The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 6

NATIONAL WHIRLIGIG 5 BROOKLYN EAGLE, JAN. 31, 1942 Plenty of Room Here for U.S. Offices Forced Out of Capital RAY TUCKER'S LETTER Today in Washington the presidents cf a score of Brooklyn and Manhattan civic and commercial organizations are pressing the claims of this city for some of the governmental administrative offices being transferred out of the national capital because of the growing lack of room there due to the rapidly expanding war agencies. So far New York has been getting the run-around, while Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis have fared exceedingly well.

Being shifted to Philadelphia are agencies with over 4,000 employes. The Railroad Retirement Board, with 1,600 employes, Is scheduled for Chicago, as well as four other agencies with over 1.300 workers. St. Louis is getting the Rural Electrification Administration with 1,100 employes and the Farm Security Administration with 900. The Patent Office, originally scheduled for New York City, has been reassigned to Richmond, Virginia.

We do not know why. As it stands, only two offices have been promised to this city the HOLC and the Wage and Hour Division and there seems to be some doubt as to the certainty of this. Even if they come through this metropolis will be greatly outstripped by the three cities mentioned a situation which does not make sense to us. The convenience of a location here is scarcely debatable. Every imaginable facility is at hand.

Also there is a vast amount of suitable office space immediately available besides living quarters for all employes who might be assigned here. The fact that this city contributes over a billion dollars in taxes to the Federal Government justifies its claim for recognition. We are glad to note that the Brooklyn' Chamber of Commerce, the Brooklyn Real Estate Board and the Downtown Brooklyn Association are represented in the delegation which is today thrashing out the problem with the Senators and Representatives of this State. For this borough Is particularly well fixed with office space and living quarters for such a purpose. We feel sure that our local Congressmen will take a deep interest in this situation as their associates in the Chicago, Philadelphia and St, Louis areas obviously have.

I ll inir STRIKING BACK HEFFERNAN says Pearl Harbor Aftermath Action of the Administration in setting up unified commands in Hawaii and in the Canal Zone will be warmly applauded by the American people. The need for this type of organization In modern war was amply proven long before the United States became a belligerent; notably at Crete. But it remained for the disaster at Pearl Harbor to drive the lesson home. It is clear from the Roberts report that there might have been quite a different story if the Army and Navy had been operating in real unison before December 7, or even if each had known what the other was doing. It is significant that the man chosen for the Canal Zone post is Lt.

Gen. Frank M. Andrews of the Army Air Force and naturally very air-minded. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, new commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, who was put in full charge at Hawaii, Is especially noted as a submarine expert and as one of the foremost strategists in the Navy.

The defense situation in both of these key zones should be immeasurably improved by this common-sense move. Brooklyn's Two New Judges Once again Governor Lehman has chosen well in filling judicial vacancies in Brooklyn. His latest appointees E. Ivan Rubenstein as justice of the Supreme Court and Edward L. Kelly as justice of the City Court were endorsed by the Bar Association and then quickly ratified by the State Senate after many words of praise were uttered by Republicans as well as members of their own party in the upper chamber.

Both of the new jurists, who will take the bench Monday, are recognized as able and successful lawyers. Justice Rubenstein is also known as an authority on the State Constitution and on the election laws, a knowledge which has been most useful to him in his long service as chairman of the Democratic County Law Committee. The Eagle congratulates Supreme Court Justice Rubenstein and City Court Justice Kelly on their new honors. 'I Am Responsible' Hitler says that he is responsible for everything that happened in Russia. But will that easy phrase warm his soldiers freezing in the Russian snows or heal those dying of typhus? The day will come when he will regret that statement, as he must regret the time limit he used to set on victory a time limit he no longer sets.

