The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-04-17

increase industrial aircraft
Allies
Secretary of the Navy Edison,
Assistant Secretary of War john
son, plus various high military
and naval men, agreed.
But Harry Woodring demurred.
Furthermore with only one day
left before he had to state his
views tothe House Military Affairs
Committee, Woodring still was de-
termined to tell the committee
that he opposed the President.
BE LOYAL OR RESIGN
Finally, a meeting was called in
Woodring's office. Around him
sat Major General Arnold, Chief
of the Army Air Corps, General
Marshall, Chief of Staff, Assist
ant Secretary Johnson, and
Major Wilton B. Persons. Sud-
IDENTIFY the telephone rang-the
private line which connects the
White House with all members of
the Cabinet.
Woodring picked up the receiv-
er, and those around him could
hear the Presidents voice over
the phone. 1t was about 10 p. m.
and Roosevelt had left dinner to
call his Secretary of War. He
was brief and to the point. Those
seated nearby could hear him say:
"You can 60 along with my
program or get out"
Woodring started to argue, but
the President cut him off,
abruptly hung up. His Secretary
of War went white in the lace.
Then White House stenographer
Harry Kannee appeared with the
notes ofthat days press confer
ence, in which Roosevelt had dis
cussed the sale of airplanes to the
Allies. The President had in
structed Kannee to read them to
Woodring, so the War Secretary
would surely understand his policy.
But Woodring said he didn't
want to hear the notes. This
brought protests from the other
members of the war council,
who said he was obliged to
listen to the Presidents views.
So Kannee read the steno-
graphic record.
Finally after almost three hours
of debate, the meeting adjourned
at / a. m. WOODRING HAD
DECIDED TO GO ALONG WITH
THE OTHERS.
SUMNER WELLES' MAP
Sumner Welles long will remem-
Der the storm created by the photo
of himself and Premier Reynaud
in Paris.
The other day in Washington,
photographers were about to shoot
pictures of him receiving a Pan
American gold medal. AS the men
raised their cameras, Welles
grinned and said, make sure
there are no maps on teh wall"
DEBT LIMIT DODGE
Inner circle master minds have
proposed a new plan to Roose-
welt to get around the $780,
100000 national debt limit without
either raising 1t or increasing
taxes.
With Congress tipping farm,
WPA and other appropria lions,
and with sentiment growing for a
new public works program. the
question of what to do about he
debt limit is becoming acute. Be-
cause this is an election year, the
congressional boys are afraid to
tackle the problem squarely by
boosting the limit or piling or more
taxes. An indirect stratagem is
what they are looking for, and
the New Dealers now have it.
One of the big untouched nest 2
eggs i'm the Treasury Is the
$4,000, 10000 Currency Stabiliza-
ton Fund. 1t has been repeat
eddy suggested, only few weeks
ago by Reserve Board Chairman
Mariner EccleS, that this hoard
be used for relief and other
spending purposes. But every
time the proposal has been
made, Secretary MOrgenthau has
jumped on 1t with both feet.
Never would he permit, the
money to be spent without ex-
press authorization from Con-
gress, he has said, even though
II Is not needed.
But now the inner circle has a
scheme which would save Morgen-
thau's face. They would use the
Fund to retire part Of the ma
tional debt. That is, they would