded by enemy flak, but we never got around to that. The only man without an “experience” was Sgt. John McDonnell of Cedarhurst, L. 1. He is a goodlooking, friendly and hospitable fellow. Sgt. McDonnell has gone more than four-fifths of the way through his allotted missions, and has never yet laid eyes on an enemy plane. “That suits me fine,” the sergeant says. “1 hope It stays that way.” And so do 1.
»
size 7%, price 65 cents. Naturally I didn't want tv be the one to mess up the war. Headquarters replied in a few days, said they didn't have any such size in sfock. But that didn't stop me. I wrote right back and asked for it again. Next time, headquarters informed me such a size never was carried in stock, there apparently being no one with my hat size in the whole U. S. maritime service. They said 7% was the best they could do. Figuring maybe I could cut my locks a bit closer to the bone, I gave in and told them all right, go ahead and send one TX. Well, you'd think, wouldn't you, that this would have settled the whole thing. But that's what you think. Some of the major seafaring minds of this section of the .nation would have “swooped down on this problem. ‘Today I have a letter from the chief officer of procurement, written to the chief finance officer, complaining that ‘this office has been advised that there has beeri considerable difficulty experienced in obtaining hat, blue, size 7%, for use by POWER, Fremont A. (4214-03886), PhM 2-¢c, U. S. M. 8... The chief procurement officer said he was sending the whole case up to New London, Conn. where he apparently thinks they may be able to fix me up. . ++ Well, here I am with my bare head sticking out in the wind, waiting for the government to shove me under a hat.”
Only Three Candles
AL KETTLER, Shortridge journalism teacher, phoned Principal J. Dan Hull yesterday. “Can you come to my classroom, please?” he asked. “I'm have ing trouble with Russell Julius.” Mr. Julius is the athletic director. Mr. Hull hurried right down. When he stepped in the room, he saw Mr. Kettler and Mr. Julius grinning. And then the members of the class joined in singing: “Happy birthday, Mr. Hull” Today is the principal's birthday, and the class had a nice birthday cake for him with three candles—one for each of the years he has been at Shortridge. . . . Two members of the Peoples State bank staff are home on leave. Capt. Herman F, Brecht, the former assistant trust officer, is stationed at Gowan fleld, Boise, Ida, while Cpl. Francis Polen, assistant cashier, is base finance officer of Drew fleld, Tampa, Fla. They'll be here until Thursday.
By George Weller
not, however, north of the equatorial line of insular division, which Long once criticized so prophetically at the Paris peace conference, but south of it. American inertia in the political front in the Pacific is not to be laid at the door of MacArthur, for it is not his duty to conduct the American political offensive. The responsibility for the fact that while his troops have advanced, the strategic points retaken or used by his command have not been consolidated, cannot be laid to the general.
Diplomatic Offensive
BUT NEW BRITAIN is the scene now of a diplomatic offensive, one which was launched two months ago by Herbert Evatt, Australian minister of external affairs, against those American statesmen and high military leaders, who have been openly saying for the past two years of war that America needs to hold the strategically important points wrested from the Japanese and to carve out a new pattern of power consonant with the major American burden for defense of the Pacific. ; \ Sir Keith Murdoch, a Melbourne newspaper publisher, suggested—according to the scant summary of his remarks passed by the stiff Australian-American political censorship—that the island of New Britain should be ceded to the United States. Evatt, whose leadership reflects the unmistakable anti-American turn of Australian diplomatic policy in the past three months, told the Australian house that this claim would not he entertained “for one moment.” Evatt, who has consistently followed the diplomatic plan of offense being the best defense, also placed himself on record as being against American pretensions even in the French colonies of New Caledonia and New Hebrides, where——as in Australia
and New Zealand—millions of dollars have been spent : :
“and still remain to be spent oni emplacements to back the Japanese,
Co; ht, 1944, by The Indianapolis Times and The PY, Chicago Dally News, Ine.
