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Show i WbEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS President Hints Controls on Way As Cost of Living Drops Slightly; Western Mutual Aid Pact Prepared I By Bill Schoentgen, WNTJ Staff Writer : EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Global Christmas llllllil! Mfjm p?j ARTERIAL: Kingly Great Britain's royal family was keeping well in the forefront of world news. First it was Princess Elizabeth's baby, then it was King George's leg. But while the first was an event of hysterically happy proportions for all Britons, the second most certainly was not. The king, apparently, ap-parently, was in a relatively serious seri-ous condition. The royal family's projected trip to Australia and New Zealand next month had to be cancelled. can-celled. IT WAS suspected that 52-year-old George VI was suffering from a disease known to doctors as throm-bo-angitis obliterans, more easily referred to as Buerger's disease, an inflamation of the linings of the arteries. There was some speculation, spec-ulation, also, to the effect that the king might have diabetes or hardening hard-ening of the arteries. But the king's doctors weren't committing themselves. The five physicians described his symptom as "an obstruction to the circulation circula-tion through the arteries of the legs." THERE IS no known permanent cure for thrombo-angitis obliterans. obliter-ans. Anyone suffering from it might be expected to live out his normal span of years if he were careful, stayed off his feet and led a sheltered shel-tered life. It was pointed out that standing and walking for hours at a time, which has been part of the king's job as figurehead of the empire, has aggravated his condition. Part of the treatment will be to cut out this important part of his duties and assign as-sign the walking and standing performances per-formances among other members of the royal household. Meanwhile, favoring his imperilled im-perilled right foot, King George was conducting the business of state from his bedroom in Buckingham palace. People of the nations of the earth are going to see Christmas from an American viewpoint this year through the medium of typical typi-cal American Christmas greeting cards being sent by the state department de-partment to U. S. embassies and consulates throughout the world. Here Miss Frances Kane, state department employee, sits below an enlarged photograph of the cards. DILEMA: Sharp-Horned Perched uncomfortably astride a dilemma having the sharpest horns ever to plague a sitter. President Truman ponders ways and means ' of getting off. The situation is as clearly defined as it is bothersome. IN SHORT, the President must work the seemingly impossible miracle of knocking prices down while keeping wages and farm prices up. Mr. Truman is indubitably indubi-tably committed to the former, and it was a great majority of opinion that he could do just that which helped account for his victory. That he will also do the latter is a campaign pledge he must exert every effort to keep. No less a personage than Henry Ford II has sharpened one of the horns. The industrialist touched off tb j "fourth round" of wage increases, in-creases, with consequent high-prices high-prices maintenance, when he announced an-nounced a wage hike for all his workers. Then, Mr. Ford delivered himself of the observation that wages generally must go up and that prices must do likewise. THE PATTERN is clear. Industry Indus-try raises wages and the cost of its products goes up. Wages must increase if these products are to be purchased. Labor comes in to ask for more money in order to buy these products. And so the circle continues. Meanwhile, it is obvious that Americans expect the President and congress to do something about getting the cost of living within reasonable bounds and to do it quick. On the other hand, labor, la-bor, which backed Mr. Truman at the polls, and farmers, who generally gen-erally supported him, are expecting expect-ing action as swift on legislation favorable to them. As administration leaders sought a course of action to satisfy ail groups, congress said little for public pub-lic consumption. Methods of price control, if any have been conceived, con-ceived, have not been discussed. ONE THING, however, is clear. The situation poses the major test of how effective in solving the problem prob-lem will be the cooperation of congress and the President. From Capitol Hill came persistent persist-ent whispering that Mr. Truman's thumping victory did not necessarily necessar-ily arm him with the equivalent of a magic wand which he might wave over congress to bring about legislation leg-islation in anv form he mav ripsire. Atomic Researcher TREATY: Mutual Aid The cold freeze being turned on Russia by the western nations plummeted several more degrees when Great Britain, France and the three Benelux nations, after long negotiations, agreed on a 17-point 17-point mutual assistance pact. THAT the U. S. is involved in the agreement goes almost without saying, for without American sanction sanc-tion and at least an implied willingness willing-ness to help out militarily in the event of aggression no western Atlantic At-lantic treaty would be worth a "whereas" or even a "hereinafter." Primary proposal in the plan calls for a pledge of mutual armed assistance by the U. S., Canada and the five western European nations na-tions in case one or more of them should be attacked. SECONDLY, it provides that the pact be left open to membership of certain other nations. It calls, also, for the setting up of military and political boards immediately after the pact's signature and ratification to make the treaty operate. Containing 17 points in all, the program of "agreed opinions" has been presented to the U. S. and I 4 '' ' Dr. Frank D. Fackenthal, until recently acting president of Columbia Co-lumbia university, has been named as head of Associated Universities, Uni-versities, Inc., which operates Brookhaven national laboratory at Upton, N. Y. The laboratory Solution? Then