The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-15

| lStfHVOf, Inefc nNu Dccn TOW about getting Brown there in tht first place, InvYted to attend pre- vlously with Secretary of Agricul. ture Claude Wickard, they had ducked the invitation at the sug- gestlon of ex-senator, ex.luSttce, now Director of Economic StablllE- ation James ?. Byrnes, frate at be. Ing put of m thtS way, Cotton Ed had threatened Co have the two ofiiclals subpoenaed They hurried over to beat the summons, only to be told to come back later, which they obliRingly did, And here they were, prompt at 10 o'clock, clean- shaven, clean-Shirted, faces bright and smiling all ready to give their testimony against tho Pace bill, which Is intended Co include the cost of farm labor in calculating that great enigma what is parity. ADMINISTRATOR BROWN
 HOLDS FORTE
 Brown was the ilrSt witness He pulled up n chair near the head Of the long topped table, flankcd by n hostile Bankhead and Capper Behind Brown were three Of his young economist experts" there to supply data and answer the tough statistical questions that tho boss might not know about Secretary Wickard, by the way, never did get called. He sat on diVnn, flanked by hts experts and wasted the entire morning. No, on second thought, it wasn't wasted, either, Hc got in on the fun at the end,
 Administrator Brown read into his three -page, mimeogrnphcd state ment, I welcome this opportunity to appear before you ., bla. blR, bla, mean to leave no stone un- turned now or fin the future, in put ting before the Congress the diffi- cultlcs which confront mo . bla, bla. bla. It is estimated by my staff that the Pace bill would raise parity prices by upwards of l4 rcr cent"
 That was good for . half-hour'S Sldetrack questioning,
 Between August, 1899, and Jan uary, i943," Brown read on at last prices" etc, etc, etc. "AS n result, farm prices which were 20 per cent below parity -. reached a level l5 per cent above parity in January of this year"
 There it was, There was the word parity" and the boys were off for another hour Of abstruse wrangling which yielded nothing net.
 COTTON ED SPEAKS
 HIS PIECE
 When 1t was all over, 1t was high noon, and Cotton Ed, who had for the most part listened to all of this without comment, chewing on the end of m unllt cigar and splitting In the china spittoon at his feet, reared back in his chair.
 well, gentlemen, we have spent the morning and have come to no conclusion. Senator Brown has read his statement-T don't know who wrote 1t for him, but I know he didn't write 1t himself"
 Brown grinned. Senator Thomas lnterposed to ask the price admins trator how he defined "an expert" Brown went into a long -winCed dis 1 sertation on the need of college trained economists, but Cotton Ed settled 1t for him---"An expert is a damn fool away from home"
 Cotton Ed wanted action, and he wanted his committee to meet again in the afternoon.
 Senator Wheeler and others men, toned that the Senate was in ses- sion. and they couldn't meet then.
 "Oh, the windmill will turn" croaked Cotton Ed. but we don't have to be there to watch 1t. If we could collect all the rubber and con- centrate all the gas looSed on the Senate floor. there wouldn't be any shortages"
 Well, the committee couldn't meet Friday because some other commit tee was meeting, but how about Sat- urday?
 T like to pull the harness off the mule on Saturday" ruled Cotton Ed. and go fishin'.
 "All those in favor of meeting Monday morning to carry on this burlesque, say 'Ayei'