Side Glances
Washington Merry-Go-Round
EDITORIAL PAGE
By DREW PEARSON
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1945
Page Two
Better Be Careful With That Bottle, Brother!
THOUGHT FQR TODAY
Fear is not a lasting teacher of duty.
Cicero.
Back to the Party Line
It wasn't surprising to learn that the
. American communists hnvo switched
back from a "political association" to a
political party. The change had been
expected ever since a French commun
ist attack oiv Earl ISrowder's wartime
policy of capital-labor collaboration set
the stage for the American party's re
pudiation of its veteran leader.
The American CP's plan for revolu
tion here seems as hopeless as ever.
In spite of grievous inequalities in our
society, which can and should be cor
recteH under our own system, the Amer
ican way of life and standard of living
surpass anything that the communists
can offer to the great majority of
American citizens.
Yet the American CP probably fig
ures that this is a ripe time to get back
to the party line. And there are rea
sons to support this conjecture.
First, the defeat of Germany ended
Kussia's great war crisis. And since
American communists' allegiance is to
the Kussian government, they can re
sume their divisive and .subversive work
here without being concerned with its
effect on our prosecution of the Jap
anese war.
Second, the American people realize
that the need for close and friendly re
lations with Itussia is of the utmost
importance today. Keeausc of this, and
because of admiration for the lied army,
many .seem to have the idea that nnv
opposition, or even criticism, of Amer
ican communists is unfriendly to the
Soviet government, even though the
American communists' avowed goal is
the overthrow of our capitalistic econ
omy and the government under which
it functions.
Third, we are nenrlng- the end of a
great war which has thrown our econ
omy out of gear and strained our tem
pers as well as our resources. The
American CP undoubtedly hopes that
the readjustment and temporary un
employment which are inevitably ahead
will produce the ferment of discontent
in which class warfare breeds.
But, for these advantages to the com
munist party, its timing hasn't been
perfect. For it may very well preju
dice American opinion against Russia
at a time when, for all her strength,
she will need help in the form of Amer
ican skill, American materials and
American dollars.
The American communists have al
ways shaped their policy on orders from
Russia, and it can scarcely be consider
ed that the present move was not dic
tated from the same source.
And it might strike the American
government as a little cynical, to say
the least, if polite requests and friendly
gestures from Moscow were accom
panied by the efforts of a cell of Mos
cow's political adherents to antagonize
and, if possible, destroy the system un
der which were produced the materials,
dollars and skill Russia needs and the
United States, under the present cor
dial Russo-American co-operation, is
happy to give.
Funny Business
I
hJK vNI fl $k
o SO THEY SAY
An editor or writer or speaker
wlio is conscious o his lofty vo
lition and its responsibilities al
ways is alive to I lie obligation ho
has tn thousands or millions of
people who may tie strongly at
tested by his words to Rive them
the truth and nothing but the
truth.
l'opc Pius XII.
Synthetic rubbers already are
out -performing natural rubber
parts on specific applications.
Klwood F. Riesing. chief engi
neer. Firestone Industrial Rub
ber Products Co.
Democracy as a form of gov
ernment is suited only to a de
vout and disciplined people.
Supreme Court Justice Frank
Murphy.
"Halt, or you II ht paik .hop!"
While he (Uncle Sam) will con
tinue to share everything he has,
there will be a point where he has
to tighten up a bit.
Pomona. Calif, PiugriailHUlc-
tm.
WASHINGTON The first lay of the land,
like a lot of other people, is having servant
troubles. Just at the moment, Harrison J.
Irving, 24-year-old negro of 501 West Mill
ave Independence, Mo., is threatening a
walkout.
Irving has served as caretaker of the Tru
man lawn fori the past eight years. But with
the weather hot and the Trumans risen in
the world, he has been thinking seriously of
bolting the summer White House staff be
cause the ante is too low.
"I cut the lawn eight years ago, when I
was a boy in high school," confides Harris
on Irving. "And I got $4 for the job. That
was big money then, 'cause I lived with my
folks. But I think I should get more money
now and I'm gonna quit. ,
"Besides," he added as if he had almost
overlooked one grievance, "Mr. Truman for
gets to pay me."