there was a break on the Inflation front. Americans who had come to accept the inevitability of the high cost of living raised their eyes with surprise over the development de-velopment although it amounted to only the merest chink in the price barricade. TWO THINGS happened almost simultaneously: President Truman ordered administration ad-ministration agencies to work out a "definite" anti-inflation program to be presented to the Democratic congress in January, and the bureau bu-reau of labor statistics reported a dip of one-half of 1 per cent in its cost-of-living index for October. The significance of Mr. Truman's proposal for anti-inflation legislation legisla-tion was established; it was something some-thing to look forward to. But how much real importance should be attached to the almost infinitesimal infinitesi-mal break in the price line would remain to be Leen. FOR ONE thing, the price dip unless it grew to miraculous proportions pro-portions would not cancel out any anti-inflation measures, such as "standby" price control and rationing, ra-tioning, which might be imposed. Edwin G. Nourse, chairman of the President's council of economic advisors, opined that a lowering of prices, washing out the need for drastic controls, would be "swell." But he didn't predict it would happen. Another top fiscal official said he believed inflationary forces still had the upper hand. And Chester Bowles, one-time OPA boss, stated that congress "unquestionably" would act against inflation. The precise nature of the program pro-gram President Truman will lay before congress in January was no. yet known probably not yet determined. Its general outline probably will be made public when he delivers his "State of the Union" message in January. But there was little doubt that-a that-a return to more or less stringent economic controls was in the cards for 1949. is financed by the U. S. government govern-ment to provide facilities not available at universities, but essential es-sential to nuclear research. WAR RULES: Atomic The need for this sort of thing is purely speculative at this point, but the International Red Cross is preparing pre-paring to propose a new set of war rules that would compel nations to establish safety zones to protect civilians ci-vilians in the event of a future atomic war. THESE zones would be set up in the rear of combat areas of each battling nation. Belligerents, theoretically, the-oretically, would recognize them as shelter areas and would spare them from atomic attack. Treaty conventions outlining this new security zone principle now are being circulated to all nations prior to submission to a general diplomatic diplo-matic conference in March. Red Cross officials say they conceived con-ceived the idea for large shelter areas as a result of their experiences experi-ences in setting up neutral zones in Palestine. Three general types of people would be protected under the Red Cross plan: WOUNDED and sick persons, whether combatant or non-combatant. CHILDREN under 15, expectant mothers or mothers of children under un-der seven, and the aged over 65. PERSONS entrusted with the control con-trol and management of the zones and the care of those in them. Although these proposals cannot be formally binding until after approval ap-proval by the diplomatic convention, conven-tion, officials view them as So extremely ex-tremely important that they are urging all countries to abide by them morally without waiting for formal treaty signing. In addition to the atomic security zone proposal, other projected war rules would cover treatment of prisoners, pris-oners, prohibit kidnapings and the taking of hostages. Also, the Red Cross wants to outlaw the current Russian practice of living off the land in occupied areas. Canada for consideration. There was no immediate reaction from the two governments on the matter, but it seemed logical to presume that the idea for such a treaty had received their prior blessings. Although the pact in its present form refrains from designating a fixed period of years for its life, it does recommend "a long duration." dura-tion." Actually, the five European governments have been thinking in terms of a 50-year period, but the decision on that is being left to the last stage of negotiations. RUSSIA as a nation peaceful or belligerent is scrupulously ignored in the document. Nowhere is any mention made of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the treaty itself offers grim proof of the fact that the western democratic nations have seen fit to construct the nucleus nu-cleus of a great regional defensive alliance against Russia and the spread of communism. PEACEABLE: Party Line The official "line" of the Communist Com-munist party has gone off on a new tangent in a tactic described as a "peace offensive" by U. S. intelligence authorities who reported report-ed the switch. WORD IS that the Kremlin has ordered peace propaganda and demonstrations of various kinds as the official party line for all Communist Com-munist parties, organs and front organizations. or-ganizations. The intelligence boys claimed "that this ostensible about-face about-face would become apparent in the near future. Soviet rulers are supposed to be setting the stage for a world-wide "peace" maneuver as part of their cold war strategy to embarrass the United States and its western allies al-lies in the clash over the Berlin situation. sit-uation. How much will this spurious peace offensive mean? Literally nothing, as far as any genuine desire or effort for peace is concerned. The Russians haven't undergone a i change of heart; their aims are the same as always. ; KEEP DIGGING: ! No Tax Cut All hope for an income tax cut in January may as well be ruled out now This is on the authority of Sen Walter F George (D., Ga.) who is returning to chairmanship of the senate finance committee. He has said that increased aid to Europe Eu-rope and additional funds for national na-tional defense would bar any reductions reduc-tions He estimated that ERP would get an additional one or two billion dollars |