By Eleanor Roosevelt
theater, where a movie was-shown. I said a few words to the men. ; y ; From there we: went over to the enlisted men's club where one of the native Jamaican men sang some folk songs which were most amusing, I was warned that I would find their dialect hard to understand, but except for the fact that the names were unusual, it did not seem very difficult.
hurt, They crawled :
kie” and you have the situation as
land file, particularly the women, The main political front for the United States is! y
MLLKEE, SAYS CAMPAIGN AID
Personality and ‘Idealism Appeal to Them, Asserts
Grace Reynolds.
By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Writer. WASHINGTON, March 11.— Change the “we want Willkie” battlecry of 1940 to “women want Will-
depicted today by the politicallywise woman who is heading the women's division of the 1944 Willkie pre-convention campaign. She is Mrs. Grace Reynolds; Republican national committeewoman for Indiana, who is attending: a women’s’ meeting at party head= quarters here. She is a vice chair. man of the national
ing in New York. “Anyone who watched Wendell campaign in 1040 could readily see how he won over the women voters,” Mrs. Reynolds said. Great Idealist
“The reason is that he is a great idealist and combines that with a sincere and charming personality. With men at war, the woman vote will be of great significance. I am convinced that the
A lovely looking lady of middle years, Mrs. Reynolds is experienced in Republican party politics. She twice was elected Indiana state treasurer and has been national committeewoman since 1936. Hoosiers get hot about politics, even in off years. When a President is to be chosen they drop practically everything to attend to it. However, the Republican organization in the state has not come out for Mr. Willkie as its “favorite son.” For there are plenty of old-line party members in the state ‘who put Mr. Willkie even ahead of President Roosevelt when listing their political hatreds. Mrs. Reynolds knew all of that when she took the assignment to boost the New York Hoosier with the women.
Hatred “Senseless”
“Republican hatred of Mr. Willkie is senseless,” she asserted. “When you pin people down to expressing a reason for their anti-Willkie feelings, they have very slight foundation. In fact the basic underlying cause of that hatred is because he
birth, or at least from the time they cast their first ballot. “Mr, Willkie made us .lifelong Republicans think in terms of the world of today. He hés prodded us forward and convinced us we cannot turn back. In that way he already has done a great service to his party and the country. “I believe that he can win renomination by demonstrating in state primaries that he is the most popular leader we have. The rank
are for him. He can beat Roosevelt or any other Democrat this time.” Mrs. Reynolds thinks that it would be a good idea to have most state delegations come to the Chicago convention “uninstructed.” “The only better way would be to send them instructed for Mr. Willkie.”
Government Charged With Judiciary Control
WASHINGTON, March 11 (U. P.).—House Republican Leader Joseph 'W. Martin Jr. (Mass) today called on American women to assume political and civic leadership to overthrow “a political monopoly of government.” Martin told Republican women leaders at a luncheon: “The le group which dominates practically every bureau and every agency of governmgnt has extended its power until it dominates completely the judiciary.” “There is only one agency today which is not under their control,” Martin added, “and that is the congress of the United States.” In the absence of 11,000,000 fighting men, Martin said; woman's part is more important than in any previous political campaign, and they must “fight gallantly to maintain constitlitional government at home” -His audience, . members of the advisory board of the National Fefleration of Women's Republican clubs, are in Wi to plan
2 SENT TO HOSPITAL AS AUTO OVERTURNS
2 “i
POLIS TIMES
By THOMAS
the death of his chief.
