The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-02-09

from baby shortage. He needs @ dozen or two infants for scenes in the Russian picture, "The North Star" but mothers in middle-class maternity hospitals are not coop erating as they used to. Prosper. ity Is so general that these moth- CTS no longer jump at the $75 rental fee for new.borns {. There's likewise camel shortage, due to demand for North African pictures. OPA neglected to put a ceiling on camels, and their ren- tai has risen from $l5 to $25 a day Both staunch New Dealers, Senator Lister Hill of Alabama, has been banning Senator Claude Pepper behind his back ,. Re. publicans are saying that the fact that FDR, at the Casablanca con- ference, settled vital matters of military, naval, diplomatic stra- tegy without "Three old Men" of his Cabinet, shows how totally un- important the cabinet IS. The Secretary of State, War and Navy Hull, Stimson and rs%s5..-4p- parently had nothing to say about 1t .. The Roosevelt-V Vargas meet- ing in Brazil makes Q prophet out of Thomas Jefferson who wrote Q friend in 1920: T should rejoice to see the fleets of Brazil and the United States riding together as brothers under the same family and having the same interests" SHIPPING WRANGLE
 A heavyweight scrap Is about to break into the open between the Navy and Maritime Commission on the issue of the Navy's desire to take over control of the entire American Merchant Marine.
 Very quietly, the Navy has sup- piled certain members of the House Naval Affairs Committee with the information about the "subversive" and "undiscipllned" conduct of American seamen on merchant ships, and at least one Congressman has declared priv ately that the information will shock the entire country when 1t Is disclosed.
 The Maritime Commission, how. ever, Is skeptical, suspects the Navy of feeding biased informa- tion to Congress in order to take over merchant shipping.
 The Navy made @ similar cam paign last year, but was over- ruled by the President, who op- posed any change in the civilian status of the Merchant Marine.
 Latest batch of stories makes
 sensational reading. Take the
 case of the Thomas Jefferson.
 According to the Navy, this
 ship was operating in the dan.
 gerOuS waters of the Aleutian
 Islands when a U. s. destroyer
 came alongside in the early
 morning and asked for oil. But,
 according to the Navy version,
 the master replied: we can't
 give you oil until after 8 o'clock;
 the men are at breakfast"
 Maritime Commission investi- gated the charge, found that the incident occurred not in the Aleu- tians, but in the safe water near Seattle, Wash.
 Also. the master of the Thomas Jefferson had volunteered to pro- vide the destroyer with oil at any time, but it was mutually agreed to move out of mid-channel first, so the two ships would not block the traffic. As soon as this was done, the oil was passed to the destroyer.
 SAILORS IN IRONS
 From Murmansk, Russia, came the disturbing report that four. American seamen were being hold on charges of drunkenness, lewd conduct, and stealing from life boats. The charges were brought by Commander Samuel B. Fran kl, U. s. Naval Attache in Mur- mansk. On these charges, the men were sent in e corvette to Glasgow, held in irons until ar- arrangements could be made for their transportation back to the United states.
 But when the Coast Guard, as the law provides, proceeded to take action against tho men, it was impossible to find sufficient evidence to convict. Meantime. four seamen had lost six months oe usefulness.
 There was Q similar case of IS men shipped back from Sydney, Australia, t0 San FTnncisco for alleged mlsbehavlor. But exainin. aflon Of the evidence sesind ( ingubstantlal.
 The Maritime Comminulon
 au.Yects the authors og lheee Ee-
 ports l0ffieo of Naval InieIlI-
 goncel ef siying vent Co class