There Are Many A. E. F's But Churchill Sees Only One FROM WASHINGTON Uncle Sam may provide "free smokes" for his soldiers a a result of the surprising discovery that all tobacco exported to Great Britain for civilian or military use is paid from lend-lease funds. Cigarettes may become as regular an Army-Navy ration as "canned wlllle." The Commodity Credit Corporation recently let a contract for a six hundred thousand dollar order of several mixtures which will be stored at our ports for stocking John Bull's warships upon arrival. In addition to this bargain; London buyers have shown interest in obtaining the finished stuff for use at home but they have withheld a formal request while they win over domestic manufacturers to the idea of gratuitous Yankee competition.

England needs processing plants for manufacture of weapons and she is also short of cash and ships for outright purchases in Turkey, India and Egypt. The requisition will be honored when and if submitted. Under these circumstances Capitol Hill feels that our own men's puffs should be subsidized by the Government. And Southern members smell a neur market for their product. CCC now handles al! these transactions for the United Kingdom, with the exception of Canada.

The British ordinarily keep a two-year supply on hand. But their principal storage facilities are located in a city which suffers severe and periodical bombing. So now they retain only a twelvemonth surplus at home, while the agricultural agency finances and warehouses another year's quota on the Atlantic Coast. Our people insist that these deals will not produce a shortage of fags in this country, although demand is running 20 percent ahead of last year's. Foresighted processors have laid away a three-year reserve based on current requirements.

The Germans may not recognize him when a jaunty figure garbed in midnight-hued overalls and with a cork-blackened face crawls and sprawls across the rocky shores of Norway or Brittany, but he may be their first World War Nemesis and one of our most gallant heroes-Col. William J. Donovan of the "Fighting The scrappy Irishman from Buffalo Is bored with his assignment as Director of Propaganda. His field was narrowed when Nelson A. Rockefeller shut the door of South America to his blandishments and again when Poet Archie MacLeish was delegated by F.

D. R. to Star-Spangled Banner us into an increased warlike mood. Bill wants more furious action. The wearer of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross aches to head the American commandos, who are now training under British-Canadian direction somewhere on this continent.

The colonel has powerful friends pleading his cause with Secretary Stlmson. Bill has a pardonable weakness for military titles and as leader of the Indian-style fighters would be a major The original plan was to endow him with a brigadier general's rank, but Major General Nelson Miles, Army Intelligence Chief, blocked it. The G-2 boss suspected that the newcomer might be given charge of the combined Army-Navy spy system, and he had enough influence to thwart, the scheme. Now the recently promoted Miles will offer no objection. Harold L.

Ickes has another feud on his hands. This time he has tangled with of all agencies to fight the United States Army. The War Department is the most overcrowded structure at the capital. It cannot provide sufficient facilities for feeding the thousands of employes during their half-hour noon period. Distracted officers, privates and clerical workers stand in line almost all that time just to grab a sandwich and a soft drink.

Girl clerks refer to the restaurant as "ulcer gulch." Morale officers proposed construction of a cafeteria on a triangular plot across the street. But it would have meant erection of an unsightly wooden building in front of the palatial Department of the Interior. So Mr, Ickes blocked it. A FACT A DAY ABOUT BROOKLYN The veriatillty of Brooklyn Industry in this war is even more marked than in previous conflicts. At the time of the Civil War Brooklyn was noted for its marine industries, and its principal contribution to that war was the iron-clad Monitor and nine other ships like it.

Increase ingly, during the First World War, Brooklyn branched out into innumerable fields of preparedness effort. But. even then the contracts did not spread to such varieties of industries as in the present conflict. LETTERS TO THE EAGLE No Saving or Benefits Found In All-Year Daylight Saving To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: Thanks to your correspondent for expressing on Jan. 27 my own and others' opinion on the futility of Winter daylight saving.

Our Great and Wise have probably never risen before sunup in their lives; the day Is already bright when their far-seeing eyes are opened and they do not know how "cheerless, dark and deadly'1 all is at 5 of a Winter's morning, which must now spell the hour of doom for the thousands who have been used to luxuriating until 6. There is no more ghostly hour. Physical energies are at their lowest, appetites and tempers become dislocated, and while the explosions from the latter may serve to lighten the scene a little we must expend commercial electricity for nearly half a dull Winter forenoon. And, as the writer further points out, If a twenty-four-hour day is to prevail in so many places of Industry, what difference can it make? A. C.

