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Show Washington Comment Congress, having finally pas.-ed the lease-lend bill and the $7,000,. 000,000 wherewithal to finance it, is sitting back for a "breather" before tackling the inevitable new tax legislation and the very inflammable in-flammable St. Iawrence waterway water-way proposal. "Thar's dynamite in them thar projects", and nobody no-body knows it better thin the gentlemen on the Hill, so their reluctance and procrastination is understandable. Meanwhile, however, how-ever, even the most laggard of the lease-lend legislators are patting themselves on the back, and proclaiming pro-claiming themselves wholly 'accountable 'ac-countable for the turn Yugoslavian Yugosla-vian affairs have taken. If the lend-lease bill were still unpassed by congress, or if the administration administra-tion managers of the legislation hadn't succeeded in keeping ..out the amendment limiting American aid to Britain, China and Greece, it is believed here that Yugoslavia wouldn't have put up the fine, courageous, confident show against the Axis that has all the world gasping with admiriation. Washington never expected to see the day when a president of these United States and the leader of one political party would say a few kind words about his defeated rival of the other political party in the presidential race. But that was what happened happen-ed when Mr. Roosevelt addressed his cohorts by radio from Port Everglades, Florida on the occasion oc-casion of the Jackson day celebration celebra-tion and the country could scarcely believe its ears! Said Mr. Roosevelt in praise of Wendell Willkie: that he shows "what patriotic Americans mean by rising above partisanship". Meanwhile, Mean-while, Mr. Willkie is in a little flurry with the Republican National Na-tional committee over the relatively rela-tively small matter (in an era that deals glibly with billions) of 313,000 for having his throat sprayed by a specialist for 152 days during the presidential campaign. cam-paign. It seems, according ' to Chairman Joe Martin, that Mr. Willkie offered to pay Dr. Barnard's Bar-nard's trifling bill, but it was thought that the national organization organi-zation should regard it as a proper prop-er obligation. The nationaj organization appears to think otherwise, or to think the good doctor's fee exorbitant; though he, who customarily sprays the expensive throats of Hollywood stars, insists that his usual fee is S500 a day when he is away from his distinguished clientele and, in the case of Mr. Willkie, he was practically donating his services at a mere $100 a day! Newspapermen, News-papermen, who accompanied the Republican official party, recall that members of said party, thinking the doctor was volunteering volun-teering his services gratis, frequently fre-quently fought to pay his dinner check. At this writing 75,000 highly annoyed government employes are attempting to arrive at their respective re-spective offices under the new (Continued on last page) M W ashington Comment (Continued from first page) ! "staggered" hours, with openings from 7:30 to 9:15 a.m. and clos-j ings from 3:30 to pretty nearly t 5 p.m. And, we wager, there's ' not a contented clerk in a carload! car-load! The 7:30 ones claim they1 have to rise while it's still the middle of the night, apd the 9:15 ones complain that there'll be no time for sunbathing, or tennis, at th$ other end of the day. And it isn't all due to defense or only j indirectly! The new hours are designed de-signed to relieve our really colossal colos-sal traffic congestion. Over at the treasury department depart-ment employes are having their characters and backgrounds check- j ed and double-checked these days i by internal revenue investigators j as a precaution against possible ; sabotage and fifth column work.; No veteran employe that is, one ' appointed prior to 1933, or prior j to the time when Secretary Mor- j genthau took over and first in-1 sisted on such investigation has been removed on the basis of information in-formation unearthed by the revenue reve-nue agents, but several new employes em-ployes who were appointed subject sub-ject to character investigations have been quietly released. The handful of employes was suspected sus-pected of either Communist of Nazi connections. At least one war department employe has lost his job on suspicion of similar sympathies, and the F B I is busy investigating the "pasts" of all employes of agencies in the defense de-fense set-up. It would seem, from their findings, that Uncle Sam is becoming aware not a mite too soon and it was later than he ' thought at that! |