Show GENERAL HUGH S JOHNSON F r tsu washington D C WRITERS FEUD I 1 think there is a new voice among political commentators in our country it has not been silent in other fields clare boothe has made herself felt importantly in drama literature and as a publicist only in her indignation about the war hysteria of recent political outbursts has she taken 4 79 to the hustings she T just taken to them she has them her book europe in spring is gen hugh the most revealing johnson on the fall of france it political it was poignant but the terrible experiences from which it was derived suggest to the poised miss boothe that she drag her own country unnecessarily into that bloody shambles when she got back to this country to find that another foremost american woman writer of great heart and mind miss dorothy thompson had completely blown up emotionally miss boothe began analyzing psychology ch she showed from her correspondence in france that miss thompson had actually wangled permission from a french artillery battery to fire three shells at the germans 0 miss boothe was indignant by all the laws of war miss thompson was a nonbelligerent belligerent non an american a sniper in uniform perfectly protected against reprisal it if any one was killed it was murder no less such a deed as the intellectual dorothy would never dream of in her normal mind that aroused miss boothe to make one of the most effective speeches yet delivered on our war hysteria with no personal feeling whatever she used this incident as an example of the mass madness into which we are being whipped E ELLIOIT resignation As this column said in criticizing elliott eliott Roosevel ts appointment it is inconceivable to me that eliott elli ott gave a thought to its destructive implications elliott resigned in order to register for the draft giving as his reason the injurious effect of his appointment on the selective service program ir in I 1 my opinion that was a courageous and proper thing to do it is harder to ac acknowledge knowledg e an attempt to retrieve an error than it is to bull it through but it is much manlier and in this case more patriotic I 1 believe that the resignation was in good faith and that it relieves elliott from any criticism except his original misinformed judgment not so much can be said of general echols refusal to accept the resignation As a matter of law echols has no more to do with that than I 1 have A resignation goes to the a appointing authority who alone can accept or reject it th that at authority is the president here represented by the war department not echols the success of the draft depends absolutely on popular confidence in its administration in this respect it differs from any other dep department artmen t of the war effort experience has proved over and over again that you cant get away with conscription in an anglo saxon country without an almost religious popular and patriotic faith and zea zeal I 1 believe more b lame blame is due to regular air corps officers in not properly advising elliott in the first iastan instance ce than to elliott himself that blame still continues in general echols rejection of the resignation on my own responsibility he has no responsibility this rejection is pure bunk it will fool nobody if these regular officers had a purpose either to serve or please the president in th the e original appointment or in this false move they are doing the reverse of both 0 0 washington highlights price chiseling chi on materials for the defense program is under a broad investigation at the present time according to word fro from m chairman burton K wheeler dem mont of a senate interstate commerce subcommittee the committee is operating cooperating co with the national defense commission and the department of justice the in investigators vesti gators would scrutinize the entire price field carefully caie fully and also check into the reasons for industrial bottlenecks that might eventually hamper the defense program senator wheeler says that there going to be any witch hunt though and nobody who is co coop op aerating need be afraid of it P renewed efforts to bolster america acas s defenses in the far east were revealed by secretary of the navy frank knox recently he stated that the army has ordered substantial reinforcements including two airplane pursuit squadrons qua drons to the philippine islands meanwhile preparations have b been een made to start work on the unit ed states ate military y base at newfoundland found land the base will be located somewhere on the southern c coast oa st but its actual position will remain a military secret |