The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-12

finest tributes he has ever
 In paying this tribute, the presi- dent preached @ sermon which would have made an excellent fireside chat. The inner circle would have liked 1t to be broad- cast to the nation instead of re- stricted to a limited group. It was @ sermon on keeping faith-keep- ing faith with the ideals of peace, and the ideals of democracy.
 The Gridiron dinner struck e more sombre, restrained note this year. A lot of the usual partisan vitriol was absent, and Roosevelt, noting this restraint, said in his introduction that 1t was all-im- portant in the present state of the world for people not to lose the ability to laugh.
 Humor, he said, was essential to everyone in public office, and he had had occasion to turn down one distinguished man for an im- portant post because he completely lacked Q sense of humor.
 The most important thing in the world today, he went on, was that people should not lose faith. Greece and Jugoslavia had not lost faith. France must not lose faith. If nations under attack today lost faith, then all that we hope for In the world today would van- ish.
 The suffering people of the world, he said, must keep faith in their democratic ideals and in their hopse for peace.
 It was in this connection that the President paid his tribute to his Republican Secretary of War. Mir. Stlmson, he said, had never lost faith. In 1881 when the world was first beginning to plant the seeds of the pres- ent war, (when Japan invaded Manchuria), 1t was Stimson who registered the first protest against an aggressor nation. History, the president said, would vote Stimson an everlasting debt for keeping faith and working for the principles of peace. sTIMsON-APOsTLE OF PEACE
 In this connection, It is in- teresting to note that The Wash. ington Merry Go-Round of June 20, l940, explained Stimson's ap- pointment to the Roosevelt Cabi- net as follows:
 The reason Roosevelt rose above personalities to bring Q critic into his Cabinet was that Stimson represents those who were trying to build 6 new system of peace out of the ashes of the World War. :.
 "Stimson believes there is some- thing basically good in peoples all peoples-if 1t only has chance to develop. And as Secretary of State in the Hoover Cabinet he struggled to give that develop ment chance He built toward a Good Neighbor' policy. It was far from perfect, but 1t was a start. And the destruction of this start probably Is the most serious blow Hitler has struck at civilization. Roosevelt feels this keenly, so does Stimson ...
 He is an old man now, and as Secretary of War, this will be his last try. It ma ybe the last try also for the United States. Stim- son belongs to an age which struggled toward the goal of lov- ing thy neighbor as thyself-an age which will be dead unless, like Stimson and Roosevelt, we are willing to sacrifice for it."
 NAZI BOUNCER
 U. s. Maritime Commissioner Jack Dempsey dealt with many cases of un-Americanism while a member of the Dies Committee, but none more brazen than a re- cent incident in a Washington theater.
 Dempsey and his wife were viewing a newsreel of Nad troops on the march when a youth in the next seat began applauding. Dempsey was startled but let it pass. However, when a shot of American marines was flashed on the screen and the youth hissed, Dempsey flew into action.
 "You get out of hcre!" he ordered the hisser. who, after 2
 hasty glance at che heavy-set
 ex-congressman from New Mex
 leo, complied on Che double
 quick.