Side Glances
IT''
Washington MerryGo-Round
By DREW PEARSON
: EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 17, 1945
Page Two
Great, Great Grandson of the Argonauts
s STRIKE I i I f
. ;. ever:w, I Tf'ssssJL 1 60LV J -
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Rpnde Valley irrigation project.
LA'GRANdTT A city of 10,000
Extend the city limits.
THOUGHT TOR TODAY
Prepare thy work without, and make
it fit for thyself in the field; and after
wards build thine house. Proverbs
24:27.
Hail! Independence, hail!
Heaven's next best gift,
To that of life and an im
mortal soul! Thomson.
Philadelphia and
San Francisco
Suppose it became known on the eve
of the San Francisco conference that
all sessions would be conducted in sec
recy behind locked doors, and all infor
mation kept from the press.
Suppose it should also become known
that all delegates would be chosen from
among the wealthy, the richest among
them to be the presiding officer.
And suppose that, once the confer
ence was under way, it was learned
through news leaks that a lot of hard
things were being said about democracy
and that there was much talk about
ways and means of checking any agi
tation for a fairer distribution of
wealth.
If these incredible things came to
pass, the results would be catastrophic.
There would be a great cry for calling
the whole thing off. Cynicism would fall
like a pall over most of the world, and
many disillusioned countries (this one
Kurely among them) would probably re
tire into bitter isolation.
And yet these impossible things
Funny liusiness
actually took place during what has
come to be regarded and rightly so,
in the perspective of history as one
of the memorable occasions in the his
tory of democracy, the American con
stitutional convention of 1787. ; . - .
To recall at this time sornethirifr of
the proceedings of that convention,
familiar as the story may be, is'not to
reaffirm the odiousness of comparisons
or to disparage the founding fathers,
but to find some reassurance out of the
past of the victory of good will over
human frailty.
Delegates of 1787 were truly the
landed gentry, and George Washington
was the richest among them. They did
exclude press and public.
They even, in the midst of a dead
lock, refused lienjamin Franklin's sug
gestion that clergymen be called in to
pray for divine guidance, for fear that
the nublic might get wind of the con
vention's difficulties.
Delegates came to Philadelphia full
of sectional pride and jealousy. It took
seme of them longer to get to the con
vention than the most remote delegate
will require this month to reach San
Francisco. They met to amend the
articles of confederation. But there
grow up among them the audacious idea
of dnimr something new and, by 1787
standards, impossible.
They were distrustful of domocracy
almost to a man. though in varying de
grees. Most of them originally con
ceived of the senate as a bodv which,
as Robert Morris said, "should love to
lord it through pride." They spent four
hot summer months of bitterness bick
ering and compromise. They did not
expect perfection and they did not
achieve it.
I in t if the delegates at San Francisco
make as good a start, after their own
sessions of inevitable disagreement and
discouragement, they can face the world
and the future without shame or
apology.
SO THEY SAY
The threat from the east has
1-oon considered much worse than
tl.c threat from the west, and as
many troops as possible have
Uon committed against it
Herman prisoner on western
front.
"H changes lo a naval uniform whea his foxhole gels full of water!
It (I'nited Nations conference)
Is n longer a body for gate
crashing by smaller powers. It is
n body which has a special duty
fm world peace, for world se
curity, and great poneis on it
have pecial duties thrown on
them such as they never had un
der tho old league.
Field Maiahal Jan Christian
Smuts, Union of South Africa.
What wc have to do is to
1 match our need for full produc
tion with the world's nod for
our products in sucft a way as to
reach and maintain over tnc
years a permanently higher lev
i1?' of international trade, and to
maintain it on a sound and
profitable bas's,
Secretary of State Edward R.
Slcttiuius jr.
"Things I Remember Atoui
President Roosevelt '
WASHINGTON The town seems very
empty today and a little numb. Actually
Franklin Roosevelt hasn't been here much
this winter, and things are really no differ
ent. He went to Warm Springs after his re
election, then to Hyde Park for Christmas,
then, after the inauguration, to Yalta, then
back to Hyde Park and Warm Springs. 1
doubt if he had been in Washington a total
of two months since election day. But people
always felt that he was here, that he had his
hands on things, and so the town seems
empty.
