The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-01-26

WO4 4ON4s
 It is not the tonnage of the battleships which causes the wor- ry, but the size of the guns. Big gest guns on American vessels will be 16-inch. The 18-inch gun has a longer range and can get through thicker armor plate. At a fixed range it has 1000 cubic feet more penetration.
 The proposed new battleships of the American Navy are to be around 37,500 tons with 1h-inch guns. Larger battleships are dif- ficult to get through the Panama Canal, and until the Canal is widened, it is doubtful whether we will ever build ships over 4O,- 900 tons.
 And it takes tonnage to carry big guns. The recoil of a big gun on too small a ship rocks it over in the water.
 How to meet the Japanese chal- lenge of the 81-inch gun is now under confidential discussion be- tween the American and British admiralS.
 Pecora for Supreme Court
 With another vacancy imminent on the Supreme Court, Roosevelt advisers are for the appointment of Judge Ferdinand Pecora of the Supreme Court of New York. Pecora came into the spotlight as head of the sensational Senate Banking Stock Market investiga- tion during which he showed up the powerful J. P. Morgan firm for income tax dodging and laid the ground work for creation of the Securities and Exchange Con- mission, of which he later became a member. Pecora is of Italian descent, an ardent New Dealer and one of the most eminent jurors of New York.
 NOTE-Cardozo, whose place Pecora would fill, is of Portuguese descent-his great uncle having been the rabbi who helped admin ister the oath to George Washing ton when he became the first president of the United States. Honest Eight
 Out of 96 Senators and 435 Representatives, only eight refused the fat little largess of mileage al- lowance for supposedly travelling home between the two sessions of Congress.
 What makes 1t largess is that in most cases they got paid for travel without traveling-at the rate of 20 cents a mile round trip.
 For members living on the West Coast, this was a bonus of be- tween $l,0O0 and $1,20o, since very few of them made the trip.
 Here are the eight who turned the money back to the Treasury:
 Senator Morris Sheppard,
 Texas, $487.
 Representative Brooks Fletch-
 CT, Ohio S242.
 Representative J. Walter
 Lambeth, North Carolina, $123.
 Representative David J. Lew
 is, Maryland, $61.
 Representative William R.
 Thom, Ohio, $162.
 Representative Lloyd Thurs
 ton, Iowa, $503.
 Representative William B.
 Umstead, North Carolina, $135.
 Representative Merlin Hull,
 Wisconsin, S417.
 NOTE-The above members are trying to avoid publicity, afraid they will be accused of assuming moral superiority over their col- leagues.
 Roosevelt Assistant
 Jimmy Roosevelt's wealthy friends are due for a surprise when they peek into the back ground of his new White House assistant.
 The Presidents eldest son and secretary has chosen as his per- sonal lieutenant, thirty-year-old James M. Rowe, one-time secre- tary to the late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and one of the authors of the holding company act. Rowe gave up a job in the legal division of the Securities & Exchange Commission to go to work for Jimmy.
 Young ROwe's father is a prominent political figure in Montana and a close friend of Frank c. Walker, former head of the National Emergency Council. Unlike his son, the elder Rowe is very conserva- tive and disapproves of many New Deal policies.
 Young Rowe, an honor gradu- ate of Harvard law school, is