| Show weekly news analysis welles expedition bears fruit in shower of peace rumors by joseph W labine la EDITORS NOTE NOT EWhen when opinions tie re expressed in in these columns they re r those of the sews news analyst sas lyst tad and not act n necessarily of this newspaper U S AND THE WARS americas growing concern with eu ropes war made news new in in early march alarca from washington to berlin and rome chief motivating factors were 1 V U S loans to finland approved by congress and 2 U S peace feelers in european chancel lories mr welles in berlin usually reliable sources vied with informed quarters and unimpeachable sources to inform america about the success and failure surrounding sumner welles conversations with european leaders on a peace mission reminiscent of col edward houses junket during the world war the U S undersecretary undersecretary of state met in rome with benito mussolini then rushed to berlin for conferences with adolt adolf hitler no official announcement followed but the diplomatic grapevine revealed der fuehrer would have no truck with peace projects which gave him anything short of a strangle hold bold on middle europe the most generally reported terms were 1 domination over czechoslovakia poland hungary and austria 2 return of former german colonies and 3 destruction of britaina Brit ains control over world sea lanes but the welles expedition was not without profit europe had suddenly become filled with peace plans and all the powers were talking tough about the minimum terms they would accept this indicated they were at least ready to talk peace welles lelles sideline aside from his announced mission sumner welles was instrumental in two other developments first his visit apparently paved the way for a return to washington ol of dr hans dieckhoff german ambassador bas recalled in 1938 1933 second and most important he had evidently smoothed U S italian friendship by trying to settle italis coal lem the trouble britain enforcing her blockade ot of german exports had first tried to persuade italy to buy coal from her instead of the reich failing she stopped german coal bound for italy drawing an angry protest from rome whether by accident or not mr welles arrival coincided with reports that italy would seek a credit to buy coal from the U S obviously this pleased the allies for italy would not only be freed from blockade pressure but would find her cooperation with germany finnish loan passed by the senate in jig time were house amend amendments menti to a bill boosting by the export import banks capital purpose to make loans for nonmilitary non military pu purchases r to nations whose war debts are riot in default princ principal beneficiary was finland whose federal uan loan administrator jesse jones allocated even before president roosevelt signed the bill anex unexpectedly mr jones also announced loans of or to sweden and to norway both funds to lo be used for financing U S exports happiest of all was Fin lands minister hjalmar hialmar J procope who immediately began buying gasoline oil gilr grain and vital supplies said he when the war i started most people thought we would be beaten within two or three days weve been been fighting three months now ana an well fight on confident that help will come US ia S mediation even more persistent than rumors of an allied german peace were reports that finland and russia may soon reach a settlement probably under U S sponsorship european observers who watched sumner welles confer with adolf hitler also noticed that U S ambassador laurence broke bread in moscow with russian premier molotov whether the initiative came came from the U S or elsewhere the finns were indeed ready to talk peace sorely tired they had a choice ol of accepting dussias Rus sias terms or call calling irig for british french aid something contrary to popular opinion they have not yet done some observers thought the mysterious mediator was sweden a possibility which might have unhappy consequences should finland be made a sort of russian slovakia norway and sweden would be even more firmly held under the russian german boot CONGRESS politics front center tanned from his caribbean trip franklin roosevelt stepped back into the white house and began his eighth year as president A gallup poll showed 64 per cent of the nation supported his policies yet only 46 per cent would vote for a third term another gallup poll showed 55 55 per cent expect a democrat F D R or somebody else to be next president politics thus evident at the white house also held sway in congress As the senate looked favorably on secretary of state cordell cord ell hulls reciprocal cipro cal trade program candidate hulls 1940 presidential stock took a precipitous boost it jumped still higher when republican thomas W lamont lament a morgan partner wrote in support of the trade program in colliers weekly already passed by the house a resolution to extend the hull plan three more years seemed a cinch to get through the senate meanwhile the senate jumped waist deep into politics by arguing a bill to extend the hatch act the plan prohibit pernicious political activity among a half million state employees paid in whole or part with federal funds state highway departments social security branches etc still a third political issue was the proposal sponsored by sen charles W tobey rep N H to strike inquiries about personal income from 1940 census questions A senate subcommittee was reported voting 3 to 2 in favor of the tobey proposal A fourth taxation two democratic senators burton K wheeler and colorados alva B adams demanded that secretary of the treasury henry jr abod new taxes by using the treas working balance with the finnish loan bill safely passed foreign policy dropped into the background temporarily only recurrence came when sen robert reynolds dem N C announced he would introduce resolutions requesting president roosevelt to negotiate for acquisition of british and french owned islands in the NEWS of the STATES georgia hangers on at Geor georgias gials statehouse yawn with boredom nowadays when national guardsmen guardsman guards men give the bums s rush to W L miller ousted h ji g h wa way y ah h a i i r F m a n its in ing on 0 n for t 0 r 3 rr rn p n t h s ever s since fice G gb 0 V ve D R ardig fired acha C airia arm a n M miller mr on th the e GOV RIV RIVERS RS helas charge using ahk his office abo ott his gubernatorial candidacy nott notton t W be licked austee miller appealed to a federal district court sustained ivas avas his contention that keham been wrongfully de boived of his i property governor rivers was ordered to appear in court and andt ianswer answer contempt charges