The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-05-03

Secretary Charles Edison W
 Edison was painfully surprised when he got back to his desk, be- cause the reorganization involves 0 change he proposed himself but which FDR stymied. He Is also grieVed because hitherto ne and Roosevelt always have seen eye- to-eye on all things naval.
 The change involves the shifting of the armor division from the Ordnance Bureau to the Bureau Of Construction and Repair. Edi- son advocated this to prevent any repetition of the construction scandals of last summer, when 1t was discovered that about thirty of the new destroyerS were top-heavy and tended to roll over In the water.
 What happened was that the Ordnance Bureau had specified q certain thickness of armor plate, which made the deStroyers too heavy above the water line. The Bureau of Construction and Repair had charge of building the ves- sels, but 1t passed the buck back to the Ordnance Bureau for specifying such thick armor plate.
 So all the admirals blamed everyone else, and the taxpayer was the goat. He had to pay for GO tons of lead added to the keel of each destroyer.
 DEFENSIVE ARMAMENT
 To prevent any more boners like this, Secretary Edison proposed making the armor division part of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, and asked Congressman Carl Vinson, chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, lo in- corporate this change in 0 naval reorganization bill.
 But suddenly the Ordnance Bureau, Jealous of losing any gold braid, stepped in. Rear Admiral w. R. Furlong, chief of Ordnance, sold the committee on the view that armor was Q defensive arm- ament" and as much e part of ordnance operations as the mak- ing of offensive armament, such as guns and shells. Offensive and defensive armaments are SO closely inter-related, Furlong or. gued, that 1t would be impractical to separate them.
 The shift was eliminated from
 the bill. Blocked in this direc-
 ton, Edison resOrted to direct
 action. He drafted an executive
 order placing arm0r under the. Construction Bureau and sent It to the President. Believing
 there would be no hitch, he then departed for the Pacific maneuv-
 CTS.
 But from past expereince with the brass hats, Edison should have known better than to leave his pot unwatched. Soon as he got out of town they rushed Con- gressman Vinson, who hurried to the White House and persuaded Roosevelt to pigeonhole' the order.
 What happens next, now that Edison is back, remains to be seen.
 POLITICAL CHAFF
 Conversations have been taking place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with H. l.. Phillips the oil man, for the purchase of the New York Yam kees. If the deal goes through Jim Farley will be offered the presidency of the ball club .. Young Archie Roosevelt, who baited the Communists ct the American Youth Congress, may become reporter for The Spo- kane (Wash3 5pokesman- -RevieW Roosevelt Again." third term campaign booklet authofed by Sen. Joe Guffey of Pennsylvania, has run through two issues totaling 100000 copies and the publishers have orders for another 10000 {. Since the Nazi invasion Of Scan- dinavia, Wlsconsin's ambitious COP Secretary of State Fred Zimmerman has decided not to run against Governor "Julius-bhe. bust" Hell, but to try for the seat of Senator Bob faTNollette. Bob opposed the lifting of the arms embargo, and Zimmerman figures this will hurt him with the large Scandinavian population of Wis., consin.
 BACHELOR FRANK MURPHY
 When he was attorney general, Frank Murphy was one of the most social bachelors in Wash- ington. But since his elevation tQ the siipreme Court the handsome,