America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

3600

GOP in Senate to take time naming leader

White, Vandenberg, Taft and Bridges mentioned as McNary successor

Washington (UP) – (Feb. 26)
The choice of a Senate Republican Leader to succeed the late Charles L. McNary (R-OR) appeared tonight to lie among Senators Wallace H. White Jr. (R-ME), Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI), Robert A. Taft (R-OH) and Styles Bridges (R-NH).

There was no disposition among Republican Senators, however, to hurry selection of Mr. McNary’s successor. No action will be taken at the earliest until after his funeral.

Mr. McNary was elected chairman of the Senate Republican conference as well as leader on Thursday, the day before he died. Mr. White, elected assistant leader, will be acting leader until another election is held, and Mr. Vandenberg, elected vice chairman, will be acting chairman.

Senate to meet Tuesday

The Senate will meet again Tuesday and then recess in tribute to Mr. McNary after brief eulogies by Mr. White, Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley, Senators Rufus C. Holman (R-OR) and others. The Senate will also adopt a resolution conveying its condolences to Mr. McNary’s family.

Because of the time element, there was some question whether the Senate will select an official delegation to go to Oregon for the funeral, scheduled for Friday.

President sends condolences

In his message of condolence to Mrs. McNary, President Roosevelt said:

The United States Senate, in which your husband served with distinction for more than a quarter of a century, the great state of Oregon which showed its confidence in repeated elections and the nation as a whole have lost the counsels of a faithful and efficient public servant.

He possessed, besides a delightful personality, rare gifts of statesmanship. As Minority Leader of the Senate, he put national interest above blind partisanship and was ever free of rancor or intolerance. I counted Charlie McNary among my real friends and I shall miss his companionship and his helpful cooperation in essential things.

To you and to who mourn with you, I offer this assurance of heartfelt sympathy in which Mrs. Roosevelt joins.

Hull, Ickes send tributes

Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes added theirs to the many tributes evoked by Mr. McNary’s death.

3601

Doctor called in mercy trial

Baby mentally deficient, pediatrician says

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3602

New Argentine rulers studied by republics

Consultation begun on question of recognition of Farrell group

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3603

Little man fast becoming big government creditor

What with taxes and bond purchases he gains ‘a first mortgage’ on U.S. assets
By Dale McFeatters, Press business editor

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3604

Federal group defends data on living cost

President’s committee replies to attacks by union leaders

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3605

americavotes1944

Poll: Dewey heads list of GOP candidates in every section

But survey shows that New York Governor’s popularity increase has slowed down by 50% since January
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

With the Republican presidential nominating convention less than four months away, Governor Dewey of New York now heads the GOP candidate list in every section of the country.

However, the Institute’s latest survey shows that Governor Dewey’s popularity has increased during the past four weeks by only about half as much as it did during the month of January.

Moreover, the latest survey on the candidates does not fully reflect Governor John W. Bricker’s public appearance in Washington, or Wendell Willkie’s campaign trip through the West which many observers believe has given a boost to the Willkie popularity.

Mr. Willkie runs second in the latest survey, with Gen. Douglas MacArthur third, and Governor Bricker fourth.

Voters from coast to coast, so selected as to meet scientific requirements, were shown a list of men most prominently mentioned as possible candidates and were asked to indicate their choice today. Based on those who named a Republican, the results show the following standings of the five more popular men.
Dewey 45%
Willkie 21%
MacArthur 19%
Bricker 7%
Stassen 5%
Others 3%

California Governor Earl Warren and Eric Johnston, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, polled a total of 3% in both the January and February surveys. In December, Governor Warren, Mr. Johnston, Senator Taft of Ohio and Governor Saltonstall of Massachusetts received a combined total of 8%.

Willkie’s lead lost

Whereas Mr. Willkie held a lead over Governor Dewey in New England and the South in last month’s survey, today’s results find the New York Governor ahead in those sections, although the rivalry remains extremely close. New England, the South and the Pacific Coast are Mr. Willkie’s best sections.

Governor Dewey’s strongest areas are the Mid-Atlantic states, which include New York, and the East and West Central sections.

In the latter areas, he has gained four to six percentage points since the survey in January, while Mr. Willkie has shown a slight loss in those areas. Mr. Dewey’s popularity has likewise increased in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast areas.

South favors MacArthur

Gen. MacArthur is stronger in the South and Midwest than elsewhere, and has shown a small gain in both areas. Governor Bricker’s best section in the East Central, which includes his home state of Ohio.

