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Show SCANNING THE WEEK'S NEWS 0 Main Street and the World Gen. Eisenhower, Sen. Kefeuver Win in New Hampshire Election NEW HAMPSHIRE Political dopesters, both Republican and Democrat, Demo-crat, have spent days trying to read a national trend into the results of the New Hampshire preferential primary. No one can be sure how the ' it I X ' i EISENHOWER results can be applied to the nation as a whole, but there are several noteworthy facts as a result of the election which the average home town voter can apply to his own area. General Eisenhower's victory is an indication of the respect and popularity he commands from the average voter. This is important when it is remembered that Eisenhower backers made no all-out effort in the contest. On the-other the-other hand. Senator Taft stumped the state as if campaigning in the presidential race itself. There is one obvious conclusion. Except for Ohio, and perhaps, a few other strongholds, Eisenhower appears to be the GOP's best vote getter. Whether or not he can get the nomination, nomina-tion, of course, still remains in serious doubt. On the Democratic side of the picture, Senator Sen-ator Kefauver pulled something of an upset by defeating President Truman, who had the state's Democratic machine behind him. As a result, it is reasonable to assume that the Tennessee senator has a far greater vote getting get-ting potential than political forecasters realized, real-ized, or President Truman is so unpopular the votes went to Kefauver as a protest of the Truman administration and policies. It should be remembered, however, that results re-sults of the preferential contest are not binding bind-ing on the state's convention delegates, either Republican or Democrat. Taft still retains a majority of the Republican convention delegates. dele-gates. Encouraged by the New Hampshire result, re-sult, Eisenhower backers may now begin their all-out drive to corral delegates and thus the nomination. ' , - M t kJJ TAFT Kefauver's victory in New Hampshire does not mean he is as popular in other sections of the country. Truman still has the nomination tied up if he wants it. Some observers believe, however, Truman will now hasten his decision about running, if he has not already made up his mind. By a quick announcement he might check growing Kefauver popularity. DEADLOCK With peace talks deadlocked over prisoner exchange and what nations will supervise the armistice, if one is ever negotiated, the big question on the battlefront is what effect spring will have on the two armies which have faced each other for nearly two years. In this connection, Gen. James A. Van Fleet, U.S. Eighth Army commander, indulged in a little speculation. The commander reported the Chinese and Korean Reds have built up a force of 900,000 men in Korea. He added that the Reds have more men, weapons, and planes than the Allies. But he does not believe the Reds will launch a spring offensive, but if they did he would welcome it and stop it cold. "I am confident we could stop any attack the Communists might throw at us", he said. "It would be a good thing if we could get those people out of their foxholes and dugouts to mow them down the way we did last April and May." As for possible Allied plans, the general said: "The future operations of the Eighth Army are still on the conference table at Panmunjom." That was not saying very much, but it is generally believed there will be no all-out Allied offensive unless the truce talks collapse completely. com-pletely. If they should, then the people of the home towns of America must steel themselves for the explosion that of necessity must follow. It could mean an all-out war in Asia. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense reported the latest American casualty total in Korea at 106,458. Of the total, 18,505 are known to have been killed. TAXES e all-powerful house-senate economic committee reportedly re-portedly has agreed that there should be no general increase in tax rates this year. It was not exactly surprising news to the nation's taxpayers, since congressional opposition has been expressed from the moment President Truman announced his record $85,000,000,000 spending budget. The committee went on record as favoring a $10,000,000,000 cut in the budget. By closing existing tax loopholes, the $10 billion budget cut, and with surpluses which go into government trust funds, the committee said it believed the budget could be balanced. The President had asked congress to close the tax loopholes in his annual economic report, but had also asked an increase in taxation by whatever additional was necessary to boost government income by $5,000,000,000 a year. AVERAGE FAMILY A recent economic survey reveals there has been such a vast shift in income distribution in the United States in the past 20 years it can be classed as a social revolution. The survey reveals the very poor have become fewer by two-thirds of their 1939 number. And the poor have become better off. Where three out of four families had incomes of less than $2,000 a year in 1939, only one out of three fell into that class ten years later. The wll-to-do and the rich have become more numerous. In the late thirties, one family in about 50 was in the $5,000 and over income class, and one out of 100 was in the $10,000 and over class. Ten years later, one family out of six was in the $5,000 and over class, and one out of twenty in the $10,000 and over class. Over the years the very rich have become poorer because the rise in labor incomes has been accompanied by a decline in property incomes. in-comes. The share of the upper 1 per cent of income receivers in total incomes has declined in 35 years from 16 per cent to 9 per cent. NEW WATCH fantastic achievement in the science of timekeeping time-keeping was revealed when Elgin researchers took the wraps off their latest development a conventional sized wrist watch that stores its own source of electrical powei and will operate more thar a year before its tiny "energy "ener-gy capsule" expires. The electronic watch of tomorrow to-morrow is still in the laboratory labo-ratory but its sponsors clairr it will eventually revolutionize revolution-ize personal timekeeping. It! motor, the smallest practical unit ever built, replaces tht mainspring which has beei used in all watches made tht past 450 years. Also elimi nated is the winding mech anism, since the energy cap sule does that job. The capsule itself, smallei World's tiniest cell, a powerful energy In volume than a penny, dis capsule smaller than a penny in volume, charges power at such a con provides power for new electronic watch. stant rate that the new watch will keep perfect time And when it expires, a watchmaker will be able to insert a new one in few minutes at nominal cost. Some estimate of the infinitesimal size of Elgin's "power plant" was given in the description that 10.000,000 electronic watches could be operated oper-ated from the power consumed by a single 100-watt light bulb. Anc eventually they hope to make it smaller still, applying the same prin ciple to a woman's watch. |