Gardener Irving looked down at the lawn
he had Just finished cutting. He was in con
templative mood.
"She wants me to dig dirt and weeds
away from the sidewalk," he continued, now
more plaintive than contemplative. "But I'm
afraid some car will hit me. There's nobody
gonna look after me after a car hits me, and
besides I think the city should take care
of these weeds."
Irving was referring to a strip of sidewalk
that runs parallel to west Van Horn road on
the north side of the Truman estate, where
in order to pull the weeds, he has to stand
on the edge of the street.
However, this was not all of Irving's
troubles. He complained that before the pres
ident arrived in Independence, Mrs. Truman
had asked him to whitewash the basement.
But workmen, then painting on the outside
of thchouse, warned he had better not do it.
or he would get in trouble with the paint
ers' union.
However, Irving, no great believer in
unions, waited until the painters had left
and then whitewashed the basement.
Irving says he does not intend to leave
Mrs. Truman in the lurch. He is going to
find somebody else to cut the lawn, then he
will turn in his resignation. Working for
important folks holds no glamor for Har
rison Irving. It's the wages that count.
Churchill Bucked U. S. Military
Though they admired his great force of
character and revelled at his wit, Winston
Churchill's passing as prime minister brought
no great regret from top U. S. army and
navy strategists.
Too many times they felt they were over
ruled by Churchill. Too many times they
left military meetings with the fear Roose
velt was too much swayed by Churchill's
dominating personality.
Some of the secret battles waged, between
' Churchill and U. S. generals and admirals
can now be told. One of the most important
was Churchill's adroit move to transfer Gen.
George Marshall out of the job of chief of
staff. Another was to transfer Gen. Al Wede
meyer out of Washington. The latter suc
ceeded; the first failed. -
First military clash with Churchill took
place at Casablanca in January 1943. Church
ill wanted to strike from North Africa
against the soft underbelly of the axis
through the Balkans. The U. S. general staff
wanted to invade on the shortest road to
Berlin across the English Channel to Nor
mandy. It was not a question of invading
at once, but of beginning preparations at
once for invasion.
The argument lasted for hours. Churchill
stood out for the Balkans. He was almost
unmovable. Finally5 he played his trump
card. He announced Britain could supply
only 30 percent of the troops against 70 per
cent U. S. troops in any cross-channel inva
sion. Britain, he said, was not willing to
lose "the seed" of her manhood.
Since it would have taken too long to
transport enough American troops across the
north Atlantic for an early cross-channel
invasion, a compromise invasion of Italy was
agreed. Wo already had the troops in north
Africa to handle Italy, and so did the Brit
ish, Argument at Quebec
The men who stood up to Churchill strong
est during that Casablanca discussion were
Generals Marshall and Wedemeyer, the lat
ter a member of the U. S. general staff.
Another vigorous discussion over war
plans took place at Quebec in the summer of
1943 at which time General Marshal stood
up before the general staffs of both nations
and vigorously rebuked Field Marshal Sir
Allan Brooke, British chief of staff, for per
mitting publication of the appointment of
See WASHINGTON . . . Page 4
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
A bill has been introduced into the sen
ate to designate Oct. 31 as National Arthritis
Day.
It gives you aches and paints just to think
what that kind of thing might lead to. If
National Arthritis Day why not National
Common Cold Day? Or National Diabetes
Day? Or even National Hangover Day?
If we get started naming special days for
the focucing of attention on the disease man
is heir to, there will be no place to stop.
Every day will be a special day for some
dread disease. And instead of curing the
world of its ills, we'll probably just turn into
a nation of hpyochondriacs waking up each
morning to the problem of one disease or
anther.
Can't you picture us slowly dragging our
selves out of bed to face not a glorious
Tuesday or bright Wednesday but Nation
al Headache Week or National Fallen
Arches Day
Haven't we got enough National Days al
ready without taking on any more? Don't
we need all the plain Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, etc. we have left just for the
working out of our own individual prob
lems? How are we ever going to solves these, if
we are asked to take more and more days
for the contemplation of problems that
should be in the field of specialists, anyhow?
