Ex-U.S. payrollers with PAC named
15 subject to Hatch Act investigation
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Carolina storm moves westward
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Pegler: Dewey in Springfield
By Westbrook Pegler
Springfield, Illinois –
In the hearing of about a thousand men and women and some Whitcomb Riley types of Midwestern boys and girls, most of them carrying small political placards on sticks, Tom Dewey intimated on his arrival in Springfield yesterday that his journey from New York to St. Louis for a conference of 26 Republican governors is, in fact, a campaign trip.
He said he and Illinois Governor Dwight Green, who met him at the railroad station, were engaged in a great campaign, a continuation of their war on gangsters in which both took part 14 years ago.
This was a reference to Green’s prosecution of Al Capone which condemned Capone to long, pensive years in Alcatraz and to continuing oblivion in Miami, and his own attacks in New York on the underworld alliance of Tammany and the racketeers of unionism.
Up to this point, the Dewey party had preferred to pretend that he was not campaigning just yet but only conferring with other leaders of the Republican Party. It is a fine point but he did campaign today, both in his small oration to the crowd at the station and in the press conference at the Executive Mansion.
This, incidentally, is a large and remarkably tasty house which markedly excels the equally large but monstrous old heap in Albany which, nevertheless, has served four New York governors, to date, as a prep school for the White House.
Mr. Dewey’s precise mind apparently has it that a campaign doesn’t begin until the nominee actually starts throwing volleys of lefts and rights to the face and body in prepared speeches. In that sense, he is still doing calisthenics and working out on the heavy bag in the gym, for he refused to elaborate on his reference to the continuing war on gangsters, just now.
Will open up at the bell
This may be taken as an intimation, however, that when the seconds are out of the corners and the bell rings, he will tear into Franklin D. Roosevelt as the protector of some of the foulest criminals of the age who, in turn, in this contest, are supporting Mr. Roosevelt both financially, out of the colossal treasuries, which he helped them to amass, and, politically, through the organizations which, in the guise of labor’s gains, he helped them to create.
The mention of gangsters and the continuation of the old war against them refers to the legal protectorate which was maintained for highway robbers of the criminal underworld of unionism, when Congress tried to pass laws against union racketeering, and to the late Lepke Buchalter, whose field of operations was that section of the New York needle trades dominated by Sidney Hillman.
Mr. Hillman, the boss of the CIO-Communist Political Action Committee, is politically and personally in Roosevelt company, and Dewey is thoroughly acquainted with the career and associations of Lepke, whom he once prosecuted for extortion. And he has neither awe of nor illusions about Roosevelt as a machine politician.
Mr. Roosevelt will not come into the ring as Commander-in-Chief in this phase of the campaign, but as one who befriended the oppressors and dictators of the labor movement on a quid pro quo understanding which reduced labor to helplessness.
Will stress private jobs
Mr. Dewey’s themes apparently will be jobs under private enterprise when peace comes, as distinguished from public employment at dole wages, and the exploitation of the worker by subsidiaries of Roosevelt’s party through racketeers and manipulators in the unions. He has returned to the thought, first expressed in his acceptance speech in Chicago, that until the war created millions of jobs at public expense, Roosevelt’s only solution for the unemployment of 10 million workers had been government-made work projects.
Wendell Willkie refused the issue four years ago but this year, for the first time, the subject of real jobs and law-abiding unionism, all for the benefit of labor, itself, is coming to challenge.
Frank Simpson, a Negro employed in the Governor’s office in Albany, is a member of Dewey’s staff on this trip. As the party drove to Abraham Lincoln’s tomb this afternoon, he remarked gravely that this pilgrimage stirred in him feelings which he could not well express. His grandfather came North with Gen. Sheridan.
He was invited to join the party entering the tomb of the man whom he reverently regards as his emancipator and was shocked to hear that, back in the ‘70s, after Lincoln had been moved 20 times from one more or less temporary resting place to another, a gang of criminals tried to snatch the body, intending to hold it for $200,000 ransom. That was why now it was encased in solid concrete and steel, deep in the ground.
