Show 1 President Talks-Everyone Talks Wants to Get in on the Act Acty I By y Notes News Analyst and Commentator The WASHINGTON The colonel was talking to the general It was Ins obvious that the th general was as bored as his secretary looked her interrupted dictation n on her crossed knees which she uncrossed as the generals general's eyes wandered The colonel was the army's No 1 specialist on the super super gadget gadget which was about to tp revolutionize warfare as the colonel could and would if it he got a chance tell teU you The colonel knew the history of the gadgets gadget's development development develop develop- f ment fro from m Its Hs y w I crude crude semi semi gismo gismo gismo gis- gis mo stage when fit tf v primitive as It was It c caused a use d dr r the entire reorganization re or of the I t tactics act i c s of the k knights n I g h t sunder sunderS under j Otto the g great reo t I S R first King of the ther It G Germans e r man s He lie r c could 0 u I d trace its evolution d down o own w n through the days of delicate interplay interplay interplay inter inter- play when it broke up the Empire of Charlemagne and on an down to the fall of Stalingrad The colonel had brought the general general general gen gen- eral about up to the third Punic war and the secretary was was- wig wig- gling The general himself had begun to fumble with form The colonel realized that he was rapidly losing his audience I So he raised his voice so that file clerks in the next office stopped filing their fingernails and looked up By the way General he remarked confidentially Did you know that Im I'm writing the residents Presidents next nest speech The one he delivers to the InterPlanetary InterPlanetary Plane Inter tary association The generals general's secretary perked up the general raised an eyebrow eyebrow eyebrow eye eye- brow the colonel smiled At about the same hour over in the Metropolitan club a very dapper young man from the division division divi divi- sion of the Far Near and Middle East Fast and expert in ethic economic pathology was sipping a thin soda scotch-and-soda which his chief i had Just ordered His chief was bored By the way Chief he said In Ina a whisper so loud that even the waiters walters stopped looking respectful and listened Im writing the Presidents President's next speech at tho the InterPlanetary Inter Inter- P PIa Planetary l a n net e t a r y associations association's confer confer- ence In four other places four other young experts were telling their I bosses the same thing AU All were perfectly honest aU all were believed and In 20 minutes or so stenographers stenographers stenographers raphers clerks messengers waiters waiters waiters wait wait- ers and cab cob drivers were pointing out cut ut the lithe guy who writes the Presidents Presidents President's Presidents President's dents dent's speeches All AU this has been going on I suppose In n world capitals since before somebody else thought he had bad codified the code of lIam Ham What really happens Is this I The President calls In one of his more literary secretaries all of I them are literate but not all aU literary literary liter liter- ary some those some those whose duties are conversing with politicians dont don't have to be too literate The President dent says to the literary one Bill Dill in this speech I have to write for the Planetary Inter-Planetary conference conference conference con con- ference Im I'm going to mention the super-gadget super and I want to touch on the current economic and social situation in Delude also there are some erosion statistics I need and some rome data on the problems which arose irose as a result of the Whiskey Rebellion Ol Okeh eh Chief says Ia the literary literary literary liter liter- ary secretary and on his wa way back to his office be he begins classifying according to departments departments depart depart- ments meats the people he lie thinks ma may have the facts or the people who will know who knows somebody who has the facts lie Fie either phones or dictates a brief memo to these people requesting not more than one page pare from each eachon on the subjects Indicated pleased Highly youn young and old men on receipt of the memo or phone call begin leafing through their research libraries and dictating dictating dic die tating to their secretaries In two days a number of large packages are delivered to the White House via special messengers The literary literary liter Uter- ary l secretary curses and sets to work boiling down a page 24 thesis on In the progression of tau-mute tau from the Sanskrit ct ot ella elia to a sentence sentence sentence sen sen- tence and a half halt which he has his stenographer type into the rough draft of the speech which the President has dictated and sent to him for the purpose Franklin Roosevelt became angered angered angered an an- an- an because columnists persisted in revealing which confidential adviser wrote Mote the last speech he delivered whatever It was that he once showed us the actual draft of