After all we've got doctors. Let them worry
about our diseases for us.
If we're going to have any more National
Days it looks as thought what we harassed
human beings need sorely now is a National
Don't Worry About Nothin' Day.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grand Eyenlng ObsarTer Washington Correspondanl
WASHINGTON, July 30 One of the most
intensive manhunts in U. S. criminal history
has been the nine and a half year search
for the kidnaper and murderer of 10-year-old
Charles Fletcher Mattson of Tacoma,
Wash. In federal bureau of investigation rec
ords and in loqal police headquarters all over
the country this Mattson kidnaping has be
come known as the Malnap case. FBI hasn't
given up trying.
There arc three slender clues to go on.
When the kidnaper broke into Dr. Maltson's
home Dec. 27, 1!)36 and abducted his oldest
boy, a note demanding $50,000 ransom was
left on the chair! That provides a handwrit
ing specimen. The kidnaper left fragmentary
fingerprints on the glass of French doors
through which he entered the house, and
again at a phone booth from which he called
to make a second ransom demand. The kid
naper was seen by the other Mattson chil
dren who were in the room listening to the
radio with their brother at the time he was
kidnaped. A sketch was made from compos
ite descriptions of the Mattson children and
that has been used for a guide in examining
suspects.
In all the years since Charles Mattson's
body was found murdered in the snow near
Everett, Wash., two weeks after the kidnap
ing, 25.402 suspects have been reported. Of
these, 23, 833 have been eliminated. But the
remaining 1,569 suspects are still pending
in an open file. A steady flow of handwrit
ing specimen, finger print records and pho
tos comes into FBI and local police crime
laboratoi ics fur comparison. Some of the
suspects haw been taken to Tacoma for pos
sible identification by the other Mattson
children, now nearly grown up but still re
membering that face.
While none of these suspects has thus far
been linked with the Matnap case, the drag
net of 25.000 possibilities has brought in
hundreds of criminals wanted for other
crimes. Hobo towns and jungles and shacks
all over the country have been combed and
the combings have brought in men wanted
for arson, larceny, bank robbery, and nearly
every crime on the calendar. This is one of
the' incidental reason tor keeping the Mat-
nap case open. It has yielded a rich haul of
men wanted for other offenses.
The Mattson case is one of the two unsolv
ed kidnapings to come within FBI jurisdic
tion since the federal kidnaping act was
passed 11 years ago. The other unsolved
case is the kidnaping of 12-year-old Peter
David Lcvine of New Rochelle, N. Y. in Feb
ruary 1938. A squad had been kept 'working
on this Lcvine case in the intervening years,
but so far entirely without success. There is
no clue, no scrap of evidence on which to go.
It will be solved only by a confession or by
an informer wh was in on the crime.
While these two cases have remained un
solved, 277 other kidnapings since the pass
age of the so-called Lindbergh law have
been solved. The back of the racket which
once made the country's most glaring head
lines has now been broken. In all, there have
been only 16 kidnapings involving ransom.
In the 12-month period ending July 1 there
were 18 kidnapings, none of ransom and all
solved, with the conviction of 34 kidnapers
for terms averaging better than 15 years
each.
Such kidnapings as arc reported today are
usually acccsory to other crimes. Robbery
is ordinarily the first motive. Usually there
is an automobile involved. The cases are
pretty sordid, the victims average people
going about their everyday business or pleas
ure. They just happen to cross the paths of
lowlifc characters w h o take their money
away from them, then steal their ear and
take the owners alon for the ride. Whc.i
they cross a slate line their troubles begin
for that permits the FBI to move in and
work with local police.