The sectional standings of the four men with the highest votes follow:

Dewey Willkie MacArthur Bricker
New England 40% 38% 16% 2%
Mid-Atlantic 55% 20% 17% 5%
East Central 41% 12% 20% 19%
West Central 44% 18% 20% 4%
South 35% 31% 26% 4%
Mountain 43% 22% 21% 5%
Pacific 39% 27% 12% 4%
3606

March 21 set for world premiere of Chaplin as Mann Act defendant

Not guilty, he says, on two counts; faces others
By Frederick C. Othman, United Press staff writer

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3607

Newspaper’s role in field of radio held ‘untainted’

Instances of pressure, bickering, favoritism found, but no damaging overall case is uncovered by the FCC
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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3608

What’s in a name –
Lt. Goldstein comes to life as Lt. Grant

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3609

The great ‘whish mystery –
Snyder coast-to-coast flight baffles capital

Army says it wasn’t their plane, and TWA reveals their craft just aren’t that fast

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3610

Union accused of placing curb on production

Former UAW-CIO officer bares gambling and time waste

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3611

U.S. fighters set record: 100 victories in 83 days

Fliers in Col. Howard’s Mustang group are deadly serious in their work in European skies

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Rear admiral dies

Palo Alto, California – (Feb. 26)
RAdm. Charles Conway Hartigan, 62, holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor, died here yesterday following a long illness which began when he suffered a heart attack in his office in Washington Dec. 7, 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Congressional Medal following the Veracruz campaign in 1914.

3612

Villard urges kindly policy towards Reich

Exact opposite of Versailles Treaty endorsed by journalist

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3613

americavotes1944

Dewey urges firm Congress

Ominous trend is seen in current fight

Albany, New York (UP) – (Feb. 26)
Governor Thomas E. Dewey warned today that the “very existence” of Congress is at stake.

In a letter to William S. Bennet, New York City Republican who will seek the 21st Congressional seat at a special election next Tuesday, Mr. Dewey said:

Now, if ever, Congress needs all the strength it can obtain. No citizen can fail to reach the conclusion after reading the ominous trend in the news of the fight against Congress, that its very existence, its very function in the plan of American constitutional government, is at stake.

The Governor endorsed Bennet, a former representative, and expressed hope he would be elected.

Mr. Dewey wrote:

This is the time when it is the duty of the citizens to send experienced and capable legislators to the halls of Congress.

I wish you well in the election.

Conference called on Palestine issue

Washington (UP) – (Feb. 26)
Senator Robert F. Wagner (D-NY), chairman of the American Palestine Committee, announced today that a conference will be held here March 9 “to mobilize American Christian sentiment” in favor of resettling Nazi-persecuted Jews in Palestine.

The conference, Mr. Wagner said, will discuss problems “created by 10 years of Nazi persecution and by the virtual closing of the doors of Palestine by the British White Paper of 1939” which calls for cessation of Jewish entry into Palestine after March 31.

Mr. Wagner said this country was pledged to establishment of a national Jewish home in Palestine by a joint resolution adopted by Congress in 1922.

He added:

The policy of unrestricted entry of Jews into Palestine has been endorsed by every administration up to and including the present administration.

3614

americavotes1944

Roosevelt’s pleas to voting masses arouse Congress

President adept at blaming Senate and House for failure of his programs; ‘clever strategy’ deplored
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Washington – (Feb. 26)
The noisy fanfare over the personal clash between President Roosevelt and Senate Democratic Leader Alben Barkley, all done with Klieg-light dramatics, has submerged the underlying political strategy which has governed Mr. Roosevelt.

The tax bill veto, with its accompanying sharp message which provoked Senator Barkley’s act, was only one phase.

A definite pattern emerges from a series of events beginning with the President’s message to Congress in January which all add up to strengthening him with the mass of voters who have contributed the chief support in the three previous triumphs.

It also represents a shift of presidential attention from the foreign field which has hitherto engrossed him to the somewhat-neglected field of domestic affairs upon which Republicans have concentrated.

Roosevelt’s groundwork

Mr. Roosevelt laid the ground for his attack in his annual message by calling upon Congress for certain specific measures, among them, a national service act, a simple federal ballot for soldier voting, continuation of subsidies to keep down the price of food, an adequate tax bill to raise $10 billion

His apparent idea was to make the record for himself and, when Congress failed to come through, to call that to the attention of the people repeatedly, blaming Congress, and thus setting himself up against Congress with the people.

Already he has been able to exploit some of the issues. Undoubtedly, they will bob up later, even into the campaign.

Could accuse Congress

If prices should go up, if inflation should set in, of there should be strikes and manpower troubles – then he can point back to his program and charge Congress with responsibility.

It’s not all as simple as that but a President has a sounding board not enjoyed to the same degree by Congress, and he can simplify issues, because he speaks with a single voice while Congress often resembles a meaningless babble.

Mr. Roosevelt seemingly has lost some labor support. Also, Republicans are trying to lure back the Negro vote, a decisive factor in big Eastern and Midwestern states.

Called a ‘fraud’

The President made capital with both pf these groups, as well as with families of soldiers by calling the state ballot bill passed originally by Congress, with Republican and Southern Democratic support, a “fraud.” It would disenfranchise Negro soldiers in many Southern states.

