The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-03-20

Su1lh NY NAIL SAD411e11 AA4C0s
What these stories do not tell,
however, is the growing unrest
among seamen because Of the tre-
mendous loss of life from these
sinkings. Not only are skilled
seamen likely to become scarce
along the Atlantic coast, but their
leaders are warning that some
thing must be done to remedy the
tragic situation.
The exact number of men lost
with each ship Is published by the
Navy daily. And all you have
to do Is take a paper and pencil
to figure the total losses. They
are terrific. From some ships only
one Or two survivors have been
picked up. This is in contrast to
rescues from British ships OF
about AZ per cent.
There are two reasons for this:
/. u. S. vessels have been
chiefly tankers, which spread
oil on the water. This catches
fire and burns the men, or else
the oil clings to them, weigh
ing them down.
2. The Navy has not been do
ing a good job Of patrolling the
Atlantic Coast.
The latter conclusion is now
regarded in Washington as in
escapable. Not only are we losing
more ships than we are building,
but some steamer captains COM
plain that in a single day they
have sighed only one patrol plane.
Biggest complaint, however, Is
that the Navy will not permit U.
s. fishing vessel off the Atlantic
coasts to carry radio sending sets.
U. s. fishermen have volunteered
to help patrol the coasts, watch
for submarines, also pick up sur
vivors. However, without radio
transmitters they cannot report
submarines if they should see one.
British fishermen, equipped
with radios, have been the eyes
of the British Navy in the
North Sea. But not American
fishermen.
Meanwhile we lose an average
Of more than one ship a day.
CAPITAL CHAFF
A significant meeting took place
between Wendell Willkie and John
Hamilton, ex-chairman of the Re-
publican National Committee, in
New York the other day. None
too friendly during the last cam
paign, they are getting together
now.
Through a mutual friend, Joe
Kennedy, one-time Ambassador to
Britain, offered to take a job on
the staff of War Production Chief
Donald Nelson if he agreed to GER
tain terms. Nelson sent back
word he wasn't interested
Former brain-truster Tom Cor
coran, recently investigated by
the Truman committee, is in Mex
leo in connection with legal work
or a big shot Mexican labor
leader.
THREE WPB BUSTS
Editors Note The Washing
ton Merry Co Round will pub
Iish several articles ON the War
Production Board and its
achievements. This Is the firstD
Privately, War Production Board
insiders were delighted with the
explosion caused by the resigna-
>tion of plain-talking Robert
Guthrie. 1t forced into the open
a sour under cover situation on
which Donald Nelson has been
pussyfooting for weeks.
THIS Is the retention Of dol
lar-a-year men I'm key positions
DESPITE the fact they have dis
played neither the capacity nor
the about attitude demanded
by the stupcndOus war effort.
THIS was one Of the two un-
DERIVING causes for OPM' dis
mai failure. The other was
Knudsen's lack of a tough pro-
ductiOn policy.
When Nelson took over, and
OPM became WPB, he laid down
tough production policies. That
was big Improvement. But Nell
SON has yet to plug up the other
fatal weakness. He has hard poll