Presidents elevated to the presidency by death, only Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge were subsequent ly elected to second terms. This might be taken as a reflection on the caliber of men who have been picked, usually hastily and for political reasons, as vice presidential nominees. And to an extent this is true, though there are counteracting circumstances which must be considered in fair-
ness. : The Vice President, by the secluded nature of his office and his limited authority and duties, has had until recent years little op- * portunity to demonstrate his ability to the public. He has been confined to the obscure job of presiding over the senate, and to attending dinners and ceremoni--als
. . This has been changed somewhat in our time by the inclusion of the Vice President at cabinet meetings, and by President Roose~ velt’s action in assigning executive jobs to the Vice President. Furthermore, a Vice President who shows some independence, or makes the slightest gesture on his own toward the succession, finds himself out of favor at the White House. This has happened a number of times, as in the case of John N. Garner. Tradition Perpetuated These conditions have led many strong men to shun the vice presidency. as a burying ground of political hopes. This in turn has helped to perpetuate the traditional method of a lsst=minute huddle of weary convention leaders to pull some name out of a hat that will help the presidential nominee in some particular region or with some particular group. and foist it on an equally jaded convention. Nobody has ever examined the results later with enough care to prove whether or not a vice presidential candidate ever did help the ticket as expected. But it might be pointed out, in passing, that Henry Wallace did not seem to help President Roosevelt in the
YANKS BEAT OFF APRILIA ATTACK
Morale of Nazi Troops Reported to Be Low at
Beachhead.,
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Algiers, March 11 (U. P.).—American troops have beaten back another enemy infiltration - attack southeast of Aprilia, it was disclosed today as Nazi prisoners reported that German morale has sunk to a low ebb as a result of their failure to fulfill Adolf Hitler's
head. Activity on the beachhead was limited with moderate harassing by opposing artillery. Nazi prisoners and other sources reported evidence of “depression” among German, troops. German morale was reported high when they enemy troops first went into action. They had been told that they would have “terrific” air support and that more than 300 tanks—half of them Tigers—would spearhead the drive to push the Anglo - American forces off the beaches. But morale dropped again as a result of Hitler's special order saying that the beachhead would be eliminated within three days after the attacks first started. Prisoners described the beachhead fighting as “hellish” with the allied artillery fire said to be worse than that hurled at the Germans on the Russian front. Nazi morale also slipped because of the luftwafle’s failure over the beachhead where allied planes dominate the sky. “It is suggested that the German high command also is facing depression as it contemplates the heavy casualty lists and the irreplaceable losses of equipment along with such failures as the ‘secret. weapon’ control tank,” a headquarters spokesman said.
SERMON PUBLISHED
“Finding a Faith to Live By,” a sermon recently preached by Dr. E. Burdette Backus, minister of All Souls Unitarian church, is published in the _ current issue of “Unity magazine. Copies of the sermon are being given free, on request, by the church office at 1453 N. Alabama st.
HOLD EVERYTHING
The last was Martin Van Buren; whom Andrew Jackson hand-picked as his successor.
order to eliminate the Anzio beach- |
L. STOKES
Scripps-Howard Staff Writer - WASHINGTON, March 11.—In more than a century, no Vice President has become President except through
Among the six Vice
(Editor's Note: This is the last of five articles.) A
farm states in 1940. He didn't even carry Iowa, his own ‘state. Nor did Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, running with Al Smith in 1928, avert the final Republican break into the Solid South, though he had been put: on the ticket for that purpose.
Lost His Opportunity
Senator Hiram Johnson of California, who had a substantial following for the 1920 Republican nomination for the Presidency, rejected an offer to run with Warren G. Harding. Had he accepted, he would have been President. : His case stands out because it contributes to that tantalizing and fascinating game of “if,” though he is not the only one who ever, turned down a vice presidential nomination. Vice presidents are not packed because of their friendship or compatability with the presidential nominee, with perhaps a few exceptions, such as Andrew Jackson's selection of Martin Van Buren, and Franklin Roosevelt's choice of Henry Wallace. Wen- . dell Willkie had never met his running mate, Senator McNary, before the latter's nomination. They saw little of each other in the campaign that followed. During. discussion of the vice presidency in the Constitutional convention, Elbridge Gelry objected to making the vice president presiding officer of the senate: z -
“We might as well put . the President himself at the head of the legislature,” he said, “The close intimacy that must exist between the President and vice president makes it absolutely ime proper.”
Intimacy Rare
The wise Gouverneur Motris retorted: : : “The vice president then will _ be the first heir apparent that ever loved his father.” History has borne him out.
