The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-18

Congress.
 What was left after the supreme court finished its mauling, ex- pires April 1. And there is little sentiment on Capitol Mill to con- tinue even the remnants, to say nothing of restoring old powers.
 PrOgressives as well as demo- crats and republicans are sour on the tOrpedOed experiment.. The only group making any pretense of friendship toward the MIRA is the A. F. of l.. And this cordiality is chiefly on the slr- face. With the Wagner Labor Disputes act in their pocket, most labor leaders are satisfied to let things ride as they are.
 s'Little NRA'S
 Further, the more militant la bor leaders favor new legislation along the lines of the Guffey coal act; in other words, little NRAs" for each basic industry.
 The apparel and textile unions already have announced their in- tention to offer such measures.
 Insiders are wagering that the MIRA will be allowed to lapse. If any legislation is en- acted, it will transfer the few remaining MIRA powers to the Federal Trade Commission.
 In fact, Berry himself is said to be secretly working on bill to do just that, if all hope for the MIRA vanishes.
 Privately, New Dealers are not taking too seriously the collapse of Berry's attempt to pump new life into the Blue Eagle. From the very start the inner circle viewed his plan as a trial bal- loon"..
 So it looks like "fini Ia guerre" for the Blue Eagle.
 Bankhead
 Rex Tugwell's Resettlement Ad- ministratoin operates a project at Jasper, Alabama, the state which is represented in Washintgon by Senator John Bankhead and his brother Representative William Bankhead, father of the glamor- ous Tulallah.
 In tribute to their achievement, Professor Tugwell decided to name the Jasper project Bank head. However, the New Deal. in seeking to eradicate the name Hoover" from Boulder Dam, had ruled that no project could be named for living man.
 So the Jasper project has been named "Bankhead" for the Bankhead's father, now deceased, whose name also was John.
 Whats in a Name
 "It's a good thing my name was Sokoloff, or I wouldn't have gotten anywhere in this country" says Nikolai Sokoloff, the man Harry Hopkins has picked to give jobs to unemployed musicians.
 "In America you demand that a musician have foreign name. No man named Smith could be an orchestra conductor i'm the United States!"
 Sokoloff himself was born in Russia, came to this country at IS, became a citizen at A, mar ried the daughter of a U. s. navy admiral at 25, and has con- ducted American orchestras since 30. He now declares:
 eve must find American con- ductOrs for American Orches- tras. No more second rate con- ductors from Europe, to take our money and our opportun- ity."
 Sokoloff talks about these things in 'vivo tempo, with fire in his eye and pounding fist. He thinks the Federal Music Projects under WPA can help give America musicians of its own.
 He sees his job as bigger than taking 1000 musicians off the relief rolls. About 12,000 have now been put to work.) He also wants to save America from me- chanical music.
 Mechanical music is no closer to real music than a post card is to a great painting" he says. we shall find some real conductors before this work is over, and present them to the country. And if one is named Smith, we will not make him change to Smithkofsky!"
 Bureau Barometer
 Leave it to the book salesmen to get an accurate barometer Of government efficiency.
 One large firm instructs its salesmen to steer clear of the Securities Exchange Commission completely. Its employees are so busy that an attempt to inter- view them is a waste of sales- mans time.
 "Our best bet" confides one experienced book peddler, "is the Post Office Department. There people have ample time to talk.
 "Tt is not quite so good as the old MIRA, however. It was 8 bad blow to us when that was abolished. Kts employees had so little to do their faces actually