Even the guards around the" public build
ings, the folks who sit on the pnrk benches,
the elevator operators, the taxi drivers, seem
a little lost. More than any other man,
Roosevelt was their president. They felt he
was 'working for them. And he was. They
know it will be hard for them to get another
such friend.
It is hard to write about Rr.osevelt now
that he is dead. It was easy to write about
him when he was living. He was vivid, col
orful copy. And batting out one column a
day, seven days a week for thirteen years, I
have probably written more about him than
any other man in America some things he
liked, some he didn't like, and some he crit
icized quite frankly in public.
But not everything was written. And
here are some of the unwritten things I re
member about Franklin Roosevelt.
FDR Emptied Arsenals
I have always thought that Roosevelt
turned the tide of the European war by a
daring move in the late spring of 1940, when
France fell and it looked as if England were
about to be invaded.
The British had lost most of their arms at
Dunkerque. Their arsenals were almost
empty. Ours were none too full, but the
president, in one bold stroke, emptied them.
He knew that if he waited, Hitler would in
vade England. He knew what the conse
quences were to the United States if that
happened.
He knew also that if he went to congress,
it would debate pro and con for weeks, and
the isolationists might defeat him. So he took
the law into his own hands. Probably he
See WASHINGTON . . . Page 4
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
When Barbara Hutton's personal maid
married her chauffeur the heiress threw n
champagne party for them, and afterward
she and a friend, the Baroness of Rothschild,
washed up the dishes.
Which just goes to show that even heiress
es are having to work hard these days to
hold on to their "help."
Even women with a great deal of money
who can afford to pay their servants any
amount necessary to told them are discov
ering, along with Mrs. Jones, that now that
servants can have their pick of jobs, good
pay isn't enough to keep them happy. They
want something more consideration, recog
nition, and to be treated like human beings,
and not as though they had no private lives
of their own and lived just to make life
more comfortable for an employer.
Mrs. Jones, of course, isn't throwing cham
pagne parties for her cleaning woman or
laundress or maid of all work. But she is
putting herself out just as much in smaller
ways and often in ways she never thought
about in the days when she knew that if she
lost one cleaning woman she could always
hire another.
She is saying "When can you come?" in
stead of "Be here Monday at eight." She is
saying "Of course, you can't come then,"
when the woman who works for her calls up
to say she has sickness in her family, in
stead of wailing, "But Dora, you've just got
to get here somehow; you know I'm having
dinner guests."
If Mrs. Jones has any help at all she is
lucky and she knows it. And she doesn't in
tend to lose a maid or cleaning woman to
someone else, because the woman is un
happy. So she tries her best to keep the
woman working for her happy and content
ed with her job.
And apparently even heiresses feel the
same way.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grande Evening Observer Washington Correspondent
With the whole world wondering what
kind of president Harry Truman will make,
this is the estimate of the rriaVs measure as '
given by people who have worked with him
closely.
They admit frankly that Truman will have
to be a great president to be considered even
good, but that is more of a reflection on the
time than on the man.
Comparisons always being odious, it is
perhaps impossible to try to. stack up Tru
man beside Roosevelt. They are two entire
ly different types of men. There are mil
lions of men like Truman. There was only
one Roosevelt. But Roosevelt had his weak
nesses and Truman has his strong points
which Roosevelt did not have. Truman':!
admirers say these characteristics might
even give their man the capacity as well as
the opportunity to be a better chief execu
tive than Roosevelt for the job ahead.
The political election campaign alarm of
"Think of Truman in the While House!':
which was a natural enough reflex reaction
when the shock of Roosevelt's death was
first felt, is therefore said to be entirely a
false alarm by the people who know Tru
man's Washington record and should there
fore be in a position to judge his capabilities.
This is admittedly a prejudiced appraisal.
But at the tinie when all eyes are on the
man from Missouri, wanting him to succeed,
anxious to give him every encouragement in
assuring the world's greatest responsibility,
this is the only fair appraisal to give Truman
the chance, he deserves.
There is no question of Truman's honesty
or sincerity. He works hard. That, plus a
large share of good luck, have put him
where he is today.
