The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-06-20

The big Illinois Congressman, himself a candidate for the Re- publican nomination, had receiv- ed several thousand dollars of campaign contributions from his home constituents which he pro- posed returning to them. But they proposed that he use 1t to study U. $. Foreign Relations abroad,
 Returning from that trip Dirk sen concluded that the biggest problem we face is winning the peace after the war and hiring the right kind of diplomats with enough paD to do it. Dropping in to see President Truman, Dirksen said:
 You were wagon soldier in the last war, MT. President. So was I. (Both were in horse drawn field artillery. We don't have much conception of how modern warfare operates. But we do know something of what our boys have gone through, and we've got to make sure that these who have taken it On the chin have not done it in vain.'
 You speak my language replied Truman, listening in- tently.
 Why don't you get S100,-
 000,000 appropriation for the
 State Department" Dirksen
 continued, and build up
 system of American diplomacy
 strong enough to represent this
 country? That's the first step
 in winning the peace after the
 war. We've got to hire good
 diplomats and give them the
 means of support.
 T am for economy" Dirksen went on. Tn fact, have oppos- ed a lot of spending on the part of the Roosevelt administration. But I consider a strong State Department to be one of the best investments this nation can make"
 President Truman replied that there was great deal in what the Illinois Congressman said. Foreign Affairs, he continued, was one thing he was working on hardest; and he hinted, without exactly saying so, that he was giving Sta te Department re- organization a lot of considera- tion.
 CANOL PIPE LINE
 One thing Senator Homer Fer guson Of Michigan likes to re- mind certain Army officers about is Canol-the fabulously expen- sive oil and refinery project the Army put up in Canada but never operaJeo. This was the pet pro- ject of Gen. Brehon Somervell. head of Army Service Forces.
 Just before he left for Europe last month, Senator Ferguson bumped into General Somervell in Washington. The Senator winced bit from the Generals handshake, and Somervell began to kid him about not being tough enough to stand the various shots in the arm which all travellers bound for Europe or the Pacific must take.
 ''How much blood did you lose, SenatOr?" Somervell ask
 ed.
 Hardly any," Ferguson re-
 piled. And those shots really
 don't bother me too much. You
 see, they didn't give me very large shots. They just put into
 my arm all the oil the Army's
 been able to get from Canol."
 The General changed the sub- ject.
 FRANK JAP PRISONERS
 Increased study of Japanese war prisoners tends to confirm re- cent observations of Portland Oregonian Editor Palmer Hoyt that, after the war, we probably will have a greater chance to convert the Japanese mind than the German.
 German prisoners have been notoriously tight-lipped and un- bending. The western system of fighting contemplates the possi- bility Of being taken prisoners, so German troops were schooled in and at life. The rigors of win ter bring the beauties of spring It is under the hammer of hard circumstances that God fashions Af zlz