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Show -WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS U.S. Deficit Worries Economists; Acheson Favors Token Formosa Aid; 75-Cent Wage Floor Now Effective (KniTOR'8 NOTE: When eplnlons nr iprtKro' In these rilimm. thry are these of Westera Newspaper I nloo'i new analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Recall Asked BIG DEFICIT: Some Are Worried The two-year, 10-billlon-dollnr deficit looming as inevitable for the United States had some economic eco-nomic experts in a state of apprehension. appre-hension. Among these was Dr. Edwin G. Nourse, former chairman of the , President's council of economic advisers. The deficit. Dr. Nourse indicated, has stirred fears of inflation in-flation and possibly a "rising uncertainty un-certainty ns to the stability of the dollar Itself." DR. NOURSE, who recently resigned re-signed his chairmanship on the economic eco-nomic council, called for a "specific "speci-fic and hard-headed plan for get-tine get-tine back to the black ink." HISS TRIAL: Verdict & Question The average American could not help but discern strange and disturbing dis-turbing ramifications in the Alger Hiss perjury trial verdict. Hiss was found guilty on two counts. The Jury found that he had passed secret documents to Whittaker Chambers and that he had seen Chambers after January 1, 1937. Hiss had denied both allegations. In a rambling expose of what now seems to have been juvenile intrigue with infantile overtones of cloak-and-dagger hue, the one big fact that came out of the trial Is that somebody lied somebody lied in such colossal fashion as to be unmatched in any recent instance in-stance in American jurisprudence. CHAMBERS, former Communist courier by his own admission, and a former senior editor of Time magazine, said Hiss passed the secret state department papers to him and that he turned them over to the Russian. Hiss said he didn't do any such thing. However, the jury, as a second trial of the case, chose to believe Chambers and convict Hiss. Naturally, Nat-urally, Hiss will appeal; but if the verdict is upheld, he faces a possible pos-sible maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and fines of $4,000. The disturbing element In the case is how the Communists could so pervert the Americanism of abnormally ab-normally intelligent individuals like Hiss and Chambers, if Chambers' Cham-bers' story is true, to the point where they would actually serve the interest of the Soviets against the interests of their own country. THE STRANGENESS of the case, as many see it, are the intricacies of U.S. law which permit an admitted ad-mitted Communist courier to escape es-cape any sort of legal punishment and yet permits a long-time sen-tence sen-tence and heavy fines for a defendant de-fendant accused of lying about what it is alleged he did. Chambers admits his acts and is never charged in court. Hiss had to be convicted on charges against him. Hiss got one break because of a statue of limitations he could not be charged with having betrayed be-trayed his country as a spy. BERLIN: An Old Story The unpredictable Soviet mind again was indulging its tortuous workings to the discomfiture of Berlin and the western allies. In a sort of "junior blockade" of the former reich capital," the Russians had for 24 hours set up an aggravating aggra-vating check system which stalled supply trucks to such an extent that only one was allowed to pass every 15 minutes. IT WAS EXASPERATING, It was puzzling and it set in motion grave fears that the Reds were about to set up another Berlin blockade which cost America so much in money and equipment when "Operation Airlift" was all that kept Berliners from starvation and freezing. And then, with no explanation or apparent reason, the Russians abandoned the "junior blockade"' as suddenly as they had Imposed it.. American, British and French commanders of Berlin met in emergency session and discussed the latest Soviet harrying tactics. This resulted in a decision to take a wait-and-see attitude. SOME AMERICAN officers were convinced another full-scale blockade block-ade was . coming. But the British commander expressed a conviction that the Russians were merely engaging en-gaging in a passing phase of "pin pricks." It was made clear, however, that American plans are such that in the event a major blockade is clamped on, another airlift operation opera-tion could be put into effect in time to stave off any disastrous results re-sults to the people of Berlin. Sewing Circle Donald R. Heath, U.S. minister minis-ter to Bulgaria, has been termed "persona non grata" by the Bulgarian government which has asked that he be recalled. re-called. The Bulgarians rharee Heath received secret government govern-ment information from iraicho Rostov, former deputy premier of Bulgaria who was executed on a charge of treason. WAGES: 75-Cent Floor The nation's new 75 cents an hour wage law is now in effect. That means that all workers employed em-ployed in interstate commerce, or In production of goods for interstate inter-state commerce, must be paid a minimum of 75 cents an hour. PRESIDENT TRUMAN hailed the new law as being "dictated by social justice" and a step that will bring "great and lasting benefits." ben-efits." Significant, however, was an almost al-most immediate call by certain CIO union leaders for effort to boost the minimum wage to a flat dollar an hour, and broadened coverage cov-erage under the law. IT WAS PERHAPS with these new union demands in mind that President Truman said he had asked labor secretary Tobin to "keep me informed on the operation opera-tion of the new law." Most workers are now making more than 75 cents an hour. But it has been estimated that the new minimum will mean wage increases in-creases to about 1.5 million persons, per-sons, more than half of whom are in the South. This is expected to cost employers about 300 million dollars annually. NEWS: No Monopoly Since the early days when Reuter's news agency and the Associated Press were pioneering in the gathering and dissemination of news, there have been frequent legal tangles over the ownership of news and rights of its distribution. distribu-tion. NOW THAT RADIO has invaded the news field, it was inevitable that the same sort of argument would arise over the ownership of radio news and