The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-01-15

O'Neal b.untly chided Roosevelt for not giving more consideration to agricultural interests in the defense program.
 we've been hearing how busi- ness will prosper ard the rights of labor will be protected" O'Neil said. You've had plenty to say about this in your speeches, but you've been silent on the farm question as related to national de- fense"
 Maybe that's because I have no complaint against the farmers" said Roosevelt, in effect.
 well, we have a complaint against you" shot back ONeal, with no trace of jocu-arity. "All this pickering and indecision in Congress about farm legislation to be submitted at this session is due chiefly to the Administrations failure to agree on steps that should be taken"
 O'Neil had no real success in urging on the President the Farm Bureaus plan for government loans up to 85 per cent of parity on basic crops to keep production up to demand. (Parity loans now range from 52 to 75 per cent; Acreage control benefits, plus the loan guarantee, he contended, would enable farmers to get full parity, while dumping" on gov ernment warehouses of cotton and wheat surpluses could be stopped by the imposition of penalties for production.
 This plan was a compromise, O'Neil told Roosevelt, between the present loan program and the pro- cessing (sales) tax proposal of the Repub' ican-backed income certifi- cate plan.
 Roosevelt agreed that farm prices would have to be jacked up and production restricted, but demurred at appropriating more funds for parity loans. He ar- gued that the vast defense ex- penditures would boast crop prices automatically. But this line of reasoning did not persuade o. Neal.
 "Mr. President" he said with a grin, Pm telling you now that we're going to demand full par ity from this Congress. Our convention in Baltimore ap- proved the plan I have outlined to you and we won't rest until we get it."
 UNITED ON BRITAIN
 The tension subsided when the President and O'Neil got to dis cussing aid to Britain. The farm leader proudly related how the Farm Bureau convention had en- dorsed the policy of "all out" aid to the hilt.
 There wasn't peep of Op-
 position" O'Neal said. '1 thought some might develop from delegates representing parts of the country reputed to be iSO- lationist, but it didn't"
 Warmly thanking O'Neal for his efforts in putting the resolution over, Roosevelt remarked that no one section of the country could hardly be considered isolationist, since each was dependent on the others in preserving national se- curity.
 We're getting letters of sup m lao NurfR he said. They're coming in at the rate of more than 1000 a day."
 LAST CALL
 Not all the tales around De- fense headquarters are about bot tlenecks and other brain-wracking problems. A different one going the rounds is about job-hunter on a defense construction project and an application form he was required to fill out.
 When he came to the question, "Are you Nazi, Fascist or Com munist?" he promptly answered 'YeS, suh, Boss"
 "Are you sure you know what that means?" said the interviewer. The applicant insisted he did.
 Well, let's put 1t another way. Are you a Fifth Column ist?"
 Boss, certainly am. Yes, Suh."
 "What does Fifth Columnist' mean?"
 "That means" was the grim ming reply, "the fella that's the last to be called, and Boss, that's me-"
 The London announcement that Neville Butler, baldish counselor