The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-28

sissippi had a hard time squirm- ing out of his rampage to jail PMS Albert Deutsch for refusing to identify the source of his in- formation about nliSmanagement in the Veterans Administration.
 Rankin's attempt to jail DeutSch caused Congressmen to be de- luged with one of the heaviest mails in years protesting Rankin's press batting campaign. Also the rabid Mississippian found himself faced with open revolt within his own World War I Veterans Con- mittee, which he would like to rule with an iron hand.
 Finally, four days after he had bamboozled a slow -witted commit tee into voting to cite Deutsch for contempt. Rankin meekly sug- gested that Committee members meet with him privately after their public hearing to consider the Deutsch matter.
 Then behind closed doors and before anyone could offer the eS- pected move to reconsider the Deutsch vote, Rankin declared:
 'I wanted you to know have no intention of doing anything more on this matter without first consulting with the entire Committee"
 'You mean the Deutsch mat ter?" asked Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, who has consistently helped the veterans.
 Rankin said he did; so a motion was made that the Committee vote that there be no further action without prior consideration by the entire Committee.
 But Rep. Low Rayfiel, Brooklyn Democrat, suggested that no motion was needed. "The chair man has assured us we will be consulted" urged Rayfiel, "and certainly his word is as good as a vote.'
 Mrs. Rogers then asked if Deutsch would be brought back for further testimony.
 "Oh, let him sit around and wait few days" replied the gentleman from Mississippi. "Let him keep his feet under the table till we decide what to do."
 At this point the session broke up, with no one quite willing to take a direct slap at Rankin by calling for a new vote Mrs. Rog- CTS later said she still hopes to see a new vote taken.
 VETERANS INVESTIGATOR
 Interesting sidelight on the type of milk -and-water investiga- ton of the Veterans Administra- tion desired by Rankin has just been revealed. Rankin proposed Robert Barker, a former Dies Committe .gumshoe man, as Vet erans Investigator.
 Barker appeared before the Vet erans Committee and told them he was burning to do the job re- gardless of salary. But the at mosphere chilled when it came cut that Barker also worked for the; "Goober" Cox Committee to investigate the Federal Communi- cations Commission, where he was a constant laughing stock at committee hearings.
 Barker finally showed the Vet erans Committee several letters recommending him as competent investigator, one from Gen, Frank Hines, whose Veterans Admins tration he was seeking to inveSti- gate. That ended his prospects IRISHMENs sOF THE EAST
 Uncensored reports trickling back from the Far East indicate that the British may be in for serious trouble in Burma. A situ- ation somewhat similar to that in Athens may be brewing
 The Burmese, sometimes called the "Irishmen of the Far East," long have been advocating inde- pendence. Bitterly resentful of their Japanese conquerors, the Burmese carried on active guer- rilla warfare all during the Jap occupation.
 The British cooperated with them, smuggling into Burma a considerable number of small arms. These were distributed through an underground organiza- tion known as "The Anti-Fascist League" which passed them on to native militants.