| Show NEWS ANALYSES AMAE VS U S carries fight to russia as co congress approves aid income tax cut becomes reality despite truman veto by BILL staff writer with president Tr signature on the foreign aid bill the missive massive potent forces of capitalism moved into ac Wro russian communism for the beginning of a titanic long range ange clash of strength to observers in the US this interplay of forces had all the ingredients of an epic poem the power of good striving mightily to overcome the power of evil with the fate of a large segment of mankind depending on outcome of the struggle there was an epic quality to too in the manner in which congress seemingly in gly impelled by a strong sense ul of urgency raced the bill through for final action the house approved it with a vote of to 75 after less than 15 minutes of explanation and the senate followed up swiftly with a voice vote two days after passage of the ape sure president truman meshed bears Ee ears ars of the global aid program b lb the reconstruction finance corporation to advance billion dollars at once that action released US dollars reconstruction supplies and in some cases arms to 15 european nations as well as turkey western germany trieste and china the overall aid package includes 43 billion dollars for the european recovery program million dollars tor for military assistance to greece and turkey million tor for china and 2 million dollars for trieste all ali of it I 1 is aimed at areas where communists are sharpening their sword ot of aggression an ill starred movement in the house to include aid to franco spain in the bill was defeated before it had time to do much damage to US prestige and moral stature abroad As the aid started to move the situation abroad stacked up something like this dussias Rus sias seizure of czechoslovakia its new pact with finland and pressure on scandinavian nations the soviets arbitrary action in berlin all pointed to the fact that moscow was trying to bring about a showdown in europe before the european recovery plan began to work effectively on the other hand the rapid passage of the foreign aid measure the proposal to return trieste to italy and thu th stiffening of american will in berlin seemed to indicate that it US while not forcing a shown was nevertheless willing to have it as soon as possible few persons familiar with the situation thought that a showdown with russia necessarily meant war but it did involve acceptance ot of a risk of war US US leaders were willing to take that risk on the theory that the likelihood of a shooting war is less now than it might be in the foreseeable future REDUCTION tax measure president Tr veto ot of the income tax reduction bill was crush angly overridden by both houses of congress to 83 in the house 77 fco 0 in the senate and US citi 0 sat back to gloat over the first major tax cutting measure passed in nearly 20 years in his now characteristic id rather be right than be president role mr truman had stubbornly affixed his veto to the bill protest ing that it mainly would benefit persons with incomes of or more encourage further inflation and sap the nations strength a ata t a time ot of international danger examination of the new tax structure indicated that the president was right in his first contention at least that the law would be of greater benefit to persons with high incomes than to those in lower brackets reason for that is that per cent of is considerably less than 5 per cent of a million cuts in tax rates as provided by the new law range from per cent in the lowest brackets to 5 per cent in the top level most interesting aspect of the tax cut development was the question ot of what motivated mr truman to veto the bill he was aware that enough members of both houses were supporting tax reduction in this election year to override his veto hence that his veto would be a gesture of futility that would place him on record as opposing the popular will mr truman must have been aware also of the strong possibility that next year congress safely through the elections will boost federal income by re imposing some version of the wartime excess profit tax in view of these but inescapable realities the presidents veto of the tax bill simply did not fit the preconceived pattern of political action in an election year rather it looked more like the deliberate driving of another nail in his political coffin in his veto message mr truman contended that increased defense and foreign aid measures might m make ake it necessary for congress to raise taxes next year in the case of the income tax he said nearly 40 per cent of the reduction would go to individuals with net incomes in excess of who constitute less than 5 per cent of all taxpayers also the president continued while national income is high every effort should be made to reduce the size ot of the billion dollar public debt he was beyond doubt sincere in his objections but they fell 0 on deaf ears in congress EDITORS NOTZ NOTE when opinions are ar expressed pressed er in these columns columna they icy ar are those of western newspaper union news newa analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper FARM SUPPORT by taft stumping nebraska in preparation for the states april 13 presidential primary election in which he was pitted against six other GOP white house aspirants sen robert taft rep ohio went gunning for rural votes by resurrecting a few farm promises in what was termed a major farm policy address at grand island taft went on record as favoring larger government payments for the purpose of building and reconstructing the soil an item of considerable influence with nebraska farmers also he developed his general farm policy along these lines i he agreed in general with the theory of government support of farm prices r asserted that the farm compera stive tive system should be sufficiently developed so no one can take advantage of the individual farmer 3 called for steady expansion of rural electrification to every farm even though federal subsidies might be required in some remote areas A asked for a solution of farm 4 problems without production controls except perhaps in the most extraordinary emergencies 5 C said that the parity formula must be revised to recognize fundamental changes since 1913 3 before determining exact methods by which the government should support farm prices APOLOGIA from russia even as russia officially expressed regret over the unfortunate british soviet plane crash over berlin berli n which cost 15 lives plain people all over the world began to see more clearly how although no nation is seeking war now a war could start accidentally A pilot of a russian fighter plane had buzzed a british plane carrying 14 passengers as it was landing in berlin tension in berlin eased somewhat when british officials accepted the russian apology and canceled plans to assign fighter plane escorts to all air transports sports coming into berlin the official british account of the crash quoted eyewitnesses as saying 0 that the russian fighter pilot was frolicking when he hit the big plane while the fighter pilot undoubtedly had not been ordered to harrass the british plane it was equally apparent that he and his cohorts had not been forbidden to do so aside from the number of lives lost the disturbing part of the incident is that it was in a manner of speaking an aggressive action an overt act ot of deliberate provocation and it is just such incidents as th that it that world leaders fear might one day touch off the conflagration NEW START chinas cainas chiang hopelessly lost in the political ars arr economic confusion of china get chiang chian a kai shek leade of the republic in one capacity oi 0 another since 1927 was casting abou for a new role in the tragedy ol of thi th far east afflicted externally by Com commonis munis armies and internally by the venality ve of black marke and corrupt gov officials chiang has beet beer in the position of a man attempting to build a house on a pile of refuse now however mere vas a out that chiang had decided to quit quil the presidency of bf china but there also were indications that far from going into retirement he would remain as strong man by becoming premier A spokesman for ahe the chinas cainas governing party said that the generalissimo was determined to tree free himself from the presidency in order to lead a holy war against the increasingly powerful chinese c communists chinas cainas new national assembly empowered to elect the count rys first constitutional president and vice president had regarded chiang as a virtually unanimous choice tor for the presidency which he has held since 1943 according to latest reports chiang was urging that dr hu shih b be elected president former ambassador s to washington hu shih now is president of 0 peking university PALESTINE trusteeship studiously ignoring the groups and individuals who threw up their hands in horror when the U S reversed its position on partition of palestine this nation went right ahead with its avowed plan for a united nations trusteeship of the holy land disclosing some of the details of that plan warren R austin american delegate to the UN told security council members that the united states favors sending foreign troops to palestine to keep order if and when that becomes necessary under the trusteeship formula unmistakably implied although not stated outright was U S willingness to send american troops to the holy land provided other nations would join the parade also another provision was that the number of nations supplying troops be specifically limited actually there was little optimism that the fratricidal strife in palestine or the causes producing it could be effaced by the expedient of imposing a UN trusteeship |
