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Show Merry-Go-Round By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN WASHINGTON White House master minds re awaiting the trend of business developments develop-ments during the next few weeks with bated breath. Government experts have informed them that November will tell the story of whether the business slump is merely a temporary recession reces-sion or the beginning of another major depression. de-pression. If consumer buying picks up, then the winter's win-ter's outlook is hopeful. Christmas trade will supply another big shot in the arm and conditions con-ditions can be expected to remain more or less on an even keel until the seasonal spring upturn. up-turn. But if consumer buying doesn't pick up then the experts warned!, watch for a nose dive in January or February. The key to the situation, they told the president, presi-dent, is prices. Their diagnosis is that steadily mounting prices were the root cause of the .current slump. As late as September prices continued to climb skyward. The result was that people just stopped buying. This left retailers with large inventories of high priced goods and they shut down on new orders. This in turn shut down mills and factories, the stock market took to the storm cellar and an ominous slump was in full swing. A hnprful development, according to the experts, ex-perts, is that in the last few weeks prices have started to retreat. Green vs. Lewi Somebody asked Ncls Anderson, W P A labor expert, what he thought of the clash between labor leaders Lewis and Green, and the probable outcome. Anderson produced photostat sheet with two signatures on it, greatly enlarged. "One day." said Anderson, "I got two letters, in the same mail, one from Bill Green, one" from John L.. Lewis. I noticed the difference in the signatures, and had them 'blown up' in photostat. "If you want to know the future of the A F L nd the CIO, look at those signatures." The Green signature was in a small, cramped hand, with wavering, uncertain stroke. The Lewis signature was large, bold, and flourishing. flourish-ing. Bridges Deportation? It has not leaked out yet, but there is considerable con-siderable difference of - opinion within the administration ad-ministration regarding the attempt to deport Harry Bridges, head of C I O forces in San Francisco, and chief rival of the A. T L on the Pacific coast Bridges is an Australian citizen, although living in the United States for the past dozen years. Recently Governor Martin of Oregdn demanded of Miss Perkins that Bridges be deported, and sent her affidavits sworn to by Pacific coast labor leaders that Bridges is a member of the Communist party. Martin's move is understood to have the backing of Dave Beck, head of the Teamsters' union in Seattle and czar of A F L forces on the Pacific coast Beck and Bridges are waging a death battle for supremacy in that region, and Governor Martin, who plans to run for the senate, wants Beck's support Immediate Bearings When Bridges was in Atlantic City for the CIO convention, he mentioned the deportation move to other CIO leaders, but did not seem concerned about it. Now. however, it is suddenly sud-denly revealed that Miss Perkins plans to hold hearings on the matter almost immediately. Simultaneously it has also leaked out that the justice department investigated Bridges for more than a year' with a view to deporting him, but was unable to find any grounds for so doing. He entered the United States legally, has taken out first papers, is due to receive his second papers in May. and has violated no law which would justify deportation. Miss Perkins would act on the charge that Bridges is a Communist He swears that he is not , Some of her own labor department advisers oppose her on this, but meanwhile Governor Martin demands immediate action. - (Copyright, 1937, for The Telegram) I" |