On the way to the tomb, Simpson, who sees Tom Dewey every day, very full of his feelings, heard two little boys playing near the cemetery. One of them yelled to the other: “Did you see Tom Dewey? I saw him good.”
Political action boomerang –
Now they say CIO ballyhoo did most to bump Wallace
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Washington –
The big ballyhoo of the CIO Political Action Committee in Chicago did more to bump Vice President Wallace off the Democratic ticket than any other thing, many Democrats and labor representatives here believe.
Convention chairman Senator Samuel Jackson (D-IN), answering the criticism of Mr. Wallace might have been put over by the PAC demonstrators had he not adjourned the convention session July 20, summed up the Democratic viewpoint:
There was no favoritism shown in adjourning at that time. Senator Guffey (D-PA), a Wallace manager, urged me to do so. Had we remained in session, the demonstrators might have gotten out of hand, but the result would have been just the same.
CIO dictation refused
I am convinced the Democratic Party was determined not to take the Vice President against after that showing. Many felt it would mean that the CIO had taken over the part, and they would never stand for that.
Perhaps President Roosevelt’s dictation of a Wallace nomination might have won out, but the party refused to accept such dictation from the CIO.
Senator Jackson conceded that when he was selected as permanent chairman he had the definite view if not the understanding, that Vice President Wallace would not be put in second place on the ticket again.
Poor impression noted
Martin Miller, legislative representative of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, expressed a similar viewpoint about Mr. Wallace and the CIO.
Mr. Miller said:
The convention was poorly handled, so far as making a good impression on the country.
But it soon became obvious that the one determination of the majority of the delegates was that they were not going to be dictated to or dominated by the CIO. That was why Wallace couldn’t win, despite the demonstrators.
Editorial: The Republican danger
One specific and practical result which most observers saw in Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s visit here this week was the substantial unity among Republicans.
Everybody knows the Republicans are not all of a mind on the issues of the day, on campaign methods, on governmental administration or on any other subject.
Some of them are as far apart as the poles as far apart, for instance, as the CIO Political Action Committee and the Southern “bourbons” in the Democratic Party.
Nobody expects them to get together on any given question, and it probably would be an unhealthy thing if they did. But it is a wholesome situation when they can, for the nonce, shelve some of their personal grudges, pet schemes, ambitions and philosophies in the interest of a greater objective.
In this year’s elections, there are only two choices for President – Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Dewey.
You’ve got to take one or the other. That’s our American system. And when you take Mr. Roosevelt, you take him with all his faults and peculiarities, whatever may be your opinion of any one of them. You take the whole.
It is the same with Mr. Dewey. Lots of people who may vote for the Republican nominee may disagree with many of the things he has done, will do or may stand for. But they will have to weigh him, his policies and record of the present Washington administration, as a whole.
So, there isn’t any point in professional Republican politicians bickering among themselves over leadership, local policies, patronage or any other matter. Either they are for Mr. Dewey or they are against him. In either case, nothing else, for purposes of the election campaign, can count for very much.
Mr. Dewey, by his conduct immediately after the Republican Convention, and by his conferences here Monday, seems to have instilled the idea concretely among Republican organization workers. For the moment, he has broken the moorings of petty factionalism – at least on the surface.
This will help the party and, more important, it will help the voters see the issues of the campaign in a clearer light – uncluttered by internal quarrels and scuffles.
Mr. Dewey also impressed the Republicans and others who saw him with the idea that it is he who is the candidate. He displayed a willingness to hear all sides, to listen to all arguments, but at the same time made it eminently clear that it is he who will weld the decisive policy, he who will assume the responsibility.
The clearer that picture becomes, the better it will be for Mr. Dewey – and for the Republican ticket.
For there are conspicuous affiliates of the Republican Party whose philosophies are retrogressive, whose influence, if given free rein, is a liability. The less the evidence that these back numbers can speak for the nominee and his ticket, the more confidence the candidate and his running mates will receive and earn from the public.
