The Ely miner., 1942-04-02
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Washington, d. C.
SENIORITY
War and Navy Secretaries Stim-
son and Knox let the senate foreign
relations committee in on number
of military secrets, which cannot be
disclosed, when they testified be-
hind closed doors on the $500, ,000, 900
loan to China. In return, the cabinet
officers were vouchsafed political
secret by Senator Tom Connally,
committee chairman, which can be
told.
The courtly Texan was confronted
with problem in protocol in trying
to decide whether Stimson or Knox
should be the first witness. Final
ly, he turned to the 74-year-old war
secretary and said:
"Mr. Stimson, we will hear
you first. / believe you have
seniority"
81 won't stand on my seniority
If you prefer hearing Mr.. Knox,"
smiled Stimson.
"Oh, we insist" said Connally.
"We are great believers in
seniority here in the senate. If
that weren't SO, some of us COM
mittee chairmen wouldn't have
our jobs"
Note: Though not named by Con-
nally, Senator Reynolds of North
Carolina, chairman of military af-
fairs, is definitely in this category.
Able Senator Austin, though Re-
publican, does the real work of the
senate military affairs committee.
ARMY GOES TO SEA
A hot, backstage fight between
the army, navy and maritime COM
mission has developed over Brig.
Gen. Charles P. Gross and his am
bilious plan for the army to take
over all war shipping. The row has
even gone up to Harry Hopkins and
to Transportation Car Joe East
man, so far without settlement.
Crux of the battle is that General
Gross, an infantry officer recently
placed in charge of army transpor-
tation, Is eager to take over docks,
ships, rails and inland transporta-
ton, operate all of the supply ships
which now sail under the maritime
commission and the navy.
The maritime commission and the
navy, however, claim that the job
of the army is tu-remain on the
land, and they will handle water
transportation.
Before the sea-dogs realized what
was happening, however, General
Gross had quietly written out an or
der and taken it to Joe Eastman,
who was on the verge of signing it.
Gross is under General Somerville,
the quartermaster general, who was
New York WPA administrator under
Harry Hopkins, and Somerville has
pushed the plan with his old friend
in the White House.
However, ex-Budget Director Lew
is Douglas, newest addition to the
maritime commission, so far has
blocked the army grab. He claims
the army has enough to do fight
ing, without sailing ships.
BRITISH RED TAPE
"There'H ahUays be an England" but
U. 5. fiers not0 trying to saue India are
wondering why. British officials in India
don't tUdnt them to enter India until 81
days after they hare taken yellotU teuer
shots. By that time the japanese, tUho
don't have to observe the 3l-day rule, may
obuiate the need of U. S. fiers going to
India at all.
Stopping Imitation
Inside fact about the current quar-
rel over imitation and the farm bill
is that sage old Bernie Baruch long
ago warned the President, Leon
Henderson and the inner circle that
they could not stop initiation if they
put the brake only on prices.
"Price-fixing is like four-legged
chair" Baruch warned them. "It
won't stand on two legs or even
three"
There is no use regulating con-
sumner prices, he said, unless you
also regulate profits, also wages,
also farm prices. If one of them
gets out of hand, the others will too.
Baruch, who was head of the War
Industries board in the last war, has
been harping on this point for
months. He urged congress more
than year ago to adopt a very high
excess profits tax to take away all
the war profits from industry; and
at the same time he urged the
President to clamp down on wages
as well as prices.
The President actually got a little
irritated at Baruch's pounding away
on this theme. Today, however,
chief resentment of the farm belt
is not so much against Roosevelt's
urging that farm prices be kept
down, but over the fact that labor's
income has skyrocketed while the
farmers hasn't. Furthermore, the
farmer complains that he has to pay
a lot more for his labor-when he
can get it at al-but he can't in
crease his farm prices proportion
ately.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
q Army, navy and civil defense au-
thorities rate tall Mayor Ed Kelly
of Chicago as the most cooperative
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