The Washington-Merry-Go-Round —
Secretary Matthews Now Reaps Abuses
From Navy’s Heydey Under Roosevelt
By DREW PEARSON
♦
Navy Background—
To understand why Secre
tary of the Navy Matthews
had to discipline Adm. Louis
Denfield — whom this column
has consistently praised — you
have to understand what has
gone on in the navy.
Over the 50-year period be
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Tavern owners, too, often
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own benefit and that of the
community.
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ginning with Teddy Roosevelt,
ihe admirals have led almost
a charmed life. They had be
hind them the personal glam
our and publicity that radiat
ed from those two dynamic
presidents — Teddy and FDR
—plus the secret but powerful
support of Bethleham steel, U.
S. steel, Westinghouse electric
and other big corporations
whose business flourished from
building battleships.
The only two presidents
who bucked the navy in that
period—Coolidge and Hoov
er—faced an admirals' revolt
not unlike that of today,
aided and abetted by the
big steel and ship-building
compainies.
Greatest heyday of the ad
mirals came under Franklin
Roosevelt. They had never got
over this, and Secretary Mat
thews is now reaping the con
sequences.
FDR appointed as his secre
tary of the navy Claude Swan
son, a delightful and aging ex
senator from Virginia who
knew little about the navy.
Swanson died in office after
letting Roosevelt and the ad
mirals run the show. His suc
cessor was Charles Edison, son
of the late great invento^,
Thomas A. Edison.
♦ * *
Edison Knew Navy—
The new secretary had, oper
ated a big industrial firm, un
derstood construction technic
alities, and immediately got in
the admirals hair.
By this time FDR and divert
ed many hundreds of millions
from public works adminstra
tion funds to build warships.
And, although congress howl
ed, this was probably a good
thing—in view of impending
war. Certainly it would have
been a good thing if the ad
mirals had not insisted on
building so many battleships
but had built a few more es
cort vessels and antisubmar
ine craft.
This was where Secretary
Edison and the top navy brass
j had their first big clash Edi
son went out to Pearl Harbor
and dared to criticize. He told
the admirals that duty at Pearl
Harbor did not mean spend
ing all the time on the beach
at Waikiki, and that the first
thing they had to do was get
their fuel-oil tanks under
ground.
Even more important, Edi
son told the admirals to clear
off the superstructures of their
battleships.
The next war, he said.
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would be an air war; and j
lire straight up in the air.
not I road Ide. Therefore,
they couldn't be in the pos- ,
ition of firing at their own
crow's nest.
About this time, Edison also
caught the admirals lousing up
the new destroyers built with
PWA funds. He fotind that
out of 28 new destroyers, 20
were so top-heavy that extra
weight had to be added to the
keels to keep them from turn
ing turtle in the water. In ad
dition, the deck plates on three
destroyers buckled in only a
“moderately rolling sea.” Fur
thermore, because the navy
still insisted on using rivets,
millions of defective rivets had
to be replaced.
Edison not only discovered
these facts but also learned
that three of the private ship
yards building the destroyers
feared the center of gravity
was too high and warned the
admirals in advance. They
even offered to submit the
center-of-gravity test to Gibbs
and Cox.
Secretary Edison also dis
covered that these errors were
chiefly due to the fact that
the chief of naval construction,
Adm. William G. DuBose, was
at leggerheads with Adm. Har
old G. Bowen, the chief of na
val engineering So he shifted
them both.
♦ * *
Edison Eased Out—
By this time the top brass
who had been rufnning the
navy department in the past
were really seething. And they
took their complaint to their
best friend — Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who, ever since he
had been assistant secretary
of the navy, believed the ad
mirals could do no wrong.
So FDR called in Charley
Edison, told him the Demo
cratic party needed a 'good
man to run for governor of
New Jersey and! that he, Edi
son, was just the man.
Futhermore, Rosevelt said
he needed a Republican in the
cabinet to further his bipartis
an war policy.
Frank Knox was an easy
going ex-newspaper publisher
who loved the navy, enjoyed
the polish and precision of
things nautical.
At first Knox and the ad
mirals got along beautifully.
The new secretary didn’t know
too much about the navy, let
the admirals have free rein.
But gradually, as Knox be
gan to learn what it was all
about, he began to realize that
it was Franklin D. Rosevelt
and the admirals who really
ran things.
REA Comes to
Deloit Community
DELOIT—This week a rural
electrification line in this com
munity was energized and al
ready some homes have pow
er. It is supposed that other
farms in the area will have it
soon.
First REA contracts were
signed in 1941 for this area.
