Side Glances
Washington Merry-Go-Round
By DREW PEARSON
D
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
MONDAY KVKNJNU, JUNK IS, 1915
I'age Two
Another Clean-U p Job Completed
- fes Xi
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronde Valley irrigation project.
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
, (Extcnd the city limits.
TODAY'S TEXT
Son of man, behold, I luko away from
tlico the desire of thine eyes with a
stroke: yet neither slmlt thou mourn
nor weep, neither ,shnll thy tears run
clown. Ksiekiel 21 : l(.
THOUGHT I'OIi TODAY
"All thinu'.s are to be hoped by a man
as lonir as he is alive. Seneca.
News by 'Leaks'
The alleged acts of the navy, officer,
two state department employes and
three writers arrested on espionage
charges may be indefensible, but they
scarcely can be called unusual.
Dissemmination of news through
"leaks" is a standard Washington prac
tice. Probably there isn't a recognized
correspondent of a reputable publica
tion in the nation's capital who has not
had access to some sort of restricted or
secret information at some time since
the war began.
: This does not mean that there is al
ways an actual transfer of documents,
as it is charged took place in (lie state
department case. Hut it is quite usual
for Washington reporters to be told
confidential, off-the- record news or be
shown documents that cannot be pub
lished. There are two basic, reasons for this
practice. In the military field, it ia be
cause correspondents and their publish
ers have earned and maintained a repu
tation for trustworthiness.
Since censorship is sometimes overly
cautious, military and. other depart
mental officers often indulge in private
and entirely discreet confidences which
add to a writer's background knowledge
and help him to evaluate the news re
leased for publication. Until now, there
have been no governmental charges that
these confidences have been abused.
There is nothing either secret or con
fidential in the new that personal and
political differences exist among mem
bers of various departments of govern
ment. And in those differences is
found the other source of "leaks." These
are passed along by officials seeking to
expose or discredit a colleague or a
policy, either through malice or a sense
of duty. In some instances these "leaks"
have performed a distinct public service.
As for the case in question, it is not
clear that any military security was in
volved. The New York Times story of
(lie investigation leading up to the ar
rests makes this interesting observa
tion. "It was learned that had not the text
of a secret document been printed ver
batim, the six arrested persons might
have escaped detection ... If the word
ing had been changed, it might have
been impossible to say whether an ille
gal disclosure had been committed."
Kvidently it was the carelessness of
the accused, and not the information
they disclosed, that got them into
trouble.
Funny Business
y,:'.". "'.l ' ;,; " n.. . ...
rfi O ' '
1 1 c
o SO THEY SAY
Wo rnn think, but wo em't
t;ilk. I'm afro id we're vory dull.
Duko of Windsor, in comment
ing on English election.
"Our new boomerang model whtB you throw II al catt it comc
back to youl"
Some of these very Waders who
See the wisdom u aiding Russia
an.1 lh inii und South America in
developing their resources cry to
high Iwaven iihont projects or
proposals that use American dol
lars Tor the regional development
of the resources of Ametican val
leys I).. vul E. Lihcnthal, chairman,
TVA,
One p( the most certain was
of bringing about international
disagreement and ultimate war
is to constant talk nlwut war
n inevitable and &Hvu!att as to
when and how war is to come, i
Sen. Walter F. Oeorjto, tfrorgia.
I i Xpert to he cnmniteaioner
for life. That will set it rqst talk
of any stovrssor for me. "
A. I). (Happy) Chandler! base
balls high commissioner.
WASHINGTON Only top insiders w.io
watched the close-up of our diplomatic dis
cussions with Russia realize how great was
Harry Hopkins' achievement in Moscow.
