The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-11-29

SEa1lA tllG pIUD1GIIl WGlSI11L1E White House generalisSimoS
 They are fully aware that the handwriting is on the wall for the agency; that there is widespread public resentment against it and that both Democrats and Repub- Ncans are priming their guns for a slashing attack on its operations and administrators as soon as Congress convenes.
 The New Dealers have no inten- ton of meeting this onslaught head-on. They know they would be doomed to defeat. What they are trying to find is way to cut the ground from under the attack before it gets under way.
 In other words, to shift the battle-ground from the WPA to g. more defendable position.
 The plan to put over this secret strategy is still incomplete. It will be no easy job and will re- quire both finesse and adroit maneuvering. But while tactical details are still under discussion, three major policy moves have been definitely decided on: <
 1. To remove Harry Hopkins
 from the direct line of fire by
 shifting him to another post.
 The place he is slated for is
 secretary of commerce.
 2. To reduce WPA rolls from
 their present peak load of over
 S,O00,OO0 to 10000 in order
 that the relief budget will not
 go in the red
 WPA has $40, COX, ,0O0 remain
 ing to last 1t until March 1,
 when it's budget expires. It has
 been operating at the rate of
 $180,O00,000 a month. A sharp
 curtailment is necessary to
 avoid a deficit. Roosevelt has
 secretly ordered this reduction
 and beginning December 1 it
 will go into effect as follows:
 $170,000,000 for December, $780,
 100000 for January, $130, ,000, 900
 for February.
 3. Tie in the WPA with the
 new national defense program.
 This is the most difficult prob-
 lem of all as most relief labor is
 unskilled and armament pro-
 duction requires trained work
 CTS. Various proposals are under
 consideration but no solution
 of the complex plan has yet
 been devised.
 Capital Chaff
 Latest book being read by Pres ident Roosevelt is "Our Promised Land" by Richard Neuberger, brilliant young staff writer of the famed Portland Oregonian. The volume deals with the industrial and agricultural development of the Pacific northwest in recent years. Commenting on his long and varied career, former Senator William Gibbs McAdoo remarked, 1T guess I'm the greatest ex-man in the country. I'm an ex-secretary of the treasury, an ex-director of rail- roads and this year California voters made me an ex-senator." Representative Maury Nav erick, whose "A Maverick Ameri- can" was a best seller last year, is writing g new book on the Con- Stitution. The Texan says the volume will be '1ess violent" than his first book.
 Tyrant Host
 When Democrat Cordell Hull reaches Lima to attend the Pan- American conference he will be welcomed by the most absolute dictator in the Western Hemis- phere.
 The central theme of the con- ference will be unity among the Democracies of the western world. The host of the conference, Pres ident Benavides of Peru, rules his country with a power so auto- cratic that no Democrat dares to speak out.
 In fact, no Democrat can speak out-they are all in jail.
 There are 5000 political pris- oners in Peru. Benavides has crushed the Democratic opposi- tion by packing the jails and prisons with his enemies. They so overflow available jails that new prisoners are being shipped to concentration camps in the tropi- cal jungles near the border of Ecuador.
 In addition to the political prisoners, there are 1900 politi- cal exiles, mostly in Chile.
 Prisoners and exiles are mem bers of the leftist Apfista party of Peru which gained 8 majority in the election of 1886. Alarmed by this unexpected show of strength. Benavides ordered Congress to throw out all Aprista votes. Then he dissolved Congress and has ruled by executive decree ever since.
 This is the same procedure used by Hitler in 1883.