The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-22

For some governments this was not easy. But one factor which made 1t impossible to do other- wise was the power of public opinion stirred up by the power of the press.
 The Rio conference was held in an atmosphere of frank, open, sweating diplomacy. Newsmen crowded into caucus rooms, talked with delegates during sessions, held press conferences with Undersec- retary of State Sumner Welles twice day. Welles was abso- lutely frank. So were other dele- gates. They knew that so long as their goal was altruistic the press could be of immense value.
 As 8 matter of fact, so pow erful was Che influence of those great newspapers La Prensa, La
 NaclOn and La Critlca in Arr Ngehtina that their prO-Amcr-
 lean dispatches nearly caused Q political turnover against their isOlatiOnist President Cas- tilIO.
 NOTE: The President has barred newsmen from the hotel where the Food Conference will be held at Hot Springs, Va., fearing news crumbs might fall from delegates. But at Rio de Janeiro, Sumner Welles and the American delega- ton occupied the same hotel not only with newsmen but with the Japanese naval attache, whose country had just crippled our battleships at Pearl Harbor. STRAINS IN THE WIND
 Things the public might remem- Der about the Presidents new yen for freedm from the press:
 1. White House intimates say F. D. R., plans to hold the peace conference in the Azores, heart of the Atlantic. This would mean that no newsman or representa- tive of the public could get any, where near the conference, called to write what we hope is lasting peace, without a passport from the State Department, also with. out transportation on government controlled planes.
 9. Every international confer- ence since Casablanca has followed the Presidents new inspiration of isolated location, inaccessible to the press. The Refugee Con- ference in Bermuda will tax over- burdened airplanes merely to transport delegates. The State Department can argue that no space will be available for the press.
 3. Inside ftcat is that many in the State Department wanted to hold the Food Conference at Saratoga, N. Y., because Virginia liquor laws will be hard for some delegates to take. But despite liquor restrictions, Hot Springs was chosen because the hotel is far from any town, can be so coTn- pletely isolated from press and public. The Saratoga hotels are right on the main streets where it would be a simple matter for delegates to slip out for a min- ute or two and drop a hint to newsmen if anyone were giving the Food Conference the works.
 {. When Golfers Weekly got permission from the Army and Navy to publish full account of the Tokyo bombing raid written by an officer who participated, 1t was the President himself who, nearly a year after the raid, ruled for secrecy.
 BATTLE AGAINST
 SMALL FARMERS
 Friends of Big Farmer cham pion Ed O'Neal of the Farm bu- reau say he is obsessed with the desire to kill completely the Farm Security Administration, chief champion of Small Farmers. Not only does Ed call 1t "Socialistic" i. but he has even wrangled with other Big Farm groups. including Charles Teague, president of the California Fruit Growers Ex- change. in order to put the FSA out of business.
 Teague came t0 Washington
 with . plan for importing Mexi- can labor t0 harvest citrus fruit In California and Arizona. At that time, the House of Repre- sentatives was proposing to
 transfer power from Farm Se- curity to Extension Service,
 which would have upset . c0n-
 tract with Mexico, already ne-
 gellated, fer important farm Ia- bor.