ot ofa ota a speech he had dictated and nd written writ ten and written re as was his custom In fact flet the minute last-minute revising of Roosevelt Roosevelt's interlined manuscripts often went on while I growled fOwled in the outer office and stood tood by to handle bAndI the okayed finally sheets In th takes President Truman got rot a little peeved recently over the same line of columnar chatter and began began began be be- beI I gan to let It be known that he could write himself Of course all presidents get advice counsel assistance and Inspiration from many men of many minds Of course there are humanitarians and grammarians stylists and Carlyle fists lexicographers and ami geographers economists a and a d agronomists Russians Prussians and Persians upon whom he can call If it the need arises And somehow or other each and andall andall andall all if they but contribute one jot or tittle to the sacred paper think they wrote the whole or at least the stenographer who had to take takedown takedown I down all the stuff hopefully offered for possible presidential use thinks so and tells her friends about it i confidentially I The p pro problem r o b l I e em m pf of presidential speeches is much to the fore these I days for this reason President I Truman and his advisers despite the rebel yells the wails of the defeatists the triumphant roar of the elephant and the ominous hoof- hoof beats of the polls as they Gallup downhill still stin believe he has a fighting chance to return in November November November Novem Novem- ber to the White House and he intends to fight for it I The President is going on a speaking tour of the West of ol course it isn't a campaign that would be undignified and immodest before the convention has asked He lIe will speak under no political sponsorship But he will speak and he ho is going to ad lib as we say saydo sayin in do the trade Even if we hadn't had our cars ears conditioned for 12 long years by the golden voice that breathed over the firesides the un- un oratorical oratory of Harry Truman when he reads a speech be it ever everso so humble never would be mistaken mistaken mistaken mis mis- taken for the vox hum humana ana or the tho angels' angels chorus But when tarry Harry Truman gets up and talks hes he's very human very sensible and not altogether un- un persuasive So from now on hes he's going to speak extemporaneously no matter how v much preparation It takes lIe He showed what he could do without without with with- out notes or manuscript and without with out learning by rote when he addressed the newspaper publishers publish ers and the Gridiron club in hi April and again in May when he talked the off-the-cuff to the national conference conference confer confer- ence enco on oh family life In Washington And since such speeches arent aren't written nobody can say he wrote them Ulem for Will to 10 Peace Finds FiR E Expression Next month a national conference confer conler- once ence n e for the prevention of World War III will be held on the campus campus campus cam cam- pus of college in Iowa The purpose is to present a definite concrete working plan to prevent a third world war methods which can be presented to the two national political conventions at Philadelphia The Tho roster of speakers will In Include include include in- in clude representatives of many of the organizations now working for fora a single sovereign world tion Meanwhile l Winston Churchill Is hammering steadily at his purpose of building a United States Slates of 01 Europe Although the Attlee government gov rov- government has not approved the Idea the prime minister himself has spoken words of encouragement encourage ment meat regarding the formation of ofa ofa ofa a real federalization of the western western west west- ern era union Attlee even went so far as to sa sar that Britain was willing to sacrifice her sovereignty In tn part to bring it about although he qualified the promise by saying the Ume time was not yet ripe for such a step But Churchill wants to strike now lie He received considerable support from Irom the unofficial gatherIng gathering gath gath- ering eying In the Hague a forum they called It composed It-composed of representatives tives of the Marshall plan countrIes countries countries coun coun- tries plus exiled leaders Churchill's proposals and the Grinnell conference are both part pf pI the tremendous will to peace that currently Is finding expression Perhaps eventually we will learn that great lesson of history to yield the sovereignty that causes wars to the kind of ot sovereignty that allows not only the th other freedoms freedoms free tree doms dome to the individual but which also will give him freedom from I Ithe I the FEAR of war Just as the the federalization of the separate colonies colonies col- col onies onles made the citizen of the state of New York free from the fear tear of war with the state of 01 Pennsylvania a a situation possible because both recognize a higher sovereignty I Ithe I tho the United States government j |