The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-05-02
THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF A
CHR REPORTER.

\ CUB REPORTER
The War Writer'S Board requests
a piece under 200 words on How
to Tel Fascist When You See
One" -. From the record Of them
all Git seems to us) he is a self
appointed guardian of something
very vague in his mind, which he
calls civilization He Is very
patriotic-though he doesn't know
the first thing about history !. /. !.
He hates anybody Particularly
the helpless And ne hates any
, one hep to him Above all-he
hates questions.
He says you can join his group
so you, too, can hate somebody
:. He tells you about enemies"
, who are dark and vague" >. In
Italy it was Parliament In
Japan 1t was the business man. In
the U. s. "enemies" can mean any
thing.
He tells you his leaders are very
much alive and alert-to protect
the nation All his leaders need,
he adds, Is small contribution
{ from you 500 Is fine. If you
can't afford $5O-he'll take soc.
i All you have to do Is believe what
he tells you.
After that you will be ready to
use a baseball bat.
On your unsuspecting neighbor.
There is an observation in Quen-
" tin Reynolds 1.-THE Curtain Rises"
that can teach others lesson d. :.
Too many scribblers drown their
ideas in an ocean of wordage E.
b Reynolds stresses: "Sone great re-
porter in Genesis told tie creation
of the world in 400 words, and there
are only 297 words in the Ten Com
mandments. That is great report
ing.
Next to going to Heaven, there's
nothing more delightful than having
b the last laugh Flapjaws con-
tinued to lash fair play. Their
hows about discrediting Congress
have now been discredited. Rankin
\ and Hoffman's outrageous attempt
to stop fellow legislators from in
serting in the Cong. Record upper
cut replies to their attacks, should
make it obvious to all that their
pose about defending Congress Is
ham act. It's just an alibi they
brew for muzzling the truth
When this reporter pulled Rankin's
nose for trying to push around Serv-
icemen ION the soldier ballot issue)
some editors jabbed us-held Ran
kin's paw-and echoed his drivel
that he is the soldiers chum :.
4 Now those editors have unleashed
their indignation and are after Ran
Z kin'S fangs because he villified SOL
diers and Is obstructing the bill that
would insure social security bene-
fits for them.
A few controversies ago, CHS
little boy blue (pencils) clamped a
nix on newscasters' opinions
Now, CHS exec Gilbert SeldeS in
sists that what hey oppose Is bias
:. The $64 query:ff How can you
use q blue pencil without showing
blast Adds Seldes: 1T is not
only the broadcasters who are cen
cernsd; the public also has an in
terest here. What is at stake Is
freedom of utterance, which is still
essential to our political system"
But did CHS consult he public
before sciSscring newscaSterS'
opinions? And who handles the
4 scissors?
Post war planning boards are eX.
cellent things Butt ne first
thing to remember is that war Is
yet to be won &. The best way to
win that war is to plan it as If it
would last forever =. No army ever
failed because of too much ammuni-
ton No navy ever lost be-
cause of too many ships i. And
10 country ever fell because of too
much effort Common sense
tells us that neither the future oor
the past wins wars Only liv-
ing men dot hat /. And that means
in this present showdown one tough
fighting man is worth more than
two brainv planners of the future