The gallant Lorraine II looked more like a tea strainer than an airplane. Her crew dubbed her “The Flying Sieve,” crossed their fingers, and prayed as Capt. Mark E. McNulty of Huntington brought her home. ’ Capt. McNulty told the story at a medium bomber station in England recently after he received the distinguished flying cross as pilot of a B-26 Martin Marauder in 26 missions over Europe. The 23-year-old Hoosier Is the nephew of Mrs. Prafices Griswold, 956 Graham ave. and Mrs. Frank McCalley,»638 Eastern ave. The crippled bomber, which returned from an attack on a Nazi airdrome at Montdidier, France, was “just a mess of metal held together By 750 holes,” the report said. As the Lorraine II approached the target, she was greeted by machine-gun fire, 20-mm. fighter shells from three Focke-Wolfe 190s, and a cloud of anti-aircraft fire.
ned Provide
Henry A Wallace
There have been féw cases of intimacy and trust between a presi-
.dent and vice president.
Some started off fairly well and later cooled off, for one reason or another—such as disagreement over basic policy, or ambition on the part of the vice president. In our time, Vice President Charles G. Dawes differed with President Coolidge on farm policy and worked secretly at the capitol for the McNary-Haugen bill, which Mr. Coolidge twice vetoed. Vice President Garner was active similarly against some of President Roosevelt's later New Deal program. Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, in Lincoln's first administration, didn't think the President moved rapidly enough on the
.. slavery issue, though generally
they got along well together. President Grant cooled off toward Schuyler Colfax when the latter began to court the presidency himself. President Garfield and Vice President Arthur began to. ‘bicker early in the administration over New York patronage.
Relations Strained
Relations became strained between Theodore Roosevelt and Charles W. Fairbanks, an Old Guard Republican who became active in lining up support in the Midwest for the succession. Similarly, William Howard Taft differed with Old Guarder James S. Sherman over policy, which flared up in a controversy over the tariff. The closest and most intimate
‘Flying Sieve’ Hobbles Home With Hoosier at Controls
greater portion of the tail turret, tore a hole five feet long and two feet wide in the right elevator. Smoke bombs started to burn a hole in the fuselage, but a wounded gunner tossed them out fast. Other shells shot away the hydraulic system, put the flaps and brakes out of commission, knocked off part of the rudder trim, damaged the aileron and evelator controls, shot off the right battery, punctured a main gas tank, disrupted the interphone system. On top of all this, the leaking hydraulic fluid was burning. But Capt. McNulty guided her back, and after the crew pumped the nose wheel down by hand, and
brought into position by the wind, he landed her . . . without flaps or brakes, and almost without tires. The young pilot was graduated from the Huntington Catholic high school and entered the air force on Dec. 12, 1841, His cousin and the son of Mrs. Griswold, Sgt. Edward Joseph Griswold, is with the army
A 20-mm. shell shot away the
engineers in Corsica. Ea
By UNITED PRESS
American airmen, in widespread sweeps over the Pacific, were reported today to have destroyed the main town on Ponape, Japanese island base 450 miles east of Truk, and opened assaults on enemy positions near newly-conquered Talasea on the Willaumez peninsula of New Britain. ; Ponape, with a population of 10,000 on the island of the same {name, was knocked out: in raids {which started Feb. 21 with an incendiary bomb attack, United Press correspondent Ray Coll Jr. reported. The seaplane base was wrecked so completely that it has been decommissioned, Coll -said. Every building at the seaplane base, together with its concrete ramp, was destroyed or damaged in the heaviest raid on the island, Feb. 25. Seventh air force Liberators hit the island again Wednesday for the fifth time in eight days,
base and dock facilities. On New Britain, approximately 700: miles to the southwest in the Bismarck archipelago, American fliers attacked enemy positions below Talasea, which U, S: marines captured Thursday in a rapid fourday conquest of northern Willaumez peninsula. Seisure of the peninsula's prin-
third base on New Britain in the
PAST PRESIDENTS
}{ OF W.R.C. TO MEET
. The past presidents of Major Robert Anderson W.:R. C, 4, will have a luncheon meeting at noon Wednesday at Ft. Friendly. ‘Mrs. Grace VanSickle is hostess
and assisting her will be Mrs. Kath«
erine Hostter, Mrs. Louis Burk, Mrs. Bertha Anderson, Mrs. Cora Sums= mers, Mrs. Emma Bristen, Mrs. Nellie McGinnes and Mrs. Evelyn Koseveach.