whether one station sta-tion or a chain of stations can create a monopoly in broadcasting the news. The federal communications commission com-mission ruled that such cannot be done, and a United States court of appeals has upheld the FCC. The court ruled that the FCC may deny a license to a radio station applicant if it finds that approval would tend to create a news monopoly. monop-oly. The court said: "Monopoly in the mass communication of news and advertising is contrary to the public interest, even if not in terms prescribed by the antitrust laws." THE RULING was in connection with the case of the Mansfield (Ohio) Journal and the Lorain (Ohio) Journal whose applications for radio station licenses were turned down by the FCC. In rejecting reject-ing the applications, the commission commis-sion ruled the Mansfield Journal used its position in the community "to coerce its advertisers to enter into exclusive advertising contracts with the newspaper." The commission added that since both newspapers were owned and controlled by Samuel A. Horvitz and Isadore Horvitz, it took the view that what happened in Mansfield Mans-field "was indicative of what might occur under similar circumstances in Lorain." In appealing to the court, the newspapers contended the FCC had gone outside its province and had acted under antitrust laws. He declared the federal budget could be balanced in a year or two, but only if the government practices economy and reduces or defers many of President Truman's programs "in the development and welfare areas." To objective observers. Dr. Nourse was another voice crying in the wilderness for, on the basis of political results in the past IS years, practice or support of economy econ-omy didn't bring many votes when the chips were down. THE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS of the late Mr. Roosevelt, also a great spender of public money a program which helped give him four presidential election victories was bound to loom as a vital lesson les-son in practical politics. On the record, the American taxpayer cares less about his government's gov-ernment's saving money than he does about its being spent. FORMOSA: Token Aid? According to reliable reports, U.S. State Secretary Dean Acheson was in favor of a congressional move to send about 28 million dollars dol-lars in economic aid to the Chinese Chi-nese Nationalists in Formosa. THE QUESTION which immediately immedi-ately arose was: Why? Was it another money-down-a-rat-hole action? Another token appeasement ap-peasement of those who were demanding de-manding more and actual aid to Formosa? Those were legitimate questions in any attempt to penetrate the maze of the intricate foreign policy pol-icy being practiced by the United States. Acheson had let it be known most clearly that he feels the Nationalist Na-tionalist cause is lost in China, and there were many who contended con-tended that it wouldn't be long until the state secretary advocated U.S. recognition of the Chinese Communist regime. If those things were true, why send 28 million good American dollars dol-lars rolling helplessly into the path of a Red juggernaut already conceded con-ceded as sure to roll over all China? ACHESON, it seemed to most, was laying himself open to charges of inconsistency, or, perhaps even more important, willing to play fast and loose with American money mon-ey for more time to juggle his highly involved and puzzling diplomatic dip-lomatic concepts. At the risk of over-simplification, it could be contended that there was still hope to stop the Communist Com-munist surge in China, or there was not. If not, then there seemed little point in wasting further U.S. resources in a futile attempt otherwise. other-wise. If so, then applying 28 million mil-lion dollars to the effort would appear ap-pear as simply a peurile gesture. TAXATION: One Billion More Just as nearly everyone expected, Mr. Truman's tax recomrien'-tions recomrien'-tions were well below what he had stated a year ago he would ask for when congress convened. The first figure was 12 billions. What Mr. Truman asked for, instead, was one billion. MR. TRUMAN'S proposal included in-cluded both tax cuts and tax increases, in-creases, but, overall, it would hike the nation's tax bill by a billion dollars. Evn so, there was no ready assurance the President would get that much. That he trimmed his tax proposals propo-sals at all was due to mounting sentiment within his own administration adminis-tration ranks that appreciable tax increases would be unwise at this time, and that the effort should be toward stimulating, business as much as possible, rather than retard re-tard or discourage it by added tax burdens. THE PRESIDENT recommended a cut in excise taxes as it had been generally believed he would. These would include levies on travel, telephone and telegraph bills, luggage, women's pocket-books, pocket-books, furs, jewels, cosmetics, etc. This would be done provided "loopholes" "loop-holes" in other taxes were closed. Mr. Truman also proposed a billion bil-lion dollar increase in the taxes on corporations, big estates and gifts. As it stood, the proposal added up to bad news for big business, good news for small business and some cheer for wage-earners. ' ' t Mrs. Alben W. Barklcv apparently ap-parently has settled quickly and easily into the Washington activities of the wives of government gov-ernment leaders. She Is shown here sewing for the Red Cross during a Capitol Hill meeting of the senate ladies luncheon club. TAX DODGERS: Trap Proposed In connection with widespread charges that federal revenue is inadequate in-adequate because of "too many tax dodgers," Representative Sutton (D., Tenn.) has proposed a trap by which he hopes to catch the offenders. offen-ders. SUTTON POPOSES that the secretary sec-retary of the treasury change the color and design of paper money and schedule a day on which old bills would have to be exchanged. I FEPC Stalled In the first test of the fair employment em-ployment practices commission bill in the current congress. President Truman ran afoul of southern- led filibuster tactics, with his good friend, Sam Rayburn, leading them. Rayburn, the administration's own leader in the house, twice was able to bar consideration of the FEPC bill by giving priority to measures aimed at statehood for Alaska and Hawaii. |
