The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-29

Only a few insiders know it, but the retired Corps Area com- mander was under scrutiny long before the Dies committee in- volved him.
 As a retired officer drawing $6,000 year for the rest of his life, Moseley is still subject to Army discipline. Following a ser- ies of violent speeches last winter, members of Congress urged the War Department to court-martial him on charges of conduct un- becoming an officer and preju- dicial to the honor of the Army.
 After careful study it was de- cided to take no action, in the belief that Moseley would raise the cry of persecution and would be paraded as victim of Adminis- tration malice.
 The Dies disclosures brought a flood of new congressional com- plaints against Moseley, and the War Department has secretly re- opened its examination of his &C., tivities.
 DOG PHOBIA
 Moseley's turbulent antics since his retirement last year are in line with certain eccentricities displayed while in command of the Fourth Corps Area, with head quarters at Fort McPherson, out side Atlanta.
 One of these was the belief that his young child was in imminent danger of being Kidnapped. To safe- guard against this, he ordered the child's nurse to carry a loaded riding crop every time she took the child outside the house, even if only for a walk within Fort McPherson.
 Another eccentricity was a fear of dogs. This fear led to an tn- cident which caused much secret laughter among the officers of the post.
 Strolling about the post in ci- vilian clothes one evening, Nose ley encountered g small fox terrier puppy owned by lieu tenant. A popular pet about the place, the. five-months- old ani- mal let out g friendly yelp and bounced playfuIly toward the
 General. He threw a near spasm, yelling at the top of his voice.
 The puppy, apparently thinking 1t was A game, parked and SCam- pered around him in great excite ment, which only infuriated Mos- eley more. Finally he succeeded in driving the puppy away and rushed of. An hour later, the post Adjutant telephoned the. lieutenant who owned the pup to get rid of the vicious dog" by 8 o'clock the next morning. Next day an order was posted barring all dogs from the Fort. and there after newly arriving officers were notified that they could not keep pet dogs.
 TOO MUCH WHITE HOUSE
 Vital weakness of the New Deal was tragically Illustrated the other day in the Argentine meat dis pute-the fact that one man in this Administration does most of the running with the ball.
 Exact opposite was Cal Cool
 idge. No matter what you may
 have thought of him, Cal was a
 past master at passing the ball
 tO other members of his team.
 He called the signals, let mem
 bers of his Cabinet buck the
 line. It saved him a lot of body
 bruises, and if they fumbled, he
 didn't get the blame.
 Roosevelt was wiser in this respect during the early days. For instance, the Tugwell pure food and drug act which caused such a furore was inspired by Roose- welt, but Tugwell deliberately step- ped out to stop the bullets. This is sound political tactics in any Administration. The President, like the chief of staff of an army. has to. protect himself politically behind the lines.
 FDR, howevef, has drifted far away from this strategy. In the Argentine canned beef contro- vcFsy, the Secretary of she, Navy should have carried the ball. xt was his Navy which bought tho beef. It was his naval biIi which was nlfecfHH ky fHa a10HNHmeut