No candidate for major office can be responsible for the conduct of all of his support. But he can minimize the significance of that support if he demonstrates, as Mr. Dewey seems to be doing, that he can stand on his own feet – that he can lead, and not be led.
How G.I. Bill of Rights works –
Chance for education rates highest among veterans’ benefits
Every man whose schooling was interrupted is entitled to at least one year of study
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
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In Washington –
Nazi defeat likely to cut war cost
Savings of $3 billion this year forecast
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Bombers hit Genoa, Rhône Valley cities
Italy-based aircraft blast transport hubs
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To avoid politics –
Hull to name Republican as his aide
Post will be given to Pennsylvanian
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Col. Robert Brown, ex-editor, killed
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Background of news –
The equal rights plank
By Bertram Benedict
The 1944 Democratic Convention caused surprised by following the lead of the Republican Convention and coming out for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. This action was taken in spite of the opposition of Secretary of Labor Perkins. Mrs. Roosevelt has also long opposed an Equal Rights Amendment. In 1940, the Republican accepted, the Democrats rejected, a plank for an Equal Rights Amendment.
The advocates of an Equal Rights Amendment are led by the National Woman’s Party. This group insists that special protective laws for women make it harder for many women to get jobs. It calls such laws unnecessary in this day and generation, and maintains that by discriminating against women they deprive them of their full rights as citizens.
The opposition is led by the Women’s Trade Union League, supported by the AFL, the CIO and many social welfare organizations. This camp argues that legal restrictions on hours, pay and other conditions of employment are still needed to safeguard the health and prevent the economic exploitation of women.
Some privileges suspended
The traditional lines of cleavage between the two schools of thought have been blunted by recent developments. The Wage-Hour Act of 1938 sets up minimum wages for all employees on interstate commerce goods, requires time-and-a-half for hours worked above 40 a week or eight a day. Also, as a result of the war emergency, some states have suspended some or most of their protective legislation for women.
In May 1943, the Senate Judiciary Committee (three Southerners, 15 non-Southerners) reported favorably on an Equal Rights Amendment, but in the following October, the House Judiciary Committee (nine Southerners, 18 non-Southerners) voted 15–11 against the proposal.
By adopting equal rights and equal pay planks, also by giving women an equal number of seats with men on the platform committees of the national conventions, both parties have testified to the importance of the women’s vote in the 1944 elections.
In the years immediately following the ratification pf the federal woman-suffrage amendment in 1920, studies were made in various localities of how women were using their new right. The studies agreed that more women than men were keeping away from the polling booths. Women were timid, or they didn’t believe in voting, or their husbands or fathers didn’t want them to vote.
The studies also agreed that these deterrents affected older rather than the younger women, also that more women would vote as they became more accustomed to the idea. Nevertheless, even the Prohibition issue failed to bring as many women as men to the polls.
More women may vote
In view of war casualty lists and of difficulties in the way of soldier voting, it is possible that more women than men will vote this November. The Census Bureau reports that as of Jan. 1, 1944, 579,137 more women than men are of voting age – 44,622,806 women, 44,043,669 men (7,860,000 in the Armed Forces).
Great Britain first gave the franchise to women during the last war, in 1917. The voting age for women was put at 30, to prevent women voters from outnumbering men; it was made the same for women and men in 1928. In 1935, the voting lists in England and Wales showed 1,571,000 more females than males.
“Suffragists” 25 or 30 years ago predicted that votes for women would prove a wholesome force in American politics, but whatever data exist indicate that women tend to vote about the same way as men.
