The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-02

For after their purchases are all approved and officially stamped by General R. L. Maxwell, who is in charge of export licenses for the President, the matter still has to go to the State Depart ment Division of Munitions Con- tro1S.
 This is under Joseph Green, ex-Princeton professor, who be- came famous several years ago for putting all sorts of obstacles in the path of arms to Loyalist Spain, while simultaneously letting arms be shipped to Germany despite the treaty of 1920 prohibiting this. (This he did, however, with the complete approval of Secretary Hull)
 Greens office now has been Sh0rn of any real authority, but since it was created by Congress 1t cannot be ignored. But it is one of the most red-tape snarIed bureaus in the State Depart ment, so much so that it some times takes a week for a Bri-
 tiSh shipment to get Greens OK, even though it already has been approved by General Max well, his superior.
 Green has no authority to stop a shipment. In fact he has no authority to do much of any, thing. But despite this fact 1t takes about a week for shipments to clear through his office. BRITISH PROTEST
 The situation became so bad last year that the British finally pre- pared a memorandum on the sub ject and sent it to Philip Young, conscientious, hard-working son of Owen D. Young of General Elec- tric, who is the Treasury De- partment's representative, regard ing the State Departments Di- vision of Munitions Control. Young showed it to Secretary Morgen- thau, who was so disturbed that he took the matter up with the President, personally. The Presi- dent, in turn, asked Secretary Hull to do something about Joe Green. But nothing happened.
 In the end, the memo went to Green himself, who offered what Philip Young described as "ab- surdly lame excuses" for his red tape.
 Greens office continued to be begged down as much as ever. Fin ally, several months ago the Bri- tiSh prepared another memo ask ing if this bottleneck could not be speeded up. However, just as they were about to submit the memo they heard that Green was ex- banding his staff. So they wait ed, hoping that this might rem edy the situation. But it did not. Greens routine is just as slow as ever.
 The following Is an example
 of how he operates: Not long
 8 U. s. machine tool manufac-
 turer filled an order for ship
 ment to New Zealand. The
 OPM asked some questions,
 thinking the machine tools might better be used in the U. s. A.
 but the British purchasing mis-
 sion explained that the tools
 were needed to make machinery
 for the production of equipment for Anzssc barracks in Egypt and
 Syria. The OPM promptly ap-
 proved, and the British thought
 the matter was settled.
 But they had forgotten the State Department and JoPe Green. His Division of Munitions Controls held up the shipment for a full week, not because he had any authority, but purely through red tape.
 NOTE - Joe Green has the reputation of being the best friend of Herbert Hoover in the State Department. Green worked un- der Hoover in Belgium during the World War days and was arrested by the Germans on an espionage charge. Hoover personally came to his rescue, later helped get him Job in the State Department. ANTI-RED TAPE LaGUARDIA
 Pyrotechnic Mayor LaGuardia, Civil Defense Administrator, ye- hemently does not like Washington red tape and does not intend to let 1t ennesh him.
 He made this clear at his first press conference last week. The OPM press bureau sent two stem ographers with stenotype machines to record the proceedings. La Guardia took one look at the lay- out and with sweep of his hand said, "None of that. That sort of thing is not necessary at my sa,. R...~... D sf