for tailing failing to attend the injunction hearing california back to its normal bed went the sacramento river the water from its swollen tributaries tributa ries surging out to sea but behind lay the worst flood destruction since december 1937 surveying a mile sector where had been made homeless where nearly acres were inundated officials placed a rough estimate on the damage A dozen towns ikc redding colusa calusa princeton and butte city had been flooded surrounded by water or 1 partly isolated by highway slides illinois I 1 alast fall the V S swooped down on william R skidmore chicago jun junk dealer and reputed front for a gamb gambling lin g syndicate indicted for failure toa to pay 4 in income taxes between 1933 and 1937 buly billy li skidmore wasa was asked to pay in principal interest and penalties adamant the 17 S next indicted billys attorney Willi william arri goldstein for perjury still adamant the U t S slapped billy a third time he was indicted again this time for tax shortages covering 1938 t louisiana W defeated for the gohei governorship flom mation by y sam houston jones louisianan Loui gov earl K long made fran frantic tic efforts to save the remnant of 0 his machine A rump democratic central committee nominated long for secre s e c r e tar of state but jones refused to ac c ept him next long called a special session of his once obedient legi s I 1 a t u r e probable aims 1 to gov LONG clip the actor ney generals extraordinary powers because an anti longster will be the next attorney general 2 to oust the interim secretary of state and get the post for long to a man the legislature chose to ignore his call caribbean not bashful bob reynolds wanted bermuda several islands in the bahamas french owned islands off newfoundland lower california and goose island the latter off the coast of costa rica major aim defense of panama MEDICINE indeed a trade almost two years ago the U S justice department brought suit against the american medical association cia tion two of its affiliates and 20 individual physicians charge that defendants had violated the sherman anti antitrust trust act by opposing activities tivi ties of a group of health association in washington last july justice james proctor of federal district court upheld an A M A demurrer his argument the A M A could not be prosecuted under the sherman act because it was not a trade the legal concept of the word trade had long been settled he said in a supreme court decision expressly ex excepting the learned professions last october the supreme court refused to pass on the case but trust buster thurman arnold was adamant up he went to the U S court of appeals which ruled at long last that the indictment was indeed valid that A M A and other defendants could indeed be prosecuted under the sherman act back went the case to district court for trial with a good chance that it will reach the supreme court eventually under appeal either the governments or A M A s pennsylvania sinking city for years the earth under mid city shenandoah pa has been honeycombed ey combed with anthracite mine workings long since abandoned early one morning after a 24 hour hour rain Shenandoa hans were awakened by a rumbling it felt like an earthquake but everyone knew what had bad happened while police scurried about residents fled from a 16 block 1 ock area and watched their city sink after seven hours some buildings had settled 18 inches homes split in two widening cracks streaked across sturdy brick buildings gas and water lines broke and pavements caved in when it was aver over shenandoah went back to rebuild hoping its anthracite tunnels were filled up TREASURY money plans As march got underway official washington awaited new money financing by secretary of the treasury henry jr but mr had other ideas at his press conference he announced the treasury will refund a isue I 1 of vz percent pendent notes maturing next june 15 with a new issue of five year notes but regarding new money he had UTILITIES 4 death sentence several weeks ago the securities and exchange cammi commission threatened to take the initiative unless U S utilities voluntarily proposed integration plans as provided under the death sentence clause of the 1935 holding company act by early march SEC was well at work the far flung middle west corporation operating 25 companies in some 15 states electric bond share company and engineers public service company were ordered to integrate next day similar orders were issued to the united gas improvement company and the cities service power light company both were ordered to show by april 12 how their properties should be re shuffled the act requires holding company systems to be integrated into geographic units and simplified in their corporate structure expected soon were similar orders to commonwealth southern corporation standard power light corporation north american company and united light power company the latter firm said SEC owns electric facilities in nine states serving a population of NAMES iii the news pope pius XII observed his sixty fourth birthday and the first anniversary ct cf his papal election by celebrating a Tonti pontifical fical mass in st peters for inhabitants of his native city rome rome it if was the first special mass ever said by a pope for the romans gov leon phillips of oklahoma announced the body of will rogers humorist will soon be housed in i V memorial nie morial erected at his birthplace claremore george washington hill president of american tobacco company the past 14 years threatened to resign res ign if stockholders change the incentive compensation plan under which top officers share in profits hills 1939 remuneration prince aage of Deni denmark nark professional soldier member of tho french foreign legion tor for 18 years died at 52 in morocco premier refik of turkey tried to spike rumors of impending war with russia said he turk ish soviet relations are normal and good robert donat for goodbye mr chips and vivien leigh for gone with the wind won top 1939 awards of the academy of motion moe aloe e T picture art be kermit roosevelt second son ol of president theodore roosevelt announced he would be among leaders of the british contingent of the international ter national expeditionary expeditionary force going to fight russia in finland mrs franklin D roosevelt traveling by air from miami to washington was landed safely at richmond va when caught in bad weather pierre Gu guberlet erlet frenc ii minister to hungary protested when hungarian police dern demanded su surrender riender of a dozen czechoslovakian czecho slovakian refugees hidden in Ms legation Rc released leased by western rica shaper union |
