Edson: Labor adjustment biggest post-war problem we face
By Peter Edson
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Background of news –
New Dealers woo Farley
By George Van Slyke, North American Newspaper Alliance
New York –
President Roosevelt’s bid for a truce with the conservative branch of the Democratic Party marks a complete reversal of the politics of his two preceding national campaigns and is accepted today by leaders in both the New Deal and right-wing camps as confession of concern over the fourth-term candidacy.
If the White House were not alarmed over the deep split in the party ranks, it is regarded as certain that the national committee dominated completely by the President would not have about-faced in its sessions Jan. 22 in Washington and made its amazing appeal to James A. Farley to forget the past and come back home.
For the first time since the long battle was waged through the President’s second term to purge the Supreme Court and old-line Democratic Senators and Congressmen has Mr. Roosevelt made such a move for harmony.
Party unity deemed essential
Second only in political importance to the formal launching of the fourth-term campaign six months in advance of the original White House schedule, the overture to Mr. Farley as head and front of the anti-fourth-term candidacy is the most significant move so far made by the New Dealers.
Following Mr. Farley’s battle against the third term in the 1940 convention, he fell into disfavor with the President and New Deal politicians and was dropped without ceremony or apology.
It has been an open secret for the last year that Mr. Farley was the driving power behind the anti-New Deal campaign against a fourth term. Now that the campaign is actually underway, the fourth-term managers have recognized that Mr. Roosevelt must have a unanimous party behind him in the 1944 election if he is to overcome the losses he had sustained on the home front in the last four years.
This is the first definite move initiated by New Dealers in more than six years to bridge the old party split, most serious in the Democratic ranks since the Prohibition fight in the 1928 campaign with Al Smith as the nominee.
Post-election brushoff expected
Judging from all surface indications, the old party chiefs with the exception of the Hague-Flynn-Kelly combination are distinctly cool to the New Deal overture. Evidently, they regard it as a mere gesture which would hold through the campaign this year by […] Mr. Roosevelt’s candidacy and the New Deal bosses and then collapse and […] further assurance on that subject.
Mr. Farley has made no comment on the action of the Democrats in lauding him to the skies as their greatest leader. It has not been possible to reach him for comment which in itself is unusual as he is as a rule approachable on any political subject.
He is leaving in a few days for a six weeks’ business trip across the country and his office has stated it was to be strictly a business tour. However, it will not be surprising if the Democrats flock around to see him in every state he enters.
Reports of steel plant closing to be probed
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3-point plan advanced for Nazi economy
Allied control over German fiscal policy urged after war
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Millett: Baby has right to mothering
Substitute caretaker is unfair to infant who must come first
By Ruth Millett
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Pegler: Dewey campaign
By Westbrook Pegler
Albany, New York –
Quite a lot of trained observers, as reporters are sometimes called, will be dropping into Albany between now and June to take looks at Tom Dewey in the role of governor because it looks as though he will be the Republican nominee against his predecessor in the little office on the second floor of the great monstrous heap of a building called the State Capitol of New York. In some ways the situation resembles that of 1932 when Mr. Roosevelt was beginning to get hot and so many of us thought that if we could just have legalized light wine and beer most of our troubles would be solved. Governor Dewey hasn’t said he wants the nomination but neither has he said he will not accept it and you can sure he will because he will have to. How could he refuse?
Suppose then that in the election he wins and Mr. Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt pack up and move back to New York or Hyde Park and the New Deal crowds go swarming out of town in a great exodus. That is not an easy supposition because even Mr. Dewey’s best friends won’t claim that against the Roosevelt organization and the soldier vote which would go to the C-in-C. Mr. Dewey has an even chance.
Something of a job
However, it might happen and in that case, a hard-working, conscientious ambitious young fellow of 42 would be pitched into a career of terrible responsibility, work, worry and heartache.
He would have to take over the presidency of an enormous nation in this awful war and replace thousands of New Deal people with his own, keep the war running to victory, get acquainted with Churchill, or Eden and Stalin, clean up the labor mess, stand off inflation, and finally, make a beginning at least in the appalling problem of bringing the fighters home from Europe, if not from Asia, India and the South Pacific, and easing them back into jobs, not on public payrolls but in private industry in such a way as to stand off commotions.
It is not a job that any honest man would court out of vanity or an ambition to be historic or for any other motive but a deep desire to serve his country and his people.
