The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-07


 And now that MT. Hoover has decided to do some coaching from the sidelines, Roosevelt is not SO likely to follow the advice. For one sure way of not getting some- thing done around the White House is to have MT. Herbert Hoover urge 1t.
 Not many people knew 1t at the time. but Roosevelt was very much irked at Moscow during the seiz- ure of the City of Flint, At that time Ambassador Steinhardt suf- fered all sorts of indignities. When he tried to telephone Captain Gainnard, commander of the ves- sel, the connection was cut. When he tried to see Foreign Minister NMolotoff, he was kept cooling his heels for ten hours. When he went any place outside of the em- bassy, he was shadowed
 It is a long established rule of international law that an ambas- sador represents the person of his chief. An insult to him Is an in- suit to the head of his state
 So Roosevelt, increasingly pro- voked at the Russians proposed to show his displeasure by recalling Steinhardt, though he did not want to sever diplomatic relations.
 The State Department, how ever, objected that Stalin would
 not give Q snap of his fingers whether the United States kept an ambassador In Moscow >or not. Only the United States would suffer, since Steinhardt could accomplish far more by remaining on the job than charge d'affaires or other mem- her of the embassy staff.
 So Steinhardt remained, and re- gardless of Herbert Hoover, the State Department still leans toward this policy. They believe that withdrawing our ambassa- dor or severing diplomatic rela- tions merely would be cutting off our nose to spite our face, For they have to do business with the Russians even If they don't like them.
 NAVY ADVICE
 Acting Secretary Charles Edi- son, who has been battling against entrenched Navy bureaucracy gave the braSs-hats new shock the other day.
 One of the admirals brought Il, a report on e ship-building ques- ton and remarked: We're all In agreement on this"
 "An?" asked Edison.
 "Yes, sir"
 I'm sorry to hear that" shot back Edison. "I'd feel . lot better about this report if there were few dlssents. What this Navy needs is fewer yes men and more no men. In my private business, if there are no agreements, l make some. It
 helps keep everyone on their toes. You ought to try that sometime"
 SHORT WHIRLs
 Jim Lands, dean of the Har- yard law school. Is having 6 tough time deciding the fate of West Coast union leader, Harry Bridges, alleged Communist. Landis, ar- bitrator in the case. has been stew ing over 1t for two months The Russian attack upon Finland has sharpened New Deal eyes In looking for Communists The SS Manhattan and SS Wash- ington. prize ships of the United States Lines now barred from the North Atlantic, soon will call regu- larly at Genoa. Roosevelt per- sonally helped to work out this route Son Elliott Roosevelt, who plans to sell Texas radio time to Father Coughlin despite the Broadcasters' code, as se- quel, Is having hard time selling hls own program. One big coifl- pafy fears Elliott Is too likely to incur public ill-will.
 NEXT ON sTALIN's LIST
 Although Finland Is supplying the fireworks. two most important countries to watch are Italy and Rumania.
 It is risky to make predictions. but some State Department of- ficials believe Italy Is closer 10 throwing her weight on the side of the Allies than ever before. And the big reason is Russia.