-concentrating- on - Ponape's fighter|
cipal base gave the Americans their}
Jap Base on Ponape Island 4
Smashed by U. S. Bombers
drive toward Habaul, 170 miles to the northeast at the tip of the island. The marines also held positions at Rein bay, 58 miles from Cape Gloucester on the north coast, and at a point 35 miles from Arawe on the south coast. The entire southern coast was bombed by American pilots, who concluded their sweep by dumping 134 tons of bombs on Rabaul. The Japanese attacked American positions near Empress Augusta bay on Bougainville in the Solomons, but were thrown back after they broke through barbed-wire entanglements and occupied a few machinegun pillboxes. The Amerfcan lines quickly were re-estab-lished and during the fighting, U. S. artillery silenced or destroyed an estimated 27 enemy guns.
DETAIL FOR TODAY Short Sheet
the two main wheels had been]
{candidates ‘for public office as per-
:
and join in -ele~’ conversation. Marshall Kept in Dark
Vice President Thomas R. Mar« shall had little share in the great -
‘events of the Woodrow Wilson
administration. He was kept so in the dark about the President's
condition and what was going on in the government after Mr. Wilson was stricken on his western tour that he broke out angrily one day to Secretary of Treasury David PF. Houston, complaining that he should know, as he might have to step suddenly into the presi. dency. It is intimated in Joseph P. Tumulty’s book about the Wilson administration that Secretary of State Lansing once broached the subject of the President's '‘disability,” raising the question whether under the constitution, the vice president should not become President at once. But this has no definite substantiation. Only two vice presidents ever raised furores on their own accounts as presiding officer of the senate—Andrew Johnson and Charles G. Dawes. Vice President Johnson had been ill, and just before he took the oath of office in the senate he was given some brandy, When he made his speech he was slightly intoxicated, a condition intensified By the heat in the senate chamber, and delivered a wild harangue. Vice President Dawes lectured the senate. for its moribund rules, raising a hullaballoo among the members and stealing the show at the second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge, but never got the reforms he demanded. Vice ‘President Johnson's pers formance did bring a reform that was hard on the elder statesmen of his day—the closing of the bar, known as “The Hole in the Wall” just off the senate chamber. As presiding officer he had to put the question on the motion fo close the bar. He never turned up in the senate again.
NOMINATION OF
But They Can’t Campaign For Office, Army, Navy
Decide.
WASHINGTON, March 11 (U. P.).—President Roosevelt, moving to settle recurring controversies over the political privileges of the nhation's fighting men, .yesterday approved an army-navy agreement under which members of the armed forces may accept political nominations but are barred from particlpating in election campaigns. The agreement, effective immediately, was drawn up by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. Its provisions differentiate between the political availability of members of the regular army and those of the reserves now on active service, For example, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, allied commander in the Southwest Pacific and potential Republican presidential nominee, and other regular army officers could accept nomination for any public office provided it was tendered without solicitation or direct or indirect activity on their part.
Draft Unnecessary
On the other hand, Lt. Cmdr. Harold E. Stassen, former governor of Minnesota who is on duty in the South Pacific, and other reserve officers called to active duty could file notices of their candidacy as required by local law and take such other preliminary steps as they felt necessary, without waiting to be drafted. Stassen also is a potential Republican presidential candi. date. The agreement reaffirms the strict prohibition of the services against political maneuvering by officers and men on active duty. “No member of the land or naval
use his official authority ‘or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the course thereof,” the agreement states. “Such persons, while on active duty, retain the right to vote, to express their opinions -privately and informally on all political sub~ jects and candidates, and to become
mitted in this regulation. Conditions Listed * “They will not be permitted to
participate in any way in political
SERVICEMEN 0.K.
tforces, “while on active duty, will —
