The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-22

Dies has ignored that rule to the point of attacking thousands of women. Through . chief investi- gator, J. B. Matthews, he issued a report tying the tag of COM MUNIST" upon the League of Women Shoppers and various other ladies consumer organiza- tions.
 They are so irate that they plan to turn the tables on Dies and have his committee investigated at the next session of Congress, And judging from some of their inside sleuthing, 1t looks as If they might succeed,
 Most startling thing the ladies claim to have discovered is that before J. B. Matthews issued his report calling consumers organiza- tions communistic, he attended Q dinnew in New York at which various big shot manufacturers advised with him on his strategy. SECRET DINNER
 The dinner was given at the home of George Sokolsky, who has been closely identified with the National Association of Man ufacturers and others unsympa- thetic with consumer attempts to report on the quality of manufac- tured goods.
 sokoisky, now a writer for The New York Herald-Tribune, once was paid $e,000 by the National Association of Manufacturers as a ghist writer and pamphleteer. He was also paid $i4,000 by Tom Oirdler, chairman Of Republic Steel, to serve as "writer, lecturer and publicity man.. Also he was employed to write speeches for steelman Ernest Weir.
 Present at the Sokolsky dinner was Robert Lund of st. Lotus, for- mer president of the Manufactur- CTS Association and head of the Lambert Pharmacal company, to. gether with several other big man ufacturers of household and con. sumers' goods.
 The irate lady shoppers have information that at this dinner the strategy of calling them "Com. munIsts was carefully considered; so now they propose having the dinner guests called before a con- gressional committee.
 CONSUMER COMPETITION
 The ladies also have unearthed the fact that another guest at the sokolsky dinner was F. J. schlink It SO happens that Schlink )S Matthews partner ia conducting Consumers Research. This or- ganization was NOT attacked by the Dies Committee.
 Consumers Research publishes Consumers Digest, of which Mat. thews has been vice president and managing editor. Ills wife is one of the four largest stockholders in this organization. Consum. CTS Research is the direct com- petitor of Consumers Union, to which Matthews pinned the tag Of communism.
 So the lady consumers and the iady shoppers are ready 10 deluge Congress with accusations that the Dies Committee was favoring one consumers group against the oth- CTS.
 POSTAL SANTA CLAUS
 The other day q letter came to the Dead Letter Ofiice in Wasli- ington, addressed to Santa Claus. It was only one of thousands Of such letters, which postinen can't deliver, because they = prosaic creatures - don't know where Santa lives.
 But this letter was more touch- ing than most. It was written by an Swear old boy in Oklahoma, who told Santa he had never had c Christmas present, and wanted a basketball for q boys team he and his pals had organized.
 Bertram CowIes, chief of the Dead Letter Office, passed this letter around among his asso-' ciates, and they oil dug down in their Jeans tO help buy . bass ketball. The gift was sent by airInail, together with . wire tO the local postmaster to be on the Iookont and be sure to deliver it by Christmas.
 NOTE-Cowles and comrades make no promises to act as eanta's gtand.in in every case. As many as 100000 such letters come every year to the various dead letter offices throughout the country, many of them without