The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-02-21

while he organized and sta
 After the stormy sessions were over and the 5000 youngsters had left, Simon got up in the morn- ing to depart from the White House. Passing his host in the corridor outside his room. Simon said cheerily:
 Good morning, MT. Presi- dent!"
 FDR stared iciIy ahead, said nothing.
 That incident typifies the gap grown between the President and the group which once looked upon him as youths greatest hero.
 Unquestionably the country at large, including some of Roose- velt's Republican critics, were with him and against the Youth Congress during their skirmish in Washington. Yet some of the Presidents close friends, familiar with the real facts, are worried.
 Chief worry is the fact that there are 100000 to 5000, 1000 un- employed or partially eemployed youths in the country. Dlscon- tented youth is the seed of fas- cisn, and Roosevelt has lost them.
 The youth danger has been recognized by such highly re- spectacle agencies as the Ameri- can Youth Commission, of which Owen ID. Young and Henry Hartman, former head of the United States Chamber of Com nerce, are directors.
 The Commission urges a fed- eral youth program. This also was the chief thesis of the Ameri- can Youth Congress. They point ed out that while U. s. arms budgets scared, Roosevelt mad cut all appropriations for youth-the eco by $65 100000 and the Na- .tional Youth Administration by $15,000,000. Some youth lead- CTS also pointed out that no mat ter how high Roosevelt upped arny-navy budgets, national de- fense was of little value against fascist seeds of unrest at home. FEW COMMUNISTS
 Fast is that the percentage of Communists in the American Youth Congress is relatively neg ligible. The Congress includes youth organizations from every walk of life such conserva- tive groups as the Y. w. o. A., the Student Christian Movement, even the ultra conservative Brook lyn Young Republicans; also such radical outfits as the Young Communist League. and various trade unions.
 The entire question of Com munism was threshed out in ad- vance of the Congress at 8 pri- vate White House meeting called by Mrs. Roosevelt and attend ed by about thirty liberal con- grcsSmerl.,
 Frankest advice given the youth leaders came from Senator Burt Wheeler of Montana, who said:
 "If you want to get anywhere on Capitol Hill, you've got to
 be practical. Get rid of the Communists"
 Youth leaders argued, however. that Communists existed in the United States and in the ranks of youth, and that they had a right to be heard if the youth movement was really to be rep resentative. They told Wheeler that the Communists could no more be barred than the name of the Communist party could be barred from the ballots in 8 presidential election.
 They also argued that to ex- pei the Communists would merely send them underground, make they more rnenacing; that it was better to let them be heard, es- pecially since they were in a vast minority.
 In the end, Senator Wheeler
 was over-ruled. The Young
 Communists League was con
 tinued as one of the many
 heterogeneous members of the
 American Youth Congress.
 NOTE-Mrs. Roosevelt, who fre- quently disagreed with the Con- gress, still remains the heroine of youth. But not her husband. FEB. IA, 1940-FEB. IA, 1917
 Wonder if there was any slgni- ficance in the date selected by the Germans to hand us their two latest naval valentines. It was on Feb. l4 that the Germans (1D rejected the Pan American safety zone: (2) warned the U. s. ves-