The Lindbergh law has unquestionably
been a good thing. It has put teeth in pros
ecu' ion before federal courts. By providing
for heavy sentences it has discouraged
"snatching" as .1 crime that pays. Since 1934
ehere have been 577 convictions. Sentences
have averaged better than 10 years. Life im
prisonment was given 44 and the death sen'
tence to 12. to addition, eight kidnapers were
killed while resisting attest, seven were
murdcrcil by other gang members, two -wore
iMichci and one wis declared inline.
am. 1 iv w acuvicf. wo. t. m, mo. u. . wt. orr. ; 1
"Well, miss, it was rel pleasant for a while there, but since they
increased the gas allowance I've got to jump Up and wait on folks
five or six times a day I"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
HERE'S NEW ADD
TO WARREN SLAM
In accordance with my practice
of presenting any new develop
ments jn bidding, I have written
many articles on the Warren Slam
Convention, which today is used
by many players throughout the
country. A couple of additions to
this convention have now been
Q J 4
K87
A 10 5
AQJ4
A2
J 10 6 4
KQ98
1098
N
W
S
Dealer
73
32
J7642
7 6 53
K 10 9 86 5
AQ95
3
K2
Duplicate Neither vul.
South West North East
1 Pass 2 N. T. Pass
3 Pass 4 N. T. Pass
S Pass 6 Pas:
Opening K. I
bid is one spade, a response of
two no trump initiates the con
vention. Today's hand was sent by C.
Emerson Metzger of Warren, Pa.
The response of three spades
showed a count of four in aces
and kings and the four no trump
rebid asked for queens. When
South ' responded with five dia
monds, showing one, the final
contract became six spades, and
the ace of trumps was the only
loser.
Questions & Answers
. Q For what is July 17 noted?
A Spain formally ceded Flor
ida to the U. S. Andrew Jackson
was its first American "governor.
developed, and, while I think that
the first one is a little dangerous,
nevertheless you should know it.
Salient features of the conven
tion are: In responding to t h e
slam call of four no trump, the re
sponder shows all his aces and
kings in one bid, an ace counting
two and a king one. The negative
response of five clubs shows one
point or less, and the bidding in
creases one step for each point
held above one. The first varia
tion permits the slam try at the
two level; that is, if the opening
O BARBS
The average barber takes 250
strokes to shave a man, says a
trade paper. Well, go on, how
many words?
Q How much damage did the
Japs do at Pearl Harbor?
A Official navy report says
they temporarily disabled every
battleship and most of the air
craft in the Hawaiian area. Eigrty
six ships of the Pacific Fleet were
moored there, including eight
' battleships, seven cruisers, 28 de
stroyers and five submarines.
Q When was the first mobile
torpedo successfully demonstrat
ed? A In 1866, by its inventor Rob
ert Whitehead, at Fiume, where
he was designer for an engine
works.
Q How much aid wilt the 70,
000,000 inhabitants of the Dutch
East Indies need after the war?
A Already The Netherlands
has bought more than $350,000,
000 worth of goods for the relief
of those island people.
Hot air tends to destroy Vita
min C, they say, so don't sit
around listening to fish stories.
Q-pWhy are Philadelphia and
a number of other cities attempt
ing to rid themselves of pigeons?
i A Philadelphia health offi
cials say many pigeons there are
infected !with pneumonia-like
ornithosis.
The horse population has shown
a slight decrease since 1944. Has
your pot roast tasted different
lately?
Falls are the leading cause of
accidents in the United States.
And with bananas scarce, too!
Q How many unexploded land .
mines did the Germans leave in
the soil of France?
A It is estimated more than
100,000,000, especially thick along
the Atlantic coast and bordering
the Pyrenees mountains, hinder
ing agrciultural operations.
Indians in the United States
speak 55 distinct languages. Al
most as many as the pale-faces.
Q What percentage of the
Soulh's cotton is shipped by wa
ter? A Fifty percent.
This Curious World
HELIUM WAS NOT FOUND ON THE
EARTH UNnL.-l895, IN THE RARE
MINERAL KNOWN A5 CLEVEITE.
t
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-J!2- DISCOVERY CAWEDURING (
AND OOWV IN THE VALLEYVt
AVtCS.
or?
e5W APPROXIMATELY
ANNUALLY JUST TO FEED THE
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NEXT; The .holiest line between- two point .