The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-04-30

MIX wagon drivers are striking for higher wages. If some of our hired men ever knew their power, or if some gifted soul would try to organize them, one of those city strikes would look like Metho- dist camp meeting in comparison. The hired man is potent factor in the social and economic we'll being of America, but the fellow who owns the dairy farm is even more important. When the dairy man strikes, 1t will take more than the National Labor Board to set the world right.
 A city woman shOpped at our local market the other day "What?" she said, "no endive? No chickory?" The clerk sort of gasped but he came right back with, "No mann, we got carrots and onions, though"
 Speaking of retailers, when Hap py Bill Walsh made his spring call on Mccarthy at the General Store, he discovered that Henry had been busy reading Filene's article in the Herald-Tribune about manufac- turers who go into the wholesale retail business. Bills outfit, the rubber shoe outfit in Beacon Falls, sells farmers boots at cut rates and then has the nerve to wonder why storekeepers are cagey about stock ing up. If there was little more integrity and honesty in top-flight merchandising methods, maybe we could start a revival in trade at the hundreds of little crossroads stores, too.
 Mark Sullivan must have been reading our chatter about Grapes of Wrath Mark didn't exactly quote this column, but he came aw- full close to figuring out that par ticular film just as we did. Almost everybody who has seen that pie ture gets the same reaction. There's a lot of suffering in the world that could be avoided if folks would use normal common sense in meet ing their problems and quit whin- ing. We could show some beauti- full examples of rural slums right here in YankeeIand, but who wants to exploit the unfortunate?
 Lots of steam is generated on Main street in that argument about where the new route of U. s. 6 will be. George Holmes has one petition ready for signers who want the road to continue on the present route. Fred Hollister is the spear head of the attack for the group who want the trunk highway switched to Old Field Road. If Raymond Baldwin's brain trusters are as sincere about economy as they would have us taxpayers be- lieve they will think twice before they buy new right way. On the other hand, if the speedways of the future are to bypass all these little country villages, now is good time to start rerouting U. s. 6. There are good arguments both ways.
 But there's no possible argument for or defense of the sO-called publicity" that leaks out of Hart ford supposedly advertising the beauty and appeal of Connecticut. The paid advertising recently seen in the New York Herald Tribune would have won a zero in any fifth grade classroom in America. The cut showed crooked, winding, narrow strip of concrete highway entering the front door of Con- necticut church. Anybody driving & motor car would certainly detOur many miles to avoid a state that employs publicity experts" with no more intelligence than the gem tleman who conceived that adver- tisement. That was masterful ex- hibition of the lack of knowledge of the basic principles of publicity.
 If manufacturers of corn salve paid for advertisements like that, they would soon face bankruptcy. But corn salve outfits have an ad- vantage. They never select their publicity experts through the so- called Merit System. Their adver- Using budget has to be managed by folks who know.
 The candidate who first has the honesty to admit the failure of the present Merit System fisscO in Connecticut and come out for bus mess like selection of personnel will be at the quarter pole before