He is vigorous and alert. His health is
good. He will be 61 years old May 8, mak
ing him two years younger than Roosevelt.
He is decisive. When he finds a bad situ
ation he moves in on it before it gets worse,
instead of just letting it ride. When he thinks
he has the facts on a case, he gees ahead.
He docs not try to do the whole job him
self. He sub-lets responsibility, trusting the
people who work with him and relying on
them to do the jobs he has given them.
He does not hesitate to fire men or call
them to task after they make mistakes.
Ho is fearless, and in carrying out his own
convictions with courage he sometimes lets
his imagination rise to give vent in magnifi
cent displays of wrath.
In sponsoring the svnate war investigating
committer he lack led a trenwndous job.
That is pointed to as an indication of his
furesighti'.-liH, He saw what th' big iwi
of the time d to prevent mistakes ir-atea-l
of invest .gating them after they hpi n. Hi
acts on it In carrying nut the work of tho
Truman committee he did not hesitate to
move in .igainst sierid cows' business or
political. On his carpet were called V. 5.
Sute). Curtis .Wright and Alcoa, Basic' Mag
nesium. HrriByed the army on Canol and
the navy on its initial landing craft bunions.
He went ;.fi(r Donald Nelson for supporting
Philip G. Rccd of General Electric and sub
poenaed cabinet officers anj) other top ad-g.
ministrators when they were reluctant tt
give information he thought the senate was
entitled to know.
He will not hesitate to hold lalw.'J 4i'rj
to their responsibilities, either. In the Cur
rier housing project case in Detroit, he tore
into Sidney Hillman, then co-chairman of
OPM, telling him to either to do his job or
else get out and let some one else do it.
When John L. Lewis said he would appear
before Truman's committee if he could, two
years ago, Truman answered with a sub
poena. He is considered pro-labor, but has'
stated frequently that labor has duties as
well as rights.
All of Truman's Washington experience
having been in the senate, he is thoroughly
impressed with the importance of congress
and may well be expected to return to con
gress many of the controls that have gradu
ally been shifting to the executive. If ha fol
lows this pattern he should work more close
ly with congress and try to avoid the petty
fighting that has always characterized rela
tions between the White House and the capi
tol. On post-war domestic issues it can be
claimed that Truman is far better grounded
than Roosevelt was because Truman has the
time to study these issues while Roosevelt
was preoccupied with the war and interna
tional affairs. The Truman committee's third
annual report, issued in 1944, is now pointed
to as one of the first analyses on the prob
lems of reconversion.
While his dominating interests with the
senate war investigations were production,
supply and maintenance of a sound national
economy on the home front, Truman was
also a member of the senate committee on
military affairs. That gave him the oppor
tunity to follow closely the planning and
strategy. So he does not go to the White
House a novice on military matters and be
sides, the war is going to be won no matter
who is president.
Truman is perhaps weakest on foreign af
fairs, but it is claimed for him that he may
be counted on to continue the course set by
President Roosevelt, who was in many re
spects his own foreign secretary and made
his own policies and plans for organizing
the peace.
On all three of the main Roosevelt objec
tives winning the war, securing the peace
and providing post-war employment Tru
man is sot to follow the administration poli
cies. They arc now his policies because they
have been his policies in the past.
Every effort will be made to give the im
pression that the United States will go
marching on as usual, in spite of the loss of
its great leader. And to show that the
country is rallying behind its new commander-in-chief
is considered highly salutary for
the rest of the world.
For acme necks at least, there may tic no
changes in top Washington personnel. Tru
man will of course move into the ' White
House with a new personal secretarial staff
of his own choosing. His acquaintance with
Harry Hopkins, Judge Samuel M. Roscnmar,
and others of the Roosevelt White House
staff it slight. There is known to be no love
'.as: between Truman and several memoes
of tho old cabinet and changes there would
come as no surprise.