He appealed to consumers generally, to labor and white-collar workers, in his veto of the bill which would ban food subsidies, calling the bill “an inflation measure, a higher-cost-of-living measure, a food-shortage measure.”

And, in that tax bill, he pleased labor with his veto because of the provision requiring labor unions to report to the Internal Revenue Bureau the source of their income, though he omitted any mention of this provision in his veto message. His praise describing the bill as “a relief bill providing not for the needy but for the greedy” was also designed for mass consumption.

Tactics deplored

His decision becomes clear.

It is clear, too, to members of Congress, clear and offensive, even to some who have followed his program through the years. They now deplore his tactics because of the critical period and the need for unity. One such expressed himself thus:

It’s very clever strategy. He gets the country to the point where it thinks every member of Congress comes in every morning, weighs his mail to see how he will vote that day, gets a free shave, a free whisky sour–

He threw up his hands.

But is that the kind of strategy to employ when the country is in a war and needs unity, and is that the kind of strategy that’s going to be helpful after the war in getting measures of international cooperation through the Senate, and in getting post-war domestic measures approved by Congress?

I don’t think so, and lots of others don’t think so.

3615

americavotes1944

In Washington –
Federal vote for soldiers appears dead

Conferees show weariness after 7 meetings on once-hot issue

Washington (UP) – (Feb. 26)
Chances for the enactment of new federal soldier-vote legislation today appeared to be virtually nil.

After each meeting of the Senate-House conference on the measure, members indicate an increasing weariness with the whole issue, which scarcely a month ago was the hottest in Washington. Their attitude suggests that delay and disinterest may yet put the quietus on all federal ballot plans.

The conferees broke up yesterday for the weekend. In the words of Chairman Theodore F. Green (D-RI) of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, conferees will “retire and pray for guidance” on the future course of their deliberations, which by now have comprised seven meetings stretching into their third week.

The latest proposal the conferees will consider over the weekend was suggested yesterday by Reps. Herbert C. Bonner (D-NC) and Karl M. LeCompte (R-IA). It would provide a federal ballot for all soldiers who had applied for a state absentee ballot and had not received it by Oct. 1 – providing their states had agreed to accept the federal ballot.

The state-certification provision is opposed by the Senate conferees, who have consistently maintained the federal ballot should be accepted if voted by the soldier, regardless of whether or not it conforms to state law.

3616

americavotes1944

Democrats willing to end their fight with Roosevelt

Era of good feeling may result if both sides profit by week’s lessons

Washington (UP) – (Feb. 26)
Congressional Democrats believed tonight that an “era of good feeling” may be in prospect between President Roosevelt and his party colleagues in the House and Senate if both sides profit by this week’s lessons.

If the President adopts a more conciliatory attitude – if there are no more White House blasts charging legislative fraud and bad faith – if Mr. Roosevelt will work more closely with Congress on war and post-war programs, the recent exchange of blow may prove beneficial in the long run to all involved, many observers believed.

Willing to end row

Democratic legislators appeared willing, now that they have proclaimed their independence, to make peace with the President. And his message to Senate Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley last Wednesday appeared to indicate belated realization on the President’s part that the tone of his tax bill veto message was unpalatably tart.

There appeared little doubt, however, that Mr. Roosevelt – having taken one major beating when Congress overrode his veto of the tax bill – must swallow at least one more cup of defeat before getting back on an even keel with Congress.

Soldier vote bill

Congress still has a score to settle with him on the soldier-vote bill, and the odds are that it will settle the score by refusing to enact any form of the administration-supported federal ballot measure.

It was the “states’ rights” ballot bill passed by the House which touched off the showdown battle climaxed this week with Congressional enactment of the tax bill. Mr. Roosevelt called the House measure, banning federal machinery for conducting balloting among service personnel, a “fraud.”

The Senate subsequently squeezed through a compromise measure, providing for limited use of a federal ballot, but House and Senate conferees have since been unable to reach an agreement. The result probably will be no bill at all.

Two factors faced

For the future, however, there was reason to believe that efforts will be made to heal the breach and bring about peace between the President and the Congressional majority. Uppermost in Congressional minds was realization that:

  • This is a campaign year, and Mr. Roosevelt is admittedly the party’s strongest possible candidate for President, despite whatever liability there may be in the fact that he will be seeking a fourth term.

  • Wartime cleavage between the President and Congress can only be harmful to the nation, and could be disastrous.

3617

CANDIDLY SPEAKING —
Sacrifice and faith

By Maxine Garrison

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3618

GE considers buying plants built for U.S.

Swope: Purchase price of $100 million is too high

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3619

Revolt on tax bill aids rise in stock list

Rail average hits 7-year high, utility since 1940
By Elmer C. Walzer, United Press financial editor

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