A gleaming, black eye
Mr. Dewey is campaigning, if you care to say so, by keeping right on top of his job as governor and turning in a remarkably fine performance, getting along well with politicians and others, running a good state and just doing his work. He always ran a good office as District Attorney in New York where he and his staff were an enthusiastic team very little bothered by jealously or friction and the only had press he received was traceable to personal dislike of him because he has a way of putting the eye on you with those gleaming back orbs which seem almost to pop when he gets enthusiastic or mad, or because he was inclined to be cocky as, indeed, he was, being a young fellow and very smart and full of success.
He is less cocky now and thoroughly mature and he offers remarks that government is a profession requiring experience and great, constant application, which hasn’t meant to me he was trying to improve himself in the art of government for the purpose of returning to private law practice. Young fellows who come in from the country and make good spectacularly in New York are inclined to throw weight about but if that was one of Mr. Dewey’s faults when he was throwing the New York racketeers and some of the toughest of the lowdown politicians into Sing Sing, he is grown up now.
It’s different now
I believe he would have been mangled if he, instead of Willkie, had been nominated in 1940 not only because he was still a little green but because the people would have shied away from the idea of a 40-year-old President, with the war turning up our street.
But at 42, Mr. Dewey has served a trick as governor of a state of tremendous interests and problems and all with a sure, confident hand and no faltering and has shown a disposition and the ability to reduce taxes and prevent squandering and to treat the people as citizens, not wards of the state or subjects of a ruler.
That soldier vote will be a great handicap, though. They don’t know him, they live from day to day in misery and doubt and it is natural to suppose that they will vote for the commander-in-chief, even for a fourth term, provided by November the war still goes as well as it does.
Maj. de Seversky: Thunderbolt’s use as bomber indicates engine changes increased horsepower
By Maj. Alexander P. de Seversky
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Discrimination barred
Trenton, New Jersey –
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Negro children cannot be assigned to schools exclusively for Negro students when there are other public schools offering similar class work nearer their homes.
Völkischer Beobachter (February 2, 1944)
So stellen sich die US-Gangster den ‚Frieden‘ vor –
Sie wollen auch Japan auslöschen
100 Millionen Japaner sollen in einer ‚Volksrepublik‘ ohne Industrie und Handelsflotte verhungern
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Die Kulturbringer sind da!
Negerdivision in Italien
dnb. Stockholm, 1. Februar –
Von einem vorgeschobenen Flugstützpunkt in Italien teilt ein amerikanischer Korrespondent mit, daß die 99. Luftdivision, die ausschließlich aus Negern besteht, einen Bestandteil des 12. Luftkorps bildet, das für den Brückenkopf südlich von Rom den Luftschutz ausübt.
U.S. State Department (February 2, 1944)
702.9411A/88
The Swedish Minister to the Secretary of State
Washington, February 2, 1944
The Minister of Sweden in charge of the Japanese interests in the Territory of Hawaii presents his compliments to the Honorable, the Secretary of State, and has the honor to forward, herewith, copy of a cablegram, dated January 26, 1944, containing a protest from the Japanese Government in reply to the notes of the Department of State of September 8 and 9, 1943, concerning the treatment of the personnel of the former Japanese Consulate General in Honolulu after the outbreak of the war in December 1941.
No. 153/4–T–V [Enclosure]Cablegram addressed to the Swedish Legation, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Stockholm, January 26, 1944 B-7Your B-48 last year.
Please transmit to American Government following protest of Japanese Government dated January 21, 1944.
Japanese Government have received notes of United States Government dated 8th and 9th September, 1943, in reply to Japanese protest regarding maltreatment accorded by United States authorities to Japanese Consul-General at Honolulu and his staff.
Japanese protest is based upon facts. Various injustices and hardships which were actually experienced by Kita and his staff have been pointed out in Japanese note. Though American reply says that “careful consideration has been given to Japanese protest,” it consists of mere denials, and no satisfactory explanation of matters raised in protest is given. It may be either that American officials who were in charge of group did not report full facts to Government or that they made a wilful misrepresentation in order to conceal their misbehaviour.
Japanese Government invite United States Government to give reconsideration to, and make reinvestigation of, following matters.
