The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-02-19

G0GheTng az q cocktail party
that afternoon, q Swiss diplomat
asked q Dutch diplomat: =
'Were you the neutral nation
Secretary Hull conferred With"
'No. Were you?"
And this question, asked among
the Belgians, Norwegians, Swedes,
and other neutrals finally re-
vealed that no neutral representa-
tive at the gathering had been
approached by Secretary Hull.
simultaneously word leaked
from some Of Mr.. Hull's boys that
he had not been consulted regard
ing the European peace pilgrim
age Of his Under Secretary, Sum-
ner WelleS. and that he was most
irate about 1t. This story, widely
published, gave such an impress
sion that Welles was taking q
mere pleasure trip, that Mr.. Hull
finally issued another statement
last Wednesday covering the
Wclles situation.
Real fact Is that there was some
truth in all Of the above. but
not the whole truth. And the
parts unpublished are the most
significant.
REAL STORY
It was true that Hull was taxi
en- aback by word that his Under
Secretary was going to Europe to
discuss peace, although this idea
had been discussed In q very gen.
eral way some time before.
Anyway, when Roosevelt an
nounced at his press conference
ON February Q chat he had de-
cided to send Welles to Europe,
HUH hurriedly threw together q
statement which in effect made 1t
clear that, as the boss OF the State
Department, he was not being left
out in the cold, The statement,
issued the same day as the Pres
dents Welles announc cement, was
whipped into shape in about fif-
zen minutes. 1t emphasized the
American policy Of discussing
peace through the neutrals.
All this tended to befog the ba-
sic Of peace, but on that basic is
sue, Mr.. Hull was quite correct.
Some extremely important CONVEX
sations had taken place with the
neutrals. Only the neutral dip
losnats didn't know about them,
and also they were not held
through the medium Of the United
States.
They were held through the
Pope, acting in closest coopera-
ton with Washington. And this
Is the foundation for the Welles
trip.
FOR some weeks, Luigi Magli-
one, Papal secretary Of state, has
been In touch with the neutral
nations. And more recently he
has also been in touch with the
belligerents.
These conversations have re-
vealed . not unpromising basis
for peace. Just exactly how
promising II e, will be partly for
Welles to decide when he gets
to Rome. So far there have been
been some indications that q
statement might come from the
Vatican, even going 50 far as to
call q peace conference.
This. however, will be decided
after Wel'es gets to Rome. The
main goal Of both the President
and the Pope Is to get the bellig-
erents talking before the spring
drive starts and war passions
deepen.
CAPITAL CHAFF
Justice Department officials are
probing to see whether there Is
another Harlan County labor In
timidation case in Aberdeen,
washington, where Mrs. Richard
Law, wife of leader of the Inter
national WoodworkerS of America,
was found murdered. Various re-
ports Of vigilante tactics against
labor have come from this Puget
Sound section. ): The man who
win fill the key post Of U. 8. Dis
trict Attorney In Southern Loui.
Siana III District Attorney Rene
Viosca Is made Q judge) is Rich
ard Montgomery, Jr., q very COM
petent youngster. =. Willie Biof,
the Hollywood labor car, was not
the only one caught in the federal
income tax net when his case
was investigated. Also investiga-
ted were Twentieth Century Fox
movie moguls Joe Schenck, Daryl
zanuck and Bill Goetz. =. Henry
Morgenthau, impatient with Los
Angeles proceedings harding
these three men. ISE~ ordered
their case TO New Yoxs.