However, World War II inter
fered and work was delayed
until this year.
Roller Skating
Resumes in Atkinson—
ATKINSON — C. J. Brooke,
owner of the Crystal Ballroom,
has announced the start of
roller skating at that recrea
tion center. He is certain there
will be skating Sunday after
noons and evenings and will
announce week night schedu
les later.
The fact that there will be
skating does not mean there
will be fewer dances, he point
ed out. Addition of this rec
reation was made possible at
the ballroom by the construc
tion of a new masonite floor.
Mr. and Mrs. R. P. Orph and !
son, Steven, of Lincoln, spent ;
the weekend visiting at the
home of Mrs. Orph’s parents,
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Robert
son,
Mrs. Addie L. Wrede and
John Lansworth spent Sunday
visiting their sister and niece,
Mrs. Cora Van Hove and De
lores.
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Spahns Return
From Germany
*
DELO IT—Ewald Spahn and
his father returned recently
from a trip to Germany.
The p^ir left more than a
month ago for their trip. They
visited relatives and friends in
Germany. They reported that
people in Germany are under
fed and are very serious about
the reconstruction of their
country.
Mrs. Ewald Spahn accom
panied the pair to New York
at the outset of the trip.
Other Deloil News
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Tom
jack, Anna Van Zandt and
Florence Butler went to Dal
las, S. D., on Tuesday, Novem
ber 29.
Pinochle club held their De
cember meeting on Thursday,
December 1.
The HEO club met Wednes
day, November 30, at the May
nard Stearns home. Next meet
ing will be at James Wiegand
home on December 16 for a
Christmas party.
Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Bahm
were callers at Henry Reim
er’s on Sunday.
Merlin Wright, of Norfolk,
will be in charge of church
services at 11 a. m. at Fair
view on Sunday, December 11.
The farm bureau will have
a meeting for members and
families at Henry Reimer’s on
Dec-ember 15.
Ferdnand and Jim Hubby,
of Omaha, are working on the
house recently moved to this
community.
Mr. and' Mrs. John Sehihave
been on two weeks vacation.
Mrs. Glen Harpster called
Monday at the Henry Reimer
home.
Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Bartak
and daughters shopped in O’
Neill on Saturday.
Frank Harpster has been at
the Fred Harpster home.
Mrs. G. A. Bauer and Gladys
were Norfolk visitors on Tues
day, November 29.
Infant Daughter
Of Thiele's Dies—
DELOIT—The infant daugh
, ter of Mr. and Mrs. Marion
; Thiele, of Omaha, died No
j vember 24. Thiele’s are form
er residents of this community
and were the co-owners of
the Hupp store before moving
to Omaha.
•
Mrs, Guy Young spent the
weekend visiting her daughter
and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs.
Carol Summerer, of Ewing.
Mrs. Henry Martin, Mrs. Clar
ence Wrede and Miss Martha
Boshart were Wednesday, No
vember 30, and Thursday, De
cember 1, guests of Mr. and Mrs.
John Hipke and Mr. and Mrs.
Fred Carr, of Springview.
Mr. and Mrs. George C. Rob
ertson spent Friday in Norfolk
on business.
Mis. Anna Carson, of Red
bird, left Sunday for Gordon to
be with her father, Charles
Ladely, who is 94-years-old and
in ill health.
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Staff Sergeant Charles E.
Worth left Monday for Chen
nault Field, 111., after spending
a 30-day furlough visiting his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E.
Worth.
Mr. and Mrs. John Shoemak
er, jr., of Omaha, spent the
weekend visiting the former’s
parents, Mr. and Mrs. John
Shoemaker, sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Wat
son took Mrs. E. L. Watson to
Lincoln Friday where she re
mained for a visit with rela
tives. They went on to Omaha
to get Mrs. Theresa Murray, who
had been visiting there.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred McNally,
of North Platte, arrived Satur
day to visit at the home of their
daughter and son-in-law, Mr.
and Mrs. Dick Tomlinson.
Mr. and Mrs. George Van Ev
ery visited in Grand Island Sun
day.
Bernard Spry spent the
weekend at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Blake Benson and family.
Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Boelter,
of Middle Branch, were in O’
Neill on business Monday.
Methodist WSCS Meets—
PAGE — The WSCS met
Thursday afternoon, December
1, in the Methodist church par
lors with 25.present. Mrs. Har
ry Harper led the devotions
and gave the lesson, “Christmas
in Different Countries." Mrs.
Melvin Smith and Mrs. Ralph
Prill were hostesses.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Man
son attended a family Thanks
giving dinner at Bartlett.
Thursday.
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