E. Brooklyn, Jan. 28. A comparison of two utterances of headline rank adds somewhat to the general confusion as to how we arefighting for what we are fighting to achieve. It is probably a result of the fact that Mr.

Churchill has a happy way of handling unhappy truths and Mr. Roosevelt an unhappy way of handling even happy truths. The British Prime Minister's House of Commons address was not in my opinion his best oration. But he did make certain statements, one of which was that the American troops landed inNorthern Ireland were but an advance guard of an Army which soon would be added to the two million troops now said to be assembled in the British Isles. With respect to the Far East, he gave a distant hope to follow Immediate reverses.

In other words, he laid down a time table. This year, one might gather, will be doom's dread hour for Hitler and his system; next year Judgment Letters muit bear signatures and addresses of writers but pen names will ba permitted at the discretion of the editor, who reserves the right to cut them down to meet requirements of space. the greatest war the world has ever endured? Do they not understand we need every ounce of patriotic endeavor and should openly and bravely show respect to our national anthem as one of the most powerful stimulants to thinking and effort? Brooklyn, Jan. 27. WILLIAM B.

GRAY. Dr. Elliott Clarifies Statement On India's Interest in Present War To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: In the article published In Wednesday's Eagle, in which your reporter attempts to transmit some of my reactions to the journey from which I have just returned, there are some distortions so flagrant that I feel bound to write this letter in correction. Both in the article and in the headline there is the impression that India would like to see a Nazi victory. This is not the truth and is not what I said, I did say the Indians are passionately interested in their own freedom.

Mr. Gandhi and others are continually pressing the matter with Britain. This leads them to have little or no interest in the outcome of the present struggle. When one presses the matter with them they will admit that if they must have overlords they would prefer the British to the Nazis. But their own independence is so much in the centre of their thought that their interest In and support of the Allied war effort is at a minimum.

Freedom first, last and always is the Indian slogan today and the outcome of the war seems to them a secondary matter. Your reporter has also taken the liberty of saying of General MacArthur's stand in the Philippines that I said, "Of course his position is hopeless." When the question was first asked me regarding General MacArthur. I replied that I had no knowledge of what might be the outcome there and that our discussion must be directed to other fields more related to the missionary enterprise on which we had set forth. The other three reporters present agreed to this and all questions were In other areas. I do not know whether MacArthur's position is hopeless or not and marie no comment except to say lt was out of my line.

PHILLIPS PACKER ELLIOTT, Pastor. First Presbyterian Church. Brooklyn, Jan. 29. Four-Word Hero No doubt there are military reasons why the Navy Department did not divulge the name of the petty officer, piloting a Navy patrol plane, who radioed "Sighted sub; sank same," but we hope anonymity does not forever enshroud him.

After much too much talk about what we are going to do and how good we are and how we can lick every one, here's a man who does a job and tells all about it in four words. His laconic dispatch deserves to appear on the walls of every Government of-fioe, every defense plant as a fine example of maximum action with minimum talk. day for Japan. South American Radios The American radio industry may be called on to produce 750,000 low-cost radio sets for distribution in South America, as a step toward hemisphere solidarity. This Government is spending a good deal of money and effort in trre broadcasting of radio programs to the Latin American republics but great results can hardly be expected from broadcasts to countries not well supplied with radio receivers.

Increasing the number of radio sets looks like a prerequisite to good results from our radio efforts. BUY DEFENSE BONDS AND STAMPS It's Proper to Rise In Public Place When Anthem Is Played Over Radio To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: Something should be done to develop more respect for our national anthem when played, sung or heard in public places. Fifty persons or more were seated at the tables of a Brooklyn restaurant when the distinct strains of the Star-Spangled Banner came over the radio. No one but the writer stood up. I spoke to those who were seated, calling to their attention that it was their national anthem that was being played but not one stood up and very little attention was paid to it.