Völkischer Beobachter (August 3, 1944)
Die Lage auf den Kriegsschauplätzen
vb. Berlin, 2, August –
In der Normandie gehen ununterbrochen die heftigen Kämpfe weiter. Die Nordamerikaner haben südlich von Avranches den Raum zwischen Brécey (am Seefluß) und Pontaubault erreicht. Pontaubault ist insofern ein bemerkenswerter Punkt, als sich hier die Westküste der Halbinsel Cotentin mit der allgemeinen atlantischen Küste schneidet. Ein Vordringen über diesen Punkt hinaus würde der amerikanischen ersten Armee des Generals Bradley also die Möglichkeit geben, endlich die Gesamtfront der Heeresgruppe Montgomery über die bisherigen hundert Kilometer hinaus zu verbreitern und dadurch, eine größere Operationsfreiheit als bisher zu gewinnen. Dennoch ist wahrscheinlich, daß Bradley und Montgomery auch mit einiger Sorge auf diesen Teil der Front blicken. In der Mitte hängen die Invasionstruppen immer noch zurück, bei Tessy und Percy haben sich die Truppen Montgomerys sogar häufig und mühsam heftiger Angriffe zu erwehren, die Gelände gewonnen, haben. Hier sind verschiedentlich die Angreifer zu ihrer Verblüffung in die Rolle des Verteidigers geraten. Damit hat aber die linke Flanke der südlich Avranches vorstoßenden amerikanischen Truppen eine große Empfindlichkeit erhalten. Die gegnerische Führung muß also die Betrachtung des schmalen Stoßteils südlich von Avranches besonders sorgfältig mit einer Würdigung der Vorgänge in der Mitte verbinden.
Schon wegen der möglichen Gefährdung für seinen äußersten westlichen Flügel ist es wahrscheinlich, daß der General Montgomery auf eine Ausdehnung und Verstärkung der Offensive an den übrigen Frontteilen nicht verzichten kann. Insbesondere gilt das für den östlichen Flügel. Das schwere Trommelfeuer vom Dienstag konnte als Vorbereitung zur Wiederaufnahme der in der vergangenen Woche gescheiterten Offensive der englischen zweiten Armee bei Caen angesehen werden. Heftige Angriffe sind diesem Trommelfeuer gefolgt. Ob sie fortgeführt und mit noch größerer Wucht betrieben werden, müssen die nächsten Tage zeigen.
Im Osten hat es sich in den letzten Tagen gezeigt, daß die Sowjets einige übertriebene Hoffnungen haben zurückschrauben müssen. Aus den Kreisen des Kreml war angedeutet worden daß man Warschau in einem einzigen Angriffschwung der Armee Rokkossowsky nehmen werde. Tatsächlich hat Rokkossowsky das auch versucht. Plötzlich gegen seine Angriffsspitzen vorbrechenden Verbände der Deutschen haben ihn aber belehrt, daß er seine Kraft überschätzt hatte. Vermutlich wird er jetzt versuchen, neue Verbände zum Sturm auf Warschau bereitzustellen.
Auch weiter im Süden ist der Armee Konjew ein weiteres Vordringen über die Gegend von Reichshof hinaus, die bereits in der vergangenen Woche erreicht war, nicht mehr gelungen. Schließlich sind die Sowjets auch beim Angriff auf den Beskidenpass zurückgeschlagen würden. Nur im Norden der Gesamtfront haben sie in den letzten Tagen weiter vordringen können. Auf dem Westufer der Memel hat sich der sowjetische Druck im Vorfeld Ostpreußens verstärkt. Dagegen haben die Gegner in Lettland Birsen wieder verloren. Der Ehrgeiz sozusagen, auf den Spuren Guderians nach dem Vorbild von Abbeville zum Meer zu rasen, ist offenbar schwerer zu erfüllen, als es sich der Panzergeneral Bagramjan erträumt hat.
Kraftwagenunfall Rommels
Der Generalfeldmarschall außer Lebensgefahr
dnb. Berlin, 2. August –
Generalfeldmarschall Rommel ist am 17. Juli in Frankreich infolge eines Luftangriffs mit dem Kraftwagen verunglückt, wobei er Verletzungen und eine Gehirnerschütterung davontrug. Sein Befinden ist befriedigend. Lebensgefahr besteht nicht.