PRIMO. It is stated in American reply that “Mr. Kita later expressed his appreciation for considerate treatment he and his staff had received.” This apparently refers to fact that, when on day of outbreak of hostilities Mr. Gabrielson, Chief of Honolulu police force, came and intimated to Kita that in view of seriousness of situation he was sending a squad of policemen to protect Consulate-General, Consul-General said that he had no objection to such steps being taken. But American reply makes no mention of unwarrantable conduct of eight or nine armed officials who soon after noon of same day forced their way into Consulate buildings, placed Consul-General and his staff under restraint, searched, and took away their belongings.
The treatment given by American authorities to Japanese Consul-General at Honolulu and his staff may be divided into following several periods, namely, (A) December 7, 1941, (B) from December 8, 1941, till January 21, 1942, inclusive period during which Japanese Consul-General and his staff were detained in offices of Consulate-General, (C) from January 21 till February 8, 1942, inclusive period during which they were detained in official residence of Consul-General, (D) during their transport from Honolulu to American Continent, (E) during their detention in Arizona on and from February 10, 1942, (F) from time of their departure from Arizona till their embarkation on exchange ship. Treatment given them during one of these periods differs from that of during another, and American reply only refers to such periods as are most favourable to American contention. Kita, when he visited Col. Green on December 29, 1941, protested against treatment which he and his staff had received since December 7, and demanded their release from custody and return of their belongings which had been taken away. They did not receive any “considerate treatment,” and therefore Kita could not have “expressed his appreciation.” It is a grossly irresponsible statement on part of Honolulu authorities to say that Kita “acknowledged fact that Consulate-General was under protective custody in view of outbreak of hostilities.” Personal liberty of Japanese Consul-General was unduly restrained and his person was searched and his belongings were seized. How could he acknowledge that as a protective custody.
SEOUNDO. American reply says “it has been ascertained that no threats or force were used in any case.” But as has already been fully described in Japanese protest of December 1942, a party of armed officials who rushed into Japanese Consulate-General soon after noon of December 7, 1941, encircled members of Consulate-General, threatened them, made them take off even their underclothing, seized their purses, keys, cigarette-lighters, etc., and thrust them into a corner of a room. During several hours during which they were detained there, loaded rifles were laid on desk with muzzles pointing at their chests, and American officials, now and then putting their hands on grips of guns, threatened and derided them. Upon their request, position of weapons was at one time altered, but they were soon returned to their original position. Such threatening affronts were repeated till morning of December 8. Nothing would be farther from truth than to say that “not [no] threat or force were used in any case” or “at no time were any guns intentionally pointed at members of Consulate-General.”
TERTIO. As has been said before, all keys in possession of Consul-General and members of his staff were taken away on December 7. But a few days later Captain Van Kuren demanded of Consul-General surrender of key of door of cable room. Consul-General replied that key was among things which had been taken away, whereupon Captain Van Kuren ordered his men to break open door and entered room. Misrepresenting this course of events American reply says, “Mr. Kita gave his assent to breaking of panels of doors in order to obtain keys.” The American officials did not demand key of steel cabinet (which also they had taken away among other things), but American reply says, “a locked steel cabinet was forced as there were no available keys to open it.” American officials destroyed cable room door and steel cabinet without obtaining consent of Consul-General.
QUARTO. As regards loss of money and other property belonging to members of Consulate-General, American reply says that no trace of them has been found, and that it has been determined that none of missing articles were taken by police authorities. But loss of money and other articles belonging to Seki, Chancellor, took place in upstair-room of Consulate-General while all members of Consulate were kept in custody and not allowed to stir a step. It is admitted by American police authorities that they allowed no other persons to enter Consulate-General. On other hand they freely came in and out of building, carried away books and stationery, and consumed cake and sweets which were there. Therefore police authorities are only persons who can be held responsible for missing articles. When Kita suspected the police authorities of stealing things from house of Tsukikawa, Chancellor, Captain Van Kuren admitted its possibility.
QUINTO. American reply asserts that Consul-General and members of his staff “lived almost normal life.” But on December 7, 1941, Honolulu authorities were so excited that their behaviour became most erratic. They did not allow Consul-General and his staff any sleep. They did not allow them to use lavatory, but made them do their needs on lawn, while they watched them and pointed rifles at them. Even Mrs. Seki was not allowed to use lavatory that night, and on account of showery cold weather she had to refrain from doing her needs till 8 o’clock next morning. On night of 8th and 9th she was forced to sleep among male members of group on a mattress laid on office floor. On December 10 they were allowed to sleep in beds which had been carried into two rooms of official residence on second floor of office building. But from then till January 21, 1942, not only male members of Consulate-General but also Mrs. Seki and Ozaki, chauffeur, were detained in office rooms of Consulate-General, and except for a short time daily for exercise accorded at request of detained persons, they were not allowed to go out into garden. When Mrs. Seki went upstairs in order to change her dress or have a bath, she was followed by a police officer with a revolver in his hand. Such is anything but a “normal life.” American reply makes a clearly false statement when it says, “at no time was anyone forbidden use of sanitary facilities or embarrassed in this connection.”
