Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS reds complete political conquest of czechs czecho take over government congress extends rent controls EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are those of western newspaper union news analysts and not cot necessarily ol of this newspaper CONQUEST tai ay curtain time 7 W gottwald there were six days of crisis in czechoslovakia and then it was all over the communists were in complete control of that nation of 13 million population the iron curtain came down with a muffled clang as president eduard benes accepted the resignation of 14 of his cabinet ministers after he had refused for a week to do so into power strode communist premier klement gottwald who had led his party upward from a minority status in czechoslovakia until now its members dominated every phase of the nations life and were prepared to swing it directly into the orbit of other soviet satellites wielding the club to keep the czechs czecho in line was gottwaldt good right hand vaclav minister of the interior who controls all czechoslovakian police forces in that powerful position in a comma nisto dominated state was analogous to the mailed glove on the dictators fist for what it was worth and that was very little aging president benes had managed to keep at least a superficial appearance of representative senta tive government by insisting that the government be composed of members of other parties of the national front which reinstated the czechoslovak republic in 1945 when the germans were being driven out but it was a hollow bollow tasteless victory meaningless in any practical application the new government consists of 12 communists there were seven before four social democrats two czech national socialists two catholic peoples party ni members embers one slovak Derio democrat Clat and two nonparty non party men jan masaryk as foreign minister and gen ludwig svoboda as minister of defense benilde bewildered red czechs czecho finally knew their cherished republic had come to a grim end when loud speakers in prague blared this announcement into the night React reaction iori has been beaten go backs back to work and let us complete our tasks on the two year plan in czechoslovakian ironic chronology alie surging wall of the red tide engulfed their country just 10 years after the western allies had sold the nation nailon to hitler at munich in a tragically selfish and futile effort to avoid war and savea save their own skins at the price of just one small central european state reaction with the balkans all tied up with a a red ribbon the world began to k iwonder kw w onder which small nation the N communist tide would engulf next some thought finland might be the top name on the list others wondered whether austria france and italy might not be clamped soon in the communist vise there was general agreement on one fact at least that the communist coup in czechoslovakia had forged perhaps the most vital link in the russian chain intended to shackle the marshall plan in finland and italy as in czechoslovakia oslo elections were coming up soon and the communists were out ir for victory finland like czech oslo is ruled by a coalition government which has acknowledged that the country must remain on the best ot of terms with russia those circumstances make finland particularly fertile ground for a quick communist harvest of power RENT CONTROL extension the tenants got another reprieve legislation extending federal rent controls for a month beyond the february 29 deadline through march 31 was passed by the house and senate and sent to the white house for signature the bill was approved while the senate was considering legislation to continue rent controls for 14 months and it will operate to give the house and senate time to agree on long range extension measures I 1 in evolving rent control extension during the interim provided by the stopgap stop gap bill the house was expected to devote considerable time to wondering whether congress should not wait and see whether prices will be stabilized at a lower figure following the recent market break before it acts in the matter it was probable however that the house would go along with the senates 14 month rent control extension but would attempt to make a good many revisions house backers of rent control legislation are determined to P protect r 0 tenants who have agreed to increases up to 15 per cent agai against n st further hikes in their rent the s senate en bill now under consideration ia n would freeze rents at the increased level from december 31 1948 when the 15 per cent leases expire until april 30 1949 LYNCH BAN bendin pending n bill apparently determined to go along at least part way with president Tr civil rights program congress is preparing to consider a bill to make lynching lunching lyn ching a federal offense such a measure has been approved by a house subcommittee committee sub and congressional leaders generally feel it will pass the house with ease and possibly even clear the senate this year action on the bill sponsored by rep clifford case rep N J came just before the release of a list of 74 southern democratic house members who had signed a resolution bitterly assailing the presidents civil rights program and urging him to drop it the forthcoming argument and it undoubtedly will be a fierce one over the anti lynching bill will not be the first of its kind in congress the house in 1940 passed such a measure by a vote of to over the shouted protests of dixie democrats but it died in the senate in the face of a dogged southern filibuster main features of the present bill include a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine for persons inciting or taking part in a lynching lunching lyn ching as well as a maximum penalty of five years and fine for law officers who tail fail to make all diligent efforts to protect persons from lynch mobs meantime southern democrats were keeping the civil rights pot boiling in a switch of tactics they indicated that their aim now is to knock president truman out of the democratic presidential nomination to avoid having to fight him within the party now their strategy purportedly Is to try to convince northern democrats that mr truman has no chance to win in novem november er and that the party should get another nominee less inclined to press for congressional action on the civil rights issue COLD CHICKEN no fuel oil campaigning politicians this year may have to eliminate a chicken in every pot from their lists of promises because there might not be enough chickens to go around reports from the poultry belt in the midwest say that the severity of the fuel oil shortage is cutting into the 1948 baby chick hatch to threaten poultry and egg production this year thousands of farmers canceled chick orders for early march delivery because they get oil for their brooder stoves iowa and the northwest were suffering most from the situation but it also was bad in illinois and indiana the kerosene shortage has been