Some looked astonished, some indifferent, others smiled. I appealed to them, tried to shame them no response. They looked like Americans but acted like indifferent foreigners, Among them was a U. S. Army captain In uniform.

Is it now the proper attitude to remain seated in public places while the Star-Spangled Banner is being played, sung or heard over the radio? Is our patriotism waning? Does our respect for our national anthem grow less under the influence of subversive, insidious propaganda, or is it Indifference or stupidity? Do not our citizens fully realize that we are engaged in the most crucial war in our history, Tug jFZ) a I rTAF'(W 1 i. IS Mr. Roosevelt's press conference on the same day was not vehemently confirmatory of Mr. Churchill's view of the American landing at the North Irish base. He seemed to resent the designation of this adventure as an E.

vanguard. The New York Times news report thus puts Mr. Roosevelt's comment: "There are six. eight or ten A. E.

around the world, the President said, remarking that it was rather silly, in his opinion, to apply the term specifically to United States forces in Northern Ireland. Some persons who had predicted an A. E. F. before the war started had to go back to that phrase, he added.

In view of the number of expeditionary forces, he continued, one could pay his money and take his choice." Of course the President Is within his right and the bounds of prudence In refusing to make public the troop movements if there have been any In addition to those task assignments at extraterritorial bases and such domestic dispositions as the recently announced concentration of 600,000 men on our Western coast. But it would seem that silence would have been wiser than such comment as has been published. The two utterances may, rather indefinitely, indicate the result of the recent conference between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill.

If I correctly interpret. Mr. Churchill's statement shows the long-range view. He still holds to the theory that Nazi Germany is the more dangerous enemy, and that Hitler's fall this year will make easy Japan's defeat in the following year. In this country and in a minor degree, evidently, in Britain public opinion is not in unison on this point.

The attack on Pearl Harbor and the heroism of Mac-Arthur's isolated command, together with the superb courage and inexhaustible resourcefulness of their gallant leader, have dramatized the war for Americans, and the apprehensions of Australia. China and the Indies Isles have made the Pacific peculiarly our job. Meanwhile Russia seemed to be giving the Nazis enough trouble to minimize the danger to Britain, and more remotely to us, from the Axil, GRIN AND BEAR IT 25 YEARS AGO IN BROOKLYN January SI, 1917 The two-year delay in starting the construction of the dreadnought Tennessee at the Brooklyn Navy Yard was blamed on lack of official energy in meeting labor and material shortages caused by the war. By Lichty ELLEN ELIZABETH'S LATEST By EDGAR A. GtEST Joy follows joy in our circle I'll swear, Charm after charm on the year's bill of fare.

Never in happiness cometh a lull, Never we wake to a day that is dull. Now this achievement to boast when I walk, Ellen Elizabeth's started to talk! Just turned the year and repeats what we say! Not very plainly, but still in a way That is clear to her mother, her grandma and me. We know she's talking though some won't agree. Still here's a conquest which nothing can balk: Ellen Elizabeth's started to talk! "Gumgum" is grandpa as clear as a bell! "Plopplop" is papa, it's needless to tell. Smiles when she says lt, quite certain that she Is delighting her mother, her grandma and me.

Next step I fancy Is writing with chalk. Ellen Elizabeth's started to talk I BROOKLYN EAGLE TraU Mirk Eatle Rsglstrm Founded by Isc Van Andfn In 1841 THE BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE FRANK D. 8CHROTH. President and Publisher W. F.

CROWEU. Secretary and Trea.urer Eatle Building, Johnson and Adam! street Brooklyn. New York TELEPHONE MAln 4-6200 Subscription rat. by mall for the Brooklyn Eael. In the United Btatja, one r.

00 Entered at the Brooklyn Postoffxe at Seconil Clasa Mall Matter The executive committee of the Brooklyn Committee on City Plan adopted a resolution urging that Kings Highway, between Ocean and Rockaway Boulevard be placed on the official city map as a 140-foot road and that the main part of the cost be met by the city nd borough. "No, I ain't an alien, but can't you confiscate it anyway? My whole family are boogie woogie nuts!".