But cvojfMf changes should be made in the
cabinet and other administrative posts, they
would be presented as not necessarily a
change in Roosevelt policy merely a change
in the yien selected to carry it out.
eOPH. IWi BY NEA SCftVICE. WC. T. M. HEC. U. g. PAT. Off. . 4-19
"I'm not worrying about my grades, but if the war ends, instead
of a marine I'll be just another sophomore!" i
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WM. E, McKENNEY, America's Card Authority
IN N. T., SET UP
LONG SUIT EARLY
As a finesse has only an even
chance to win, you should resort
to it only when necessary. It
was surprising to see a number
of pairs lose the contract on to
day's hand simply because they
made up their minds that the
A 7 6 4
VJ642
10 5 3
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A 10 2 N AQ983
VK95 W f 10 873
J 7 4 2 . e 9 8
QJ65 Dealer A82
A K J 5
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AKQ6
A K 10 9 3
Duplicate Neither vul.
South West North East
1 Pass 1 A Pass
3 N. T Pass Pass Pass
Opening 5. 18
spades or diamonds would break.
The opening lead was won by
. East with the ace of clubs, a club
was returned and declarer fi
nessed the ten-spot. West won
with the jack and shifted to the
Questions & A nswers
Q Has any reparations figure
been fixed for Germany?
A $4,000,000,000 annually for
20 years has been reported, prob
ably in goods and services.
Q What is the average length
of men's feet?
A 10.3 inches. Longest on rec
ord is 12.4.
ten of spades, which South won
with the jack.
Now South should have stop
ped to count three spade tricks,
two hearts, three diamonds and
a club.
But in a number of cases,
South just laid down the ace,
king and queen of diamonds.
When that did not work, they
played the king, then the five of
spades. When the spades did not
break, they took the heart fi
nesse. West won with the king,
cashed the jack of diamonds and
returned a heart, thus defeating
the contract.
When South won the jack of
spades, he should have laid down
the ace and queen of hearts to
establish his ninth trick.
o IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago, April 17
Charles F. Roberts, president
of the La Grande motorcycle
club and assistant chief dispat
cher for the O.-W., at this' point
and Miss Gladys Lloyd of ImbM"
were married April 15 by Rev.
W. H. Drahn of the Lutheran
church in the home of E. I. Shep
pard. The bride was an em
ploye of the Home Independent
Telephone company for the past
nine years.
Q What city is known as the
"Queen of the Black Forest"?
A Baden Baden, known to tho
Romans as C i v i t a s Amelia
Aquensis for its 25 hot springs,
which they used. ,
15 Years Ago, April 17
Eastern Oregon was having its
own gasoline "war" and motor
ists were buying motor fuel for
as low as 18 cents a gallon.
A total of 6,799 citizens of Un
ion county were eligible to vote
in the primary election to be
held on May 16. These include
only Republicans and Democrats,
as members of other parties do
not vote in the primaries. Of the
total 4,29!) were registered repub
licans and 2,500 as democrats.
Q How many hospitals docs
the Veterans Administration op
erate? A 94.
Q Where did the term Nazi
originate?
A Apparently from the word
Nationalsozialist, says Dr. Edwin
H. Zcydel, U. of Cincinnati lan
guage professor.
Q About h o w much has
weight of commercial airplanes
increased in the past decade?
A 650 per cent.
10 Years Ago, April 17
Mr. and Mrs. N. K. West, took
the Harry Pattison home at 402
Main street and planned to move'
into La Grande soon.
The La Grande Gun club rifle
team entered .22 bore outdoor
competition under Oregon State
Rifle association rules, with one
shoot completed and three more
due before May 6.
Two sturgeon, one weighing
10 pounds, were on display in
the show window of the Roy :
Farnam Supply Co. They were
caught by Fred Henning in Hell
canyon of the Snake river.
This Curious World
H IS BOTH THE )
if COl- OSST" AND
It SPOrCHT'f'Sr jjg
B IT HAS" RECORDED ( jT '" M
B Ali. THE WAY FROM ) t;:
! BY WE H,h;i. t.c.
Quttteiv Octet
CONTRARY To
PCXULAfi OPINION,
ROSES, CUT IN the Arret?.
AOOV, KEEP LON&Ee
THAN THOSE CUT EARLY IN
inc. HCVV.
'tCl PAT Off.
I - - ''- iwn. ICC'n,
RACE PENDLETON,
NEXT: Sending messages by honeybees.