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Show NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS Written for The Telegram By Ray Tucker WASHINGTON Mussolini's . Italy and Franco's Spain would be the Belgium of the next World war if the western powers adopt the strategy outlined by aome of Washington's leading military experts. Under thia theory France and Great Britain would wage a defensive de-fensive fight so far as Germany Is concerned, making no attempt to break through the Siegfried line on the west or to block Ger- to $290,000,000 a month until fall, net being the amount paid out over the sum taken in through taxes. Private and public construction con-struction will show a sharp increase in-crease for the same period. The railroads are beginning to reflect their improved state by placing equipment orders. The prospects are for a fair summer trade but the long-time picture la still extremely ex-tremely spotty. Woodrura committee Investigating Investigat-ing W P A to open the salary liats for all administrative official throughout the country. Says Joe: "I see no reason for the secrecy unless there is something some-thing they want to hide." It is probable that Colonel Harrington's Har-rington's higher-upe will ask him to comply with the request so as to avoid more W P A trouble. Benjamin V. Cohen, Tommie man penetration of Poland er the Balkans. Employing troops against Spain and their joint navies against Italy, the Anglo-French coalition coali-tion would try to force them to sue for an early and aeparat peace aa Austria did in the closing clos-ing daya of the World war. Naval Invasion of the Mediterranean would involve aome element of risk, due to the unknown threat of Italian subs and torpedo sleds, but a successful sea attack would permit disastrous shelling and bombing of Italy's principal cities. Despite 11 duces defiant war whoops, it Is understood that he recognises the dangers facing hie country, and seeks to hold Hitler back just short of a general conflict con-flict In fact a part of their diplomatic maneuvering, the Brit-lab Brit-lab and French have permitted their probable plan of operation to -leak" into Italian and Spanish Span-ish military circles. Government economist profess no concern at the failure of the first month of the second quarterApril quar-terApril to produce the improved im-proved conditions they had anticipated. antici-pated. They attribute the slight dip to unsettled European developments devel-opments and tha Industrial dislocation dislo-cation resulting from the shutdown shut-down in the bituminous industry. Aliornfr utaini jaurimj umm issued an order of "no compromise" compro-mise" on Income tax eases where his agents find the slightest evidence evi-dence that the individual or corporation cor-poration deliberately sought to avoid payment Representatives of Kansas City Boss Tom Pendergast held numerous numer-ous conferences with D. of J. and Internal revenue expert in an attempt to settle the government's complaint against him. He was willing to pay certain amounts. But the offer was held unsatisfactory, unsatis-factory, and an indictment was obtained. A prominent publisher in the east likewise sat around a tabls with Mr. Murphy attending in person, but it is understood that he got no satisfaction. In former years many individuals indi-viduals assessed for extra payments pay-ments were permitted to pay up the claims without any publicity or penalty. Government official offi-cial were politically tolerant and charitable, and took the position that their main task was to collect col-lect as much a they could for Uncle Sam. But the A. G. ha established an ethical aa well as a financial standard for handling these problems. Though a hard-boiled army officer, of-ficer, W P A Chieftain Harrington Harring-ton may have tangled with the ukviiii eiicui mi iiiii , um been quietly shifted to a backstage back-stage assignment with the federal fed-eral power commission, and tho move has given the jitters ta the private utilities. Mr. Cohen was the real author of the holding company bill. Ben has been drafted to perfect per-fect detail of the integration of power systems in the event of war part of the preparatory program of national defense now being evolved by various agencies of the government The post would have been given to J. D. Ross, Bonneville administrator, but on his death It was handed to the brilliant young lawyer from New York. In fact, K la understood under-stood that Ben may become the power poohbah when and rf the system of commandeering power for war purposes is inaugurated. Certain private utility interests have long suspected that war or even a war threat might result re-sult In virtual nationalization of the nation's power resources, as It forced federal operation for the railroads under McAdoo. This time they fear tha properties might not be returned to them at the end of the emergency. And the alght of Mr. Cohen giving advice ad-vice to a somewhat conservative minded federal power commission commis-sion only sharpens their anxiety. eupenicuuiy, ins sag seems serious. seri-ous. For April the chart will probably barely tip M, whereas it had been hoped that It would mount to the 104 of last December. But there are hidden and hopeful forces behind the paper appearance appear-ance of things. Industrial profit for the first quarter will be about 3 per cent higher than the first nine months of IMS, though below be-low the figures for October-December. Inventories are low, retail re-tail buying haa been maintained, and consumer durables automobiles, automo-biles, refrigerators, building material ma-terial are on the up. People buying confidence furnishes an especially cheerful sign. Government spending will Increase In-crease from a net of 1 100,000,000 wrong man wnen am ucmea in names of his Massachusetts aids receiving more than $100 a month to Representative Joe Martin. The Republicans' house leader waa bluntly informed that the information in-formation was unavailable because be-cause publication might embarrass embar-rass the individuate concerned. Since the data are public property, and the salaries are paid with publlo money, Mr. Martin insisted in-sisted that he should have access to the bst He also pointed out that the pay of all other government govern-ment employes I published annually an-nually in the Federal Register, and he saw no reason why special protection should be extended to a certain class. Now Mr. Martin plans ta ask the The junket to the New York World's fair which Grover Whalen gave to several hundred congressmen congress-men and their wives waa a shrewd investment It probably cost Grover. about MOOO to transport and feed the statesmen. But soon they will vote on an additional federal appropriation ap-propriation of tl.300.000 for his show, and it would be rank ingratitude in-gratitude for them to turn him down after the entertainment he provided. Note: Numerous membera refused re-fused to take advantage of tha free trip because it aeemed too much of a tit-for-tat proposition. Copyright, 1S39, At cC lure Syndicate. |