VUS-USSR relations were nt a most serious
impasse.'., Not only was American public
opinion aroused over the whole Polish ques
tion,, but Russian generals were becoming
high-handed and almost ready to . throw
aside allieci pooperation. . '
(, This.coiuinn carried a series of articles
describing, our relations with Russia at the
time, emphasizing the dangerous deadlock
and' attributing it partly to red-baiting by
anti-Russian diplomats, plus Churchill's pol
icy of keeping the United States and the So
viet at sword's points, plus the state depart
ment's old-fushioned policy of note-writing
instead of talking things out face-to-face..-. :
;, Writing notes was the worn out method
Joe Grew used when he got into hot water
with Mexico and Nicaragua when he was
under secretary of state in the Coolidge ad
ministration. However, as with Mexico and
Nicaragua, hurling written notes at Moscow
only got Stalin's back up.
,. ' Stalin Writes Truman
For instance, here is one reply which Stal
in threw back at President Truman regard
ing Poland just a little over a month ago, at
the time Grew and Stcttinius were drafting
notes for Truman to send Stalin: . -' "'
"I am ready to fulfill your request to reach
a harmonious solution, but you demand too
much of me. In other words, you demand
that I renounce the interests of security of
the Soviet Union. However, I cannot turn
against my own country.
'lln'my opinion there is one way out of
this situation: adopt the Jugoslav example
as a pattern for Poland. I believe that this
would allow us to come to a harmonious
solution." '
This was very strong diplomatic language.
When the head of a nation says he will not
turn against his own country it means that
ho won't budge another inch. Also, the Jug
oslav pattern was not much of a compromise,
since the state department had already com
plained to Stalin about this situation and al
leged Russian failure to carry out the Yalta
agreement in Jugoslavia.
It was at this tightly deadlocked moment
that Harry Hopkins finally advised Truman
that the thing to do was stop writing notes
and have someone put his feet under the
same table with Stalin and talk things out
instead.
; Chief trouble with our older diplomats,
and with Ed Stettinius, who takes his cues
from them; is that they don't realize this is
the day of airplanes,' not sailing ships. Diplo
matic note-writing dales from the horse-and-buggy
days of diplomacy when it took
six weeks to cross the Atlantic and we could
not send ambassadors speedily to talk things
out face-to-face. Now we can get an am
bassador to Moscow in one day.
Soviet policy is seldom uniform, and while
Polish relations are much improved, a very
serious situation confronts US-USSR rela
tions in Bulgaria.
McKellar's Revenge
Although Sen. Kenneth MeKcllar's 23
years in the senate made ; him automatic
choice as president of that body, it still isn't
enough to give him everything he wants. In
fact, he's having considerable difficulty get
ting a full-scale investiation of the purchase
of the Nashville Tennessean, even though it
is being pushed by McKellar's great pal,
Nevada's Pat McCarran, chairman' of the
senate judiciary committee. '
The Nashville Tennessean has been a
leader in the fight against the Tennessee
poll tax and the powrful political machine
headed by McKellar's political sponsor, Boss
Ed Crump. So McKellar Is out to persecute
the paper by investigating its original pur
chase. -. : 1
The investigation, of course, is supposed
to be made by the "very impartial" senate
judiciary committee. But Sen. Scott Lucas
of Illinois had some idea of who was master
minding the project, and, as chairman of the
audit and control committee, he refused to
grant the $5,000 requested for the investiga
tion. ' Instead, he allowed only $3,000. Mc
Carran has now returned to Washington af
ter his long absence in the west and col
leagues are wondering what his next move
will be in this back-scratching job for bro
ther McKellar.
Some of Luca's colleagues are wondering
why he OK'd even this much money, and
why the senate should infringe on the free
dom of the press by an investigation of this
kind.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Servicemen, looking on their old lives
from a greatdistanee and in the light of new
experiences, have had on opportunity to do
some evaluating. And some of them have
entirely new ideas about how they want to
live and what they want out of life.
They may be very new ideas, too. But the
wife who hus sat at home telling herself that
some day '.'everything will be exactly as it
was" may resent any changes her husband
wants to make in their way of living.
"Many of the men in service huve had a
chance to develop their whole personalities,
whilu the women who have sat at homo
waiting for them have not," is the way Dr.
Wilbur R. .Miller, one of the middle west's
best known psychiatrists, sums up this prob
lem, i ,
However, he points out that it need not bo
a problem at all if the wife reacts to the
situation in the right way.