severe enough to cause hardship in most of the poultry producing area some poultry men were deterring deferring chick deliveries until later dates hoping that warmer weather would ease the tight oil supply officials of one large hybrid chick hatchery in iowa claimed they 9 needed six tank cars of fuel oil to get their 1948 production under way one of the most vociferous complaints generally being made among farmers was that city consumers were using up all the fuel oil thus preventing them from getting what they need DOWNWARD F factory actori wages life as it is reflected in the weekly pay check is no longer as lush as it was last year to be exact it was 47 cents less in january than in december according to the bureau of labor statistics the bureau disclosed that weekly earnings of factory workers declined in january to an average of average weekly hours of the million production workers in manufacturing fac turing establishments fell from to between december and january and weekly earnings fell from to however average hourly earnings increased from 1279 in december to 1289 in mid january the average number of hours worked each week is exactly the same as in january 1947 the bureau said but gross hourly earnings were about 13 cents higher in the durable goods lines the weekly earnings for production workers slid off from the december peak of to in the non durable goods industries average weekly earnings were 48 62 for a work week of hours while hourly earnings averaged 1213 PAPER FROM WHEAT at lower costs department of agriculture chemists say they have perfected a process for producing fine paper pulps culps from wheat straw at lower costs and higher yields dr L B howard chief of the bureau of agricultural and industrial chemistry said the wheat straw burned and wasted last year would have been sufficient to produce all the cellulose pulp needed for magazines and books FEARFUL II 11 hoof f and mouth cattle hog and sheep growers of the U S continue to live in the shadow of a fear that the hoof and mouth disease which has been decimating livestock in mexico for many months will spread across the border and affect U S herds at a recent session in chicago a joint committee of the cattle hog and sheep raisers forwarded a plea to secretary of agriculture clinton anderson to renew efforts to eradicate the disease among other things the stock men requested that these actions be taken renegotiate with high mexican L 1 officials on plans tor for resuming the interrupted slaughter and burial program immediate construction of a 2 fence along the present quarantine line about miles south of the U S border 3 build new beef canning plants in the clean states of northern mexico and continue to run those now operating BULLSEYE BULLS EYE V 2 rockets army scientists are saying now that improved control devices on german V 2 rockets eventually will be able to steer them to within yards instead of miles of their targets during world war II 11 german V as missed d their mark by an average of six miles so far however scientists are only in the first stage of improving the rockets marksmanship lt col J G bain chief of the guided missiles branch of army ordnance said actually there are only 60 seconds of flight during which the V 2 can be controlled from the moment it leaves the launching platform until it leaves the earths atmosphere in the vacuum outside the atmospheric layer the V 2 tumbles about crazily when it curves down and hits the earths atmosphere again it straightens out and plunges toward the ground at speeds up to miles an hour making control at that point impossible PARIS NEW LOOK in fashion slump shimp foreign fashion buyers have been giving the paris new look a dirty look and the result has been a bad slump in the french fashion industry most of the buyers who came to paris to examine the 1948 1943 models got an eyeful of the latest french styles and then apparently decided they could do just as well at home for less money not even french women wear the new fashions the designers dream of a postwar world filled with women slinking about in parisian made clothes has not materialized A check showed that 1000 paris sewing girls had been fired during a single week and salons showing the spring styles remain virtu virtually aly empty fashions had been expected to boom with the bargain basement export franc but buyers found the clothes were not cheap even at halt the former price suits were i selling for dresses for as much as and evening gowns were costing about apiece I 1 PASS THE MEAT rap vegetarian diet two university of chicago dr A J carlson and frederick hoelzel have come up with new evidence supporting an earlier finding that a vegetarian diet is not only a delusive fad but actually may cut the they have shown that rats fed the vegetarian diet raise fewer young than those that ate everything and the young they did raise were subnormal many of the offspring of the vegetarians et also were hyper excitable and manifested more fear of being handled than did the offspring of rats on the omnivorous diets dr carlson observed LOUISIANA long trail louisiana was back on the long long political trail again in a democratic runoff run oce primary voters of the state called earl long brother of the assassinated huey to be their governor once more after he had remained in a state of political eclipse for eight years long won a walloping victory over sam houston jones the man who beat him for office in 1940 and brought an end to the regime set up by huey long 12 years before in louisiana winning the democratic runoff primary was the equivalent of being elected since the democratic party is in absolute power throughout the state it was a triumphant comeback tor for earl long personally and for the long family in general after earls political fortunes had sunk to such a low ebb in 1944 that he even get himself on the head of a ticket this election as a matter of fact was longs only statewide victory except for 1938 1936 when he was elected lieutenant governor he became governor in 1939 when richard W leche resigned the post in the midst of louisiana scandals leche and other political leaders went to prison for various misuses of state funds and property COWBOY dem ida it looked like political suicide when sen glen H taylor dem ida came out formally as vice presidential candidate on henry wallaces third party ticket but the crooning cowboy from idaho see it that way he did it he be said to support wallace in his gallant fight for peace and because the democratic party has surrendered to wall street and the military 1 I am not leaving the democratic party it left me taylor declared dramatically taylor accused the democrats of having betrayed the principles in which I 1 believe and gloried verbally in the wonderful freedom that now would be his to campaign with wallace against this partisan bipartisan bi coalition and all its works taft hartley universal military training this drive toward war high prices and racial discrimination and suppression of civil liberties |