The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-11-04

klAlC At Ao~AAC AA~
 Great Season for the Gate
 Crashers.
 BY RODNEY BUTCHER
 Democrats Washington COrre- ~ spOndent)
 Washington, Nov. 1.-The mystery as to what MIRA is doing may be considered partially solved.
 Its making campaign material for Senator Borah. One may be neutral in the argu- ment whether NRA's post -Schechter activity as 8 great research project --code histories, post-code studies, and whatnot-iS valuable, or wheth- CT MIRA is merely paving through its own files to no particular pur- pose.
 But the fact that MIRA, which was instructed by law to prevent mono plies and has often been accused of fostering monoplies, is spending mill lions of dollars on business and post-morten research without mak- ing any study at all of monopoly has struck the few persons who realize this as most bizarre. Several weeks ago unit was organized to study the evils of monopoly, coercion of business, and predatory competition. Its dozen lawyers and economists were told to find out whether codes had bred monopoly, whether they had result ed in coercion, and whether the monopolists, coercers, and predatory competitors were now doing their stuff without legal sanction. Right Down BOrah's Alley
 The unit has been summarily abolished, with the explanation that its work might irritate mopno- poliStS, coercers, and predatory com- petitors The abolition is traced to Maj. George Berry, one of NRA's bosses, who will have a convention of business men to get ideas as to new NFA legislation and apparently doesn't want to hurt anyboy's feel ings.
 Borah, in his fight to make
 monopoly 8 republican issue,
 undoubtedly will make use of
 this quaint incident. Especially
 if he gets hold of reports of in
 vestigators who scratched sur
 faces for two weeks in New
 York. Philadelphia, Newark,
 Hartford, and Boston before
 they were called off.
 Under direction of ThomaS w. Holland, an attorney and ex-pro- lessor of economics at Rutgers, in- vestigators went interviewing busi- ness men themselves as to practices of competitors, customers, and cor porationS from whom they bought.
 The business men proved eager to talk. ice-fxing, discriminatory prices, boycotts, monopolistic op- presSons. and an infinite variety of other unfair methods, mostly in violation of antitrust laws, were quickly turned up.
 Then Holland, submitting a three-month program for such re- ! search, found his men hadn't been supposed to be cpntacting business men at all and that his unit must disband at once.
 So the business mans own story of what he is up against among his own kind will not be told. OK. on Lewis K. o.
 An hour after President John
 L. Lewis of the United Mine
 Workers had punched President
 William L. Hutcheson of the
 Carpenters Union at the A. F.
 of L. convention, the miners
 leader received . telegram from
 a member of the Carpenters
 Union in Kansas City, Mo. It
 simply said:
 Sock him again."
 
 Hugh ssRunS to" Mules
 Some who believe General John- son is trying to devour the demo- cratic donkey (whether he means to or not) recall that Johnson was sponsored for West Point 35 years ago by an Oklahoma politician known as "Eat-a-Mule" Callahan.
 Callahan was a Populist and was elected on a Pouplist- democratic ticket as territorial delegate to con- greSS. The big issue was free land for settlers and Callahan ran for office promising that if he didn't get free land he would "eat a rnule."
 So when Callahan didn't get
 free land bill through and
 came to the political convention expecting to be renOminated,
 some of the boys killed and
 barbecued a mule and served it
 up to him.
 Then they laughed Callahan out of the renomination and named Dennis Flynn, who later got free land for them. Meanwhile, young MT. Johnson was safe at West Point
 Grand Scramble On
 Opening of the diplomatic so- cial season indicated a big year for the gate crashers. My God! Where did some of these people come from?" exclaimed Counselor Allegation Joseph Nem- ecek as about a hundred uninvited guests hocked in with several hun dred others at the Czechoslavakian Independence celebration.
 Nearly as many others, or perhaps including many of the same. raided the Turkish embassy for free food and drink at a big party celebrating the anniversary of the Turkish republic. Not forgetting a fat lady who waded through and pointed to a big roast turkey, bel- lowing:
 1T want some of that beef!" # .tt N