If she, because her husband has developed
more in the war years than she has, becomes
jealous and resentful then she will hold out
against any new ideas he may bring home
with him about how their lives should, be
lived. ' - i
But if she takes the attitude that "He's got
something that he can teach me and that will
help us both to have richer, fuller lives" and
accepts rather than rejects his ideas the
marriage won't suffer.
One thing she must understand is her hus
band's new-found need for the companion
ship of other men. In the army he has made
closer friendships with men than lie, per
haps, ever had before. Friendship witli men,
of necessity, had to take the place of family
life. Consequently he may need masculine
companionship for quite a while after he
comes home.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grande Evening Obieryer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON The big argument over
whether, the United States should be repre
sented in post-war International aviation by
one big joint "chosen instrument" company
or a number of competing companies oper
ating under principles of "freedom of the
air" has been lost sight of for a couple of
months, but behind the scenes there has been
a good bit of intricate maneuvering.
Newest chapter in the state department
senate foreign relations committee impasse
over international air policy has just been
introduced by Mississippi Senator Theodore
Bilbo, of all peoplo. Bilbo isn't a member
of the foreign relations committee, but he is
a member of the commerce committee which
also has a fist in this stew. Bilbo's action
in making public a letter from acting Secre
tary of State Joseph Glow, defending the
state department's right to take the United
States into international aviation agreements
through executive order, without senate rati
fication, may again bring to a boil this dish
which has been simmering on the back of
the stove foV so long a time.
While tcJienate has been unable to maki
up its mind and determine a policy, the state
department's "freedom of the air" program
mopped ut the Chicago international civil
aviation conference last f .til huj been mov
ing right ahead. Thirty nations four mote
than the necessary 26 have already rati
fied the Chicago agreement and Canad k
preparing to issue invitations for a first
meeting of the provisional organization
which wilt regulate international air cont
meive until a permanent organization can
take over within the next three years. Invi
tations will probably he for alt August meet
ing in Montreal, that apparently being the
only city with enough vacant office space
to h'.e an organization of this size.
In the meantime. thi I'S riVil aeronautics
board, meeting with President Truman, is
suppOM d to have l;iid on his dvsk a recom
nViv.lalion that north Atlantic flying lights
be,- t;iven to three e'ffiptling companies
Pan American, Traiunvntitnotal, VeWi'
and American export or its American air
lines ccuttlolled successor.
recommendations. But since they are be
lieved to have been made with strong rep
resentations as to urgency, approval by the
White House would confront the supporters
of the jointly-owned company idea princi
pally Pan American and United Airlines
with opposition as good as established. The
only thing to stop such a development would
be through prompt action in congress. The
passage of new laws defining a different pol
icy. With congress now ready to go home
for the summer, any such achievement
would.be difficult, to say the least.
Background maneuvering which brought
out the letter from Grew to Bilbo, is inter
esting. About a month ago the executive
council of the American Federation of La
bor, stirred up by advocates of the one big
airline policy, issued a statement that the
executive agreements on international avi
ation promulgated by President Roosevelt,
were illegal, should be withdrawn and sub
mitted to the senate for ratification.
Using this as a springboard, Senator Bilbo
was moved to take the AFL statement, send
it to the stale department and ask in effect,
"what's all this about!"
This was just the opportunity the state de.
partment had been waiting for. Its side of
the argument was locked up in off-the-rcc-ord
testimony before the senate foreign re
lations committee, but the opposition was
spreading disapproval of state 'department
policy wherever possible.
Crew's reply to the Bilbo inquiry is there
fore a strong defense of state departments
rigiit to make the executive agreements
adopted to Chicago on interim organization
and freedom of the air policies.
The navy which is successfully fighting
this war is a civilian navy Nacy Secretary
James V. Forrwstal. to nnapolis graduating
. class.
The president m;,f turn down the CAB dox chuix-h.
