The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-27

However, exactly that may hap pen as result of the decision of the Pew-Grundy COP machine in Pennsylvania to dump veteran Senator Jim Davis is this years Republican primary.
 Fantastic as 1t sounds, Demo- cratic leaders are seriously think ing of adopting" Puddler Jim as their candidate for senator on 4th term ticket in Pennsylvania.
 This would mean that present plans to run brilliant ex-Congress- man James McGranery of Penn sylvania, now assistant to the at- torney general, as senator would have to be abandoned. How ever, don't be surprised If any, thing happens - especially If Roosevelt runs for a fourth term.
 Democratic leaders figure that Davis, because of his lodge con- nectionS, would make an unbeat- able combination with Roosevelt in the Keystone State. The Presi- dent hasn't been sounded out yet, but there is no reason to believe he will froWn on the proposal.
 Davis is fighting mad at be-
 ing pushed overheard and is
 preparing to run as an indepen-
 dent anyway if he loses in the
 COP primary against Attorney
 General James Duff, the Pew
 Grundy candidate. Meanwhile,
 close friends say he would
 welcome bid from the Demo-
 cratS.
 NOTE: The two Pennsylvania Senators, Joe Guffey and Jim Da- wis, though Democrat and Repub- Ican, have become bosom friends, Davis has gone down the line for most of Roosevelt's foreign and war policies.
 POWERLESS COMMISSION
 The Interstate Commerce Con- missions official report on the re- cent Tamiami train wreck in North Carolina has now been made. But the inside fact is that the commission is able to do no more than lay the report on the press table and go on with its business. It is not authorized by Congress to take any action either against the Atlantic Coast Line or the members of the crew whom 1t charges with negligence.
 If any action is taken, it must be by the courts of North Caro- lima.
 Commission officials are dis tresSed that their authority is SO weak. They would like to go fur ther - in two respects.
 l. They would like to be able to prosecute railroads and indi- viduals found negligent.
 9. They would like to have authority to force all railroads to follow high safety standards. They say there is no reason why the Atlantic Coast Line or any other railroad cannot be forced to follow the high safety standards of the Union Pacific, with the saving of hundreds of lives each year.
 NOTE: In 1942 the Union Pa- cific has a casualty rate of 3.32 casualties per million man hours. The Atlantic Coast Line rate was 10.54.
 RADIOS ON RAILROADS
 The man in the street is still wondering why railroads are so far behind the airline industry in respect to communication. Ken. G. Howard, consultant with the Army Signal Corps, says the answer is in the railroads reactionary state of mind.
 Nearly 20 years ago, Howard tried to persuade the New York
 Central to install radio cOm- mmicatiOn in its Boston and AL bany operations. But railroad
 men had grown up on Morse work, and they were even reluct-
 ant to give up telegraph for
 telephone - let alone going still further, into radiO."
 Howard had observed that Bos- ton and Albany freights on the mountainous run between Spring field often had to stop at Ches-