The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-03-23

Wheeler explained that person. ally he has no objection to re- ciprocal trade, but that sentiment among Montana cattlemen and farmers is 50 strong he will have to fight 1t to be reelected. Smil- ing broadly, the President said he understood.
 Wheeler then turned the con- verSation to politics, intimated that he thought the time had come for Roosevelt to speak out about his plans. He owed 1t to the party, his friends, and to himself to say what was what. The President ls- tened quietly and then with a grin said:
 Thanks for the advice, Burt. It's always helpful to receive
 good constructive views"
 NOTE-Wheeler is telling friends that inner circlers have been secretly propositioning him to take a place on a "New Deal ticket" a statement which the New Dealers hotly deny. Accord ing to them, the President is dead set against Wheeler as one of the Democratic standard bearers. CAPITAL CHAFF
 One of the first lessons to be learned by a woman with social aspirations in Washington is the schedule of "at home" days. Prom inent official wives set aside one day in the week to be at home to callers. Monday is "at home" day for wives of Supreme Court Jus tices; Tuesday, for wives of Con- gressmen; Wednesday, for Cabinet wives; Thursday, for Senators" wives, and Friday for the wives of diplomats According to Brazilian Ambassador Martins, the heroic resistance of the Films to Russia was triumph for coffee drinking. Finnish per capita consumption of coffee is much higher than that of the U. s. Assistant Secretary of State and Mrs. Adolf Berle have started what they call 8 "back to the chairs'' movement, meaning that guests are actually invited to sit down. Secret of the movement is smaller parties {, Seen on Massachusetts avenue any bright morning-Secretary Morgenthau walking to work, leading on leash his giant great Dane "Dano" who measures five feet from nose to tail and stands as high as a pony.
 BUSINESS OUTLOOK
 Inner circle master minds con- tinue to make no progress in per- suading the President to revive the billion dollar spend-lend bill turned down by Congress last summer.
 With his ear attuned to the clamor for economy on Capitol Hill, Roosevelt has turned his advisers down. But the confi- dential economic analysis they have submitted to him is dis quieting.
 On the basis of their estimates the Federal Reserve production index, which was around 125 in January and is now down to 105, will bog down to 80, or under by July. This was the low point it reached in My. 1888, at the tail- end of the 1887 slump, and be- fore the big spending program of that year started another upward spiral.
 Cause of the current upset, ac- cording to government experts, is inventory liquidation" is halting of production in order to work off piled up goods.
 Key signs of this depressive trend are (D the heavy drop in steel production, off 30 per cent in February and in many steel plants already under 50 per cent capacity; (2) an equally marked curtailment in textiles: and (3) a sharp slowing down in the durable goods industries. Also he construction business, which enjoyed a bright boom last year, is back in the doldrums. r ROOT CAUSE
 Root cause of the present situ- ation, the experts told Roosevelt goes back to the flush l9S6-37 period when manufacturers lover produced". The huge inventors built up then were only partially liquidated in the 1898 pickup. and when the factories, under the war stimulation of last fall. got into high gear again, inventories shot back up to peak heights.
 Had the hoped-for rush war orders materialized, this condition