The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-17
By Dres0 Pearson

arc some ramrOd convictions sos easily swsycd by political sympathies
 thc other day hy appcarsng before the Jacksonville. Pa conyenton of state attorneys general and naily opposing thelr Ideas on submerged ol lancS Inis subject is dynamite n many ktato& including ClarGt ho,e state of Texas RoTfy-fsre state attorneys eral had publicly demanded that submerged oa and mineral lands be Inc prceriy oi the states noi Inc federal royNfnment
 csask on the other hand. maintained that thc u & supreme Court should cecioc ihis question
 Tn taking ihh poataoA he gas eoing dircctil counter to I'd Pauiey, close friend of Truman and Clark who eels most of hls iush ol income from lands under the Pacific Ocean just or the Cal- Hernia coast. Also clafkt hometown congreSs- man Judre Hntfon W. Sumner. of Dallas chair man cf the Judiciary Committee pushed throush a ban taking the question Of submerged ol oui O. the hands of tho supreme Court
 BUt despite an this. the attorney general ven dopn io Jacksonvne faced the convention oi hostile state atorneys told them thes were absolutely wrong and said he going ina speed ahead Hith hia
 said csiisornias Attorney General Bob Kenny 10 the Attorney General oi tho United sta;es.
 You fired the first shot ai Fort Sumter. Dom you know that the civh wars o'eF'
 u didn't leak out at the time, but there va. some barc-knuckled scuffling before congfeslona. Republicans approved their statement Of aims anr pugposes~ later adopted by the National conm'itet meeting in Chicago.
 The biz bone of contention vas a proposal b Rep Leslie Arends Of Illinois that tho Republican should favor a law barring campaign contributions by labor organizations This o1 aimed a. the CLOS Political Action Committee which helped elect Roosevelt.
 The Arends proposal ran into storm of proiesi in the closed-door caucus oi House Republicans. | was finally howled down by a militant bloc oi oo- ecors including Representatives Angel tOre9 balo- win tNYl Bender COhio). Bolton, (Ohio), Canfie!e. CNJl. Case tN.J). Corbett tPa). Donoero tNlch'. Dirksen. ,lD, Wolverton, CNJ), and Welch (Call.
 Much to the amazement of everybody. old-Ilne Republicans Rich of Pennsylvania and Robsion O. Kentucky also spoke against the Arenos proposal 'o ban contributions from labor organizations
 Representatives Buck of New York. Harness of h. diana and Knutson of Minnesota all demanded that the labor clause be left in the COP statement; as did Congressman Halleck Of Indiana chairman c. the Drafting Committee.
 This contingent argued that Republican candi- dates couldn't expect much financial aid from labo, groups anyhow so they might well favor ban on labor contributions to both parties
 Ievel-headed Everett DirkSen Of Illinois was quick to condemn such reasoning stating that wa 'absurd' to include the Arends proposal in state ment of OF. policy. He declared that labor 9roup could easily get around" the proposed ban If they wished by organizing citizens committees to mako campaign donations.
 If We come out for this, 1t will be apparent to everybody that we hitting at particular lapoi groups" he added. T whcle-heartedly against It.
 The PAC went after me in the last election, but that isn't the issue here,' chimed in Wolyerton oi New Jersey If we want to do the right thing. we'll vote this down. Labor organizations have perfect right to participate political campaigns like every body else"
 The fine hand of House COP. Leader Joe Mar tin of Massachusetts was evident when the Arends proposal was finally rejected by an overwhelming voice vote