SEXTO. Members of Consulate-General and Mrs. Seki, who were detained in office building from about noon on December 7, were not allowed to have lunch until after 3 o’clock in afternoon, when they were allowed to have some sandwiches and milk which were bought through intermediary of policemen. They spent evening in porch exposed to showers, and only at midnight could they appease their hunger with some riceballs carried from Kita’s official residence. It is absolutely untrue to say that “members even on first day of hostilities were served by a Japanese maid best food available on Island.”
SEPTO. Consul-General and members of his staff were given a promise that they would be allowed to purchase necessary commodities when leaving for continent, but Captain Van Kuren totally refused to carry out this promise except as regards Consul-General. American reply again states a falsehood when it says that “there was no restriction on amount of available clothing and luggage which could be purchased other than space permitted on vessel.”
OCTAVO. When on February 8, 1942, Consul-General and members of his staff were put on board ship for transport to West Coast of American Continent, their luggage was examined and their persons searched by American naval officers in a most strict manner. They were made half naked, and persons of women were searched in such a contemptuous manner that decency forbids to describe it. It is contended that search was deemed by Captain of vessel to be necessary in interest of safety of vessel and its passengers. But what was actually done was clearly beyond limits of necessity. It is far from truth to say that search “was conducted with due regard to modesty of individuals.” Japanese Government once more express their desire that United States Government furnish them with a conscientious unequivocal reply to each of foregoing paragraphs.
Japanese Government expect that United States Government will also reply to Japanese protest regarding treatment accorded by American authorities to Japanese residents in Hawaii.
Japanese Government wish to add that they have received a report from Japanese subjects who were repatriated through second Japanese-American exchange regarding ill-treatment of Japanese residents in Hawaii. According to this report, Japanese residents in Hawaii who were detained in said Island immediately after outbreak of hostilities were compulsorily employed by Hawaiian authorities in digging of blind shells, which even guard did not dare to approach. During their transport to continent they were locked up in ship’s bottom, given no water to wash themselves with, and on pretext of shortage of lifeboats they were compelled to bring lifebuoys with them. Japanese Government demand from United States Government an explanation for these various instances of inhuman treatment accorded to Japanese subjects.
U.S. Navy Department (February 2, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 28
Our forces have captured Roi Island.
Landings have been made on Kwajalein and Namur Islands and the action is progressing favorably. On Namur the enemy has been contained in the extreme northern portion of the island, and at Kwajalein our troops are firmly established and are pushing the enemy back.
Continuous bombardments of beaches by our warships, planes, and land-based artillery enabled our forces to make landings on the three principal objectives with little resistance.
We have suffered no naval losses and casualties are very moderate. It is now apparent that the attack took the enemy completely by surprise.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 2, 1944)
YANKS STORM NAVAL BASE, WIN MARSHALLS FOOTHOLD
Stunned Japs begin desperate defense
Marines, soldiers capture 10 beachheads, aided by rain of shells, bombs
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer
New Pacific offensive was launched by U.S. forces with the invasion of the Jap-held Marshall Islands. The first invasion troops went ashore in the Kwajalein Atoll, landing on or near Kwajalein, Roi and Namur Islands (top right inset map). The lower inset map is a closeup of the Marshalls.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii –
Upwards of 30,000 U.S. Marines and Army troops, in a 500-mile amphibious jump along the invasion route to Tokyo, have seized 10 islet beachheads in the Marshalls and begun major assaults on the main strongholds of Kwajalein, Roi and Namur Islands, front dispatches revealed today.
Swarming ashore under the protective fire of the largest naval striking force ever assembled, assault troops quickly established their footholds in the Kwajalein Atoll Monday against light or nonexistent resistance. More than 40 Japs were slain and a number captured, while U.S. casualties were extremely light.
