The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-08-24

t1d-bltS like the zsssa u
arrival of An Edison
thony Eden, wearing an old fedora
instead of a Homburg.
From the outset it has been OBJ
vious that there wasn't going to be
any news until the finish.
The green press card issued by
the Canadian Wartime Information
Board and the War Department
Correspondents Identification card
issued in Washington don't entitle
the holders to attend any of the
history shaping conferences in the
plush Chateau Frontenac or the Old
Citadel. What these exclusive passes
entitle you to are room in the
Clarendon Hotel. That is, half a
room.
THE CLARENDON didn't exactly
roll out the carpets by way of well
come What it did was roll out some
good stout, coarse hemp mating to
cover up the carpets and keep the
correspondents shuffling feet from
wearing them out. This was perhaps
the most amazing foresight that
will be manifested during the en-
tire conference. The correspondents
hot-foot it up and down the halls,
interviewing each other because
there isn't anyone else to interview.
All the people who know anything
are under wraps of military security
and political secrecy. The guards at
the portals of the chateau and cita-
del heretofore may not be so much
for the purpose of keeping the cor
respondents and the people out as
for keeping the secrets in.
One end of the Clarendon lobby
is devoted to telegraph operators
score of them sitting behind their
keys at temporary wooden tables.
Most of the time, they sit there
looking hopeful, but during the
course of the night after Roosevelt's
arrival, they handled 100000 words
enough word to record another
Birth of a Nation" BY the end of
the conference there will be enough
words for Birth of the United Ma
tons"
The telegraph operators are on
duty fifteen hours. Considering
there isn't any more news to record
than you could put in a headline,
"Mr. Big and Party Arrive" this is
what you might call imitation.
ONE FLIGHT UP are the press
rooms and Office of censorship. The
press room is double parlor with
sliding door in the middle. Half a
dozen big temporary tables bear up
under so typeWriters, and there the
correspondents sit in each others
laps during the rush hours, ampli-
flying and exporting the little news
that isn't there.
Press conferences are called two
or three times a day, just to keep
the correspondents informed that
there is no news. If these confer
erces weren't called, the CORE
spondents would worry, thinking
that the news that there was no
news was being kept from them,
along with the actual news of what
is going on at the conference, which
is also being kept from them.
Whenever press conference time
comes around, one of the three
press offlcers-Dana Doten of the
U. S. Office of War Information, or
M r. K. Burge, of the British Min
istry of Information, takes the call
bell which The Clarendon hotel desk
clerk uses to summon his bell hops
and sends boy through the lobby
and halls banging away on it.
The press corps comes traipSing
up or down the stairs and crowds
into the two tiny rooms to hear the
announcements and to find that the
men in charge of the information
haven't any, and furthermore can't
answer any questions.
This causes no hard feeling or
resentment. 1t is all done in the
best of good nature, the correspond
ents realizing that the lack of news
is not the fault of the information
officers. Heavns knows they tried to
pry news out of that Chateau From
tenac headquarters, but it didn't do
any good. Dana Doten has been in
charge of the Owl outpost in Can
ada for some little time. His job has
been to feed out information about
the U. S. war effort to the Cana
dams. Most of the U. S. correspond
ents didn't even know he was there,
and probably most Canadians didn't
know it either. Now, all of a sud-
den, Doten finds the biggest true
mystery story in the world thrown
right at him, and it is simply too
much.
BUT DOTEN DIDN'T GIVE UP.
He went to bat with the brass hats
of the U. S. Military and naval
forces in the Chateau and finally
came up with the. authorization
from Brigadier General j. r. Dean,
Secretary of the Armys general
staff board to let sundry and as
sorted heroes who have actually
been in battle and are up here to
give practical advice to all the
swivel-chair sctrategists. talk for
publication.
The first such event looked PROM