The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-02-19

DackSCage poLlClcS ana peJLl
 Two mistakes preventeI the kind of job 1t might have done, and from continuing tin- hampered until the job really was finished.
 THE FIRST was the appoint nnent of Q republican as chair- man. Senator Gerald Nye-who introduced the munitions resolu- tion-deserved to be chairman, but repeated experience has proved it iiladvisable to place Q minority member ct the head of en important Investigating body. There are invariably certain ma jority members who, secretly op. posed to the probe, will make use of partisan prejudice to attack 1t.
 This was the case with the munitions inquiry. From the very start, democratic leaders baked at giving Nye the funds he asked for. A democrat would have had little difficulty. But 6 republican-well, that was dif- ferent.
 THE OTHER big mistake was Yves failure to grasp what Jim Reed, acid-tongued one-time senator from Missouri, once ex. pressed to John T. Flynn.
 Flynn had made Reed lush of- fer to write memoirs of his vari. ous political battles with Woodrow Wilson. Reed refused.
 There is one thing I have learned about life," he said. "Never attack . saint. Woodrow Wilson is still canonized."
 Nye made the mistake of att tacking Woodrow Wilson. After that his committee appropriation was doomed.
 Hostile
 Members of Congress return- ing from their junket to the Philippines were chiefly impressed by the attempts of the large army garrison stationed there to sabot- age Philippine independence.
 The military, according to wis., iting congressman, did everything possible to see that the regime of President Manuel Quezon got off on the wrong foot.
 The first thing they did was to spread the rumor that President elect Quezon was afraid of being assassinated, therefore would not appear in public.
 Congressional friends of Que- xon, who knew him as a Philip pine delegate to congress, in. vestigated, found the president elect was suffering from stomach ulcers, was saving his strength for the inaugural cere- monies.
 At one reception just before- inauguration, Quezon not only mixed freely with the crowd, but stood at the doorway saying god- bye and actually summoned taxi cabs for some of his guests. Bullet Proof Vest
 The next day some of the army officers started @ ruinor that Que- zon was wearing a bullet-proof vest.
 So prevalent became this whis- per that Missouri's Senator Ben- nett Clark started a heated argu- ment about 1t with army officers attending a luncheon. When they insisted that Quezon was wear ing bullet-proof vest, Clark finally said:
 Well, Quezon is one of my oldest friends. He was In con- gross when I was g parliament tartan of the House. And when- ever he sees me, he usually puts his arm around me or vice. versa.
 "It SO happens that I've had my arm around Quex0n six or seven times in the past week, and I know that if he had Q bullet proof vest on under that silk suit I could feel It."
 Cyimax
 The climax of the military's sabotage of the Philippine inaugu- ral came during the actual cere- monies.
 There was to be a worldwide radio broadcast. Secretary of War Dern was to speak first, then Quezon. Nevertheless Dern ar- rived fifteen minutes late.
 Tn addition. the garrison had arranged a series of salutes that the uninitiated would have thought Dern, not Quezon, was becoming president. All this took time. Finally, Dern spoke for forty-five minutes.
 This almost exhausted the ale lotted radio time. President Que- xon got only . few brief minutes on the air.
 Whose Brain Trust?
 Consistency, thou art Q jewell
 Ever since it's origin the Ameri- can Liberty League has heaped scorn and ridicule on New Deal Brain Trusters. Tn pamphlets and speeches 1t has derided the office holding professors as impractical theorists and bunglers.
 Yet, 10 and behold. there has just issued from the busy presses of the League a leaflet quoting an impressive selection of pro-