The Japs, stunned and decimated by a record 14,495-ton aerial and naval bombardment, rallied all available forces and began a desperate defense, however, as the Americans turned their full might against the Kwajalein Island naval base at the southern end of the 66-mile-long atoll and the Roi-Namur air base at the northern end.
A Jap communiqué broadcast by the Tokyo radio said Jap troops had counterattacked and “furious fighting is now in progress.”
Scores of guns hauled onto the newly-established islet beachheads joined the 16-inch rifles of America’s newest battleships, other naval artillery and swarms of bombers ion blasting at Kwajalein, Roi and Namur Islands.
Philip E. Reed, representing the combined U.S. press aboard the joint expeditionary flagship, said the furious bombardment churned the palm-hooded coral islands into clouds of dust and great wavering pillars of smoke 1,000 feet high.
The 4th Marine Division under Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt swept ashore on five islets flanking Roi and Namur between 9:51 a.m. and 6:24 p.m. (local time) Monday and the last of the beachheads was reported secured by 8:12 p.m., Robert Trumbull, another correspondent, reported. Virtually the only opposition came from scattered snipers, who were wiped out quickly.
Even as the troops were consolidating their beachheads, artillery, warships and planes continued their pounding of Roi and Namur, and Mr. Trumbull said great explosions marked hits on oil and gasoline dumps. Explosions rumbled like “distant thunder,” he said.
Eighteen Jap planes which attempted to intercept the invasion forces were shot down and 51 more were destroyed on the ground. The main Jap air base for Kwajalein Atoll, the largest lagoon atoll in the world, was situated on Roi, which was connected with supply dumps and other installations on Namur by a narrow causeway and sandbar.
The other five islet beachheads in the atoll were seized by Attu veterans of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division on the approaches to Kwajalein Island, 40 miles south of Roi at one of the two principal entrances to the lagoon anchorages. The 7th was led by Maj. Gen. Charles H. Corlett.
The combined air-sea bombardment had been so effective that not a single enemy plane was sighted during landing operations in the Kwajalein Island area.
Front dispatches indicated that the Marines and Army troops were preparing to hurl everything from flamethrowers to new type weapons never before used in the Pacific against fortifications built by the Japs during the past 20 years to protect Kwajalein Atoll, their greatest naval base east of Truk.
RAdm. Richmond Kelly Turner, commander of amphibious forces, warned that the operation was “going to be tough” and we must expect losses, while other high sources said all evidence argued against any such quick victory as was achieved in the Gilbert Islands, which was conquered in three days last November at the highest cost of lives in Marine history.
Speculation that additional landings may have been made was touched off by the disclosure in yesterday’s communiqué from Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, that the objective of the operation was to capture the entire Marshalls area.
The conquest of Kwajalein alone, the world’s largest lagoon atoll, would give the United States a naval operating base capable of accommodating a huge fleet, and air bases within bombing range of Truk, Japan’s “Pearl Harbor.” It would also advance the United States’ Pacific war timetable by at least six months, qualified naval sources estimated.
Jap counterattacks were expected momentarily, but Adm. Turner told newsmen who accompanied the largest invasion force ever mustered in the Pacific that “we are prepared for any eventuality.”
His words were backed up by the 16-inch guns of some of America’s newest battleships and the massed fire and aerial power of hundreds of other ships in the vast naval armada.
Charles Arnot, United Press correspondent on Adm. Turner’s flagship, said there were “ships as far as the eye can see in any direction.” The number of aircraft carriers participating exceeded even the unprecedented armada which screened the Gilbert invasion.
Twenty-five days of Army and Navy air raids on the Marshalls, climaxed by a combined air and naval bombardment Saturday and Sunday, were believed to have neutralized at least temporarily the enemy’s air arm, but reinforcements were expected to be brought up from islands to the northwest.
Carrier-based planes alone were credited with destroying at least 33 and possibly as many as 123 Jap planes in raids on Taroa and Wotje Islands east of Kwajalein Atoll Saturday and Sunday. Ammunition and supply dumps and airdrome installations were also destroyed. U.S. losses were reported officially to have been “minor.”
It marked the first U.S. invasion of the pre-war Jap Empire.
Wave after wave of assault boats ferried reinforcements of men and supplies shore to strengthen the quickly-seized beachheads. Though there was no official confirmation, it was presumed that artillery and probably tanks were landed in preparation for what was expected to be the toughest campaign yet undertaken by the United States in the Pacific.