COPIt 194S BY gA SmVICi:. IMC. T. M. BtO. 0. 8. PAT. OTT.
i-lf
"Margie didn't read us this part of her fiance's letter 'J- 'your
mother is as bossy as our top sergeant, but your dad told m how
to handle her'!" , i : '.",
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
' By WM. E. McKENNEY, America's Card Authority
TREAT CARDS MEAN
AND YOU'LL RUE IT
' I shuddered the other day
when I saw this hand messed up.
You know, they often say that if
you treat the cards mean, they
will treat you mean.
When I saw this hand played,
the opening lead was won with
the king of spades. You can now
see that if the declarer can guess
the diamond, he is going to be
AQ73
V 7 52
K743
803
A J 10962
VQ103
Q652
Q
N
W E
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Dealer
854
VK984
8
KJ107
4 -
AK
V AJ8
A J 10 9
A952
Rubber Both vul.
South West North East
2 N T. Pass 3 N. T. Pass
Opening A J. 19
mond and the king of spades had
him blocked out from 'making the
queen. In other words, ' he had
counted to nine, but Tailed to
make sure he had cashed all nine
tricks.
o IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago
Close to half hundred' automo
biles, a dozen of them gorgeously
decorated, decorated side cars, '
motorcycle brigades and bicycle
sections, the fire department,
heavy trucks and other manner ,
of self-propelled vehicles passed
through an avenue of automo
biles closely parked fdr a dis
tance of four blocks, and was wit- '
nessed by several thousand peo
ple this morning. The parade is
a new venture but the initial per
formance was a credit to the city
in connection with the motor
cycle race to be held this after
noon. .
able to make.' three spades, a
heart, four diamonds and the '
oce of clubs. So the declarer
cashed his ace of diamonds and
then led the jack of diamonds.
West covered with the queen and
declarer smiled because he had
guessed the queen of diamonds.
But he could not make his con
tract. He had forgotten to cash
his king of spades first. He was
in dummy with the king of dia-
Questiom & Answers
Q Has India's trade with Aus
tralia increased or decreased dur
ing the war?
A Increased in textiles, at
least. India now is sending Aus
tralia 40,000,000 yards of cotton
textiles annually, compared with
1,000,000 before the war.
15 Years Ago ..:
Mass Judy Moore, Miss Lula
Grace Allen and Harold Herr
drove to Wallowa Lakeland re
turned Sunday afternoon. . .
Mrs. Doyle Zimmerman, Mrs.
J. R. Llewellyn and small son,
Jack, drove home from Portland.
Mrs. Zimmerman has been there
for the past week visiting, friends.
Edwin Kirby, son of Dr. and
Mrs. E. B. Kirby, has returned
home from the University of Ore
gon. Elmo Lindholm of' Silver
ton, is visiting at the Kirby home
and expects to spend the summer
here. Both are members of Alpha
Epsilon, national fraternity. '
Q What are the seven Near
East countries making up the
Arab league?
A This regional bloc, recent
ly in the news because of the Syrian-French
violence, is composed
of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Lebanon, Trans-Jordan,
and Yemen.
10 Years Ago "
Miss Marjorie Condit, who now
makes her home in San Fran
cisco, arrived here last evening
for a two weeks vacation. She
will spend the fortnight as a guest
of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wil
liam Condit. ' ' .
Nylic Lewis of La Grande who
taught one of the smaller schools
in Baker county last ..year, has
been elected to the, faculty of
junior high school alt Baker .for .
next year. He will teach mathe
matics and direct some extra-curricular
activities. ....
This Curious World
L 8 "iPrrd- S is A tvMorr, our J
1 I VU . MOUNTAIN SCAT IS fl
J Mjy ( AN AArLOP, OUR ) I
yL ( Buffalo is a ssow ) g
1 t l AND THE CARIBOU. I
31
A nut ion that believes in suicide bombs or
hara-kiri cannot he considered pious or re
ligious. Patriarch Alexi of Russian Ortho-
ANSWER: Santa Fe, New Mexico. Cheyenne, Wyoming, also, Is
a higher-altitude capital than Denver.
NEXT: Our jittery old globe.
It J.
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