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Show Merry-Go-Round Truman Unmoved By Britons On A-Bomb Story By Drew Pearson WASHINGTON One significant Incident Inci-dent which occurred at the time of the Russian atomic-explosion announcement has now leaked out namely, how the British tried to, prevent that announcement. announce-ment. Thev did not want President Truman Tru-man to tell the world that the Russians . now have the secret of the atom. The argument occurred on Thursday evening, eve-ning, Sept. 22, just before the preaident was slated to make his world-shaking statement. The prime ministers of England Eng-land and Canada were also supposedly ready to announce when suddenly the British embassy in Washington asked the state department for the use of a special airplane to New York. The private plan set aside for cabinet use waa thereupon placed at the embassy's disposal. Just why the embassy should have asked for an entire airplane instead of merely buying a seat on a commercial plane to New York was not explained. ,f Hqjvever, Roger Makin, deputy undersecretary under-secretary for British foreign affaire, who waa long stationed in Washington and aa old friend of Secretary of State Acheson, flew to New York and apent part of th evening arguing with Acheson against making the Russian atomic announcement next morning. Makin s ' srannunt aasmad to hinge partly around the idea that the American people would be too alarmed and panic- itrifKen: One" BHtnm counteriaea was that the newa of Russia's possession of th atom secret should be leaked instead to a newspaper. Thia would give the American public a less sudden realization that Russia Rus-sia had the bomb. There had also been some opposition to the announcement on the part of U. S. military men on the ground that we could better watch the Russians , if they did not know we knew their secret. Th British shared In this view. However, the British argument got nowhere. no-where. President Truman had made up his mind categorically that the American people were entitled to know what had happened and no on could have deterred him. That was why when th cabinet met next morning he ttated, "I hav decided" to make the following announcement." H did not ask the eabinet for advic as to whether he should make It "Bomb" Explodes With doors bolted and shades drawn, th senate-house atomic energy committee got an advance report that Russia had exploded an atomic bomb. The legislator listened with long, sol- . mn faces to the announcement from Chairman Chair-man Brien McMahon of Connecticut "This is Information of transcendent Importance," McMahon declared, dramatically. dramati-cally. He added that It waa also th most momentous news "since Hiroshima." ' Then he read excerpts from a speech by Soviet Foreign Minister Vishinsky, in which the Soviet . spokesman used 'th word "reeking vengeance." Senator Gene Millikin of Colorado warned against hysteria and atomic energy commiasioner Sumner Pik then gave his Ideas. . Then, a if a practical Joke from on high, the room waa rocked by a resounding resound-ing noise. The" legislatora jumped In their seat, then broke into laughter. What they had heard was the beginning of a thunderstorm, breaking over the capitol dome. 'There goea your Russian atomic bomb," quipped Millikin. The tension was eased. Miners' Welfare Fund What very few people including the miners realize about John L. Lewis' welfare fund I that th pension part of th fund was never exhausted. ex-hausted. Coal miners saw red and struck when Lewis announced that payments would stop because the coal operators had not been contributing to the welfare fund. But what they didn't know was that: L Only three or four coal operator In the entire United State had stopped contributing. con-tributing. 2. The pension part of the fund was not overdrawn and could hav continued paying pay-ing pensions. However, since no public accounting of the welfare fund 1 availabl. It waa -impossible for either th coal miner or the American people to know this. And, In the end. it is the American coal-burning public which foots the bill. Neither the miner nor the general public know, for Instance, that the pension fund ha suffered suf-fered from ail sort of extraneoua expend!-turel expend!-turel to say nothing of 135.000 paid annually an-nually to both Senator 8tyle Bridge of New Hampshire end Ezra Van Horn for sitting on th board. When Lewis stopped all payment to miners Juat before the trik it was announced an-nounced that the welfare treasury had dwindled to 114.615,504. But what Lewi didn't reveal was that out of this remaining remain-ing balance, only a little over 11,000,000 waa earmarked for pension to retired miners. - Maybe Lewis Wanted Fund Depletion When Senator Bndgea acted aa "neutral" arbitrator for the fund in 1948 he decreed that pensions were not to be paid to miner who retired before May, 1B46. Thl waa partly to make sure there would b enough fund to pay th pensions, partly because the line on retroactive pension payments had to be drawn somewhere. However, of the total 1104.000,000 paid out of the fund since April, 1848, less than one-third, or S30,360.000. has gone to pensions. pen-sions. The rest was overspent most of It on laudable enterprises, but nevertheless with a wanton abandon certain to deplete the fund and risk the entire pension plan. For Instance, disability payment and assistance to widows alone coat 164.206,-071. 164.206,-071. Death benefits to widow and dependent depend-ent coat J5.546.853; medical car and hospital hos-pital service coat J4.761.071. While these were worth-while projects, neither the public nor the coal miners have any way of knowing just what they were or how they were administered. Note: John L. Lewis waa warned at the start that the enUre welfare fund would be jeopardized, including pensions. If be went In for too lavish spending. But there I reaaon to believe he waa not at all avers to the depletion of hi welfare fund in order, to giv him an excuse for coming back for more. |