Invasion of Marshalls can be ‘main event’
Aboard Amphibious Corps flagship, en route to Marshals – (Jan. 30, delayed)
RAdm. Richmond Kelly turner, commander of the mighty U.S. invasion fleet steaming westward, told correspondents today that the Marshall invasion “could be the main event” of the Pacific War.
Adm. Turner said:
This is our first blow against real Jap territory and Tokyo will be duly alarmed. From the Marshalls we can outrange them, and pin their backs to the wall. Anything can happen now, and we hope it does. We have never been more ready.
Adm. Turner said captured of Kwajalein, principal goal of the Marshalls invaders, would give the United States a huge naval operating base on the road to Tokyo and air bases within bombing range of the strong Jap base at Truk.
The possibility that this move will bring about the long-sought showdown with the Jap fleet was seen by qualified naval officers.
Americans and French rip Nazi line in central Italy
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
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‘The gleaners’ in war –
Packard: Plows dig around bodies on battlefield near Rome
American and German dead clog ditches on bullet-riddled pastoral scene
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
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Army launches Solomons push
Troops expand beachhead on Bougainville
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
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Verbal battle rages –
State curbs barred from soldier vote
Southerner’s amendments killed; Senator assails Roosevelt
By John L. Cutter, United Press staff writer
Washington –
President Roosevelt’s plea to Congress for enactment of soldier-vote legislation embodying a federal ballot was attacked anew in both House and Senate today, but the Upper Chamber beat down a series of amendments designed to make state voting laws paramount in determining validity of service ballots.
Rep. John E. Rankin (D-MS) brought many members of the House to their feet with an impassioned 45-minute speech defending the so-called “states’-rights” soldier vote bill, passed by the Senate and pending in the House. He attacked the new Lucas-Green federal-ballot bill pending in the Senate as a communist-propagandized and unconstitutional measure.
‘Whipping boy’
In the Upper Chamber, Senator John A. Danaher (R-CT) accused Mr. Roosevelt of making Congress a “whipping boy” in attempting to push legislation through to enactment and in what Senator Danaher viewed as the President’s current attempt to persuade voters to elect the kind of Congress he wants.
Senator Danaher declared:
The President has played labor against the Congress, the Executive against the Congress, and now the servicemen against the Congress.
Always it’s the Congress he makes the whipping boy as he says to the American people. “You give me the kind of Congress I want and things will be different.”
‘People waking up’
But the American people are waking up to what’s going on and we Republicans have been picking up a few seats here and there in recent elections.
Rep. Rankin, applauded in the House, charged that the true author of the Lucas-Green-Worley measure was:
…one Herbert Wechsler down in the Justice Department who was a member of the National Lawyers Guild, legal arm of the Communist Party.
The first amendment defeated by the Senate would have provided that the validity of service ballots should be determined “in accordance with state law.” It was rejected 23–60.
It was the first vote on the bill since the Senate began debating it 10 days ago. Introduced by Senator John H. Overton (D-LA), the amendment was one of a series designed to guarantee state control over voting by armed service personnel.
It would have revised the section dealing with the validity of ballots. As written, this section proves that the proposed Federal War Ballot Commission will have no power to pass on the validity of ballot but that this determination shall “be made by the duly constituted election officials of the appropriate districts, precincts, counties, or other voting units of the several states.” The Overton amendment would have required that the validity determination be made “in accordance with state law” by the state voting units.
Second amendment
The Senate also rejected, by voice vote, a second Overton amendment which would have written into the law the stipulation that “qualifications of the voters shall be determined by state law.”
Mr. Overton’s third and last amendment was defeated 16–69. He said it was “aimed at tearing the heart out of sections one and two of the 1942 law.” Sections one and two of the 1942 Soldier Voting Act waived poll tax and registration requirements, notwithstanding any state laws, for soldier and sailor absentee voting for President and members of Congress.
The Senate adopted unanimously without debate an amendment by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI), instructing the Army and Navy to give state ballots the same transmission priorities accorded federal ballots as far as practicable without injury to the war effort.
Doubt as to effect
The Army and Navy said it would be difficult to handle state ballots, so there was doubt as to how much practical effect this amendment would have.
Meanwhile, the House continued to debate the soldier-vote issue in connection with a previous Senate-approved bill calling on the states to facilitate absentee balloting by service personnel. Final House action on the issue appeared unlikely before Thursday or perhaps Friday.