"Novices"

Geneva's International Labor Office, which tirelessly assembles labor statistics and has negotiated more than 50 treaties bettering worldwide working conditions, proved last week that not all diplomatic wangling is confined to its parent, the League of Nations. To succeed resigning Director Harold Beresford Butler of Great Britain, U. S. Delegate Robert Watt proposed his fellow countryman, social-minded, Lincolnesque John Gilbert Winant. British Delegate Joseph Hallsworth wanted Assistant Director E. J. Phelan of Eire elected. Delegate Hallsworth accused the U. S. of applying diplomatic pressure for Mr. Winant. Pointed answer of Delegate Watt: Compared to Britons, Americans are "diplomatic novices."

Reported backing lanky, softspoken, 49-year-old Candidate Winant was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Three times Republican Governor of New Hampshire, twice an assistant I. L. 0. director, Mr. Winant was appointed first chairman of the Social Security Board by Mr. Roosevelt. Later he resigned to defend the Social Security Act against Republican Candidate Alfred M. Landon's thrusts, actively campaigned for Democrat Roosevelt. Since August he has been at Geneva.

Compromise came last week in the I. L. O. elections when Mr. Phelan withdrew, accepted the deputy directorship, paved the way for the election of Mr. Winant. Japanese Delegate Juitsu Kitaoka, annoyed at reports he opposed an American director, pulled for the winner.

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