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Show NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS , 1 Written for The Telegram By Rsy Tucker WASHINGTON British Inter-. Inter-. ests have notified major food producers In the United States that they will make no large-scale large-scale demands on our products for at least a year, possibly two. They have sufficient supplies on hand for the shorter period, and thereafter will buy from their dominions In return for the letter's let-ter's gratifying rally 'round the mother country. As an ironic sidelight on the Increasing cost of meats here, the fact la that the American price level now exceeds Britain's, although al-though as of August 27 the foreign for-eign figures rsnged from 10 to 30 per cent above ours. The unofficial un-official explanation for the boost in cost of table staples is 1 the purely speculative mania and (2) increased domestic mand re-suiting re-suiting from steadily improving economic conditions at home. The latter cause is regarded as a healthy factor and indicator. The 1939 price rettern u almost al-most duplicating the 1914 picture. pic-ture. At the outbreak of the first World war prices rose sharply, but then tended to stabilize or fall off until the U. S. A. entered In 1917. It was not until thst year, when European supplies dwindled and feeding the American Amer-ican army abroad made heavy demands on our stocks, that prices skyrocketed. If the American Amer-ican housewife wants to start and accelerate a downward price movement she should buy only In accord with daily needs and not hoard. The National Labor Relations board or rather, the majority's administration of the law may become the first Roosevelt reform re-form to suffer from the heavier burdens which the war crisis has Imposed on American industry. The congressional Imestigating committee's first move reveals that 90 per cent of the employers em-ployers and 50 per cent of employes em-ployes regard this agency as a disturbing Influence. Congressional Investigators have not yet sampled all the replies re-plies to 60,000 questionnaires on the board's policies sent out to corporations, labor unions, indi- viduals and civic organizations. But a preliminary survey reveals the widespread belief, even among pro-Roosevelt groups, that the board's partiality toward the workers, especially the C I O element has provoked industrial unrest which would be extremely extreme-ly dangerous In time of war or even in time of the prosperous peace period directly ahead. This viewpoint has been underscored by Chairman Leiserson's dissents In recent board opinions. The situation becomes all the more threatening becaese, so the replies record, the board's previous previ-ous policies have fomented disturbances dis-turbances in the very industries essential to war-time production steel, automobiles, aircraft rubber, shipping, lumber, etc. There is no disposition to scrap the basic law, even among employers, em-ployers, but Capitol Hill sentiment senti-ment definitely favors a more impartial handling of labor disputes dis-putes in the future In time of peace or war. The supreme court, under the leadership of Justice Black, handed hand-ed down decisions In its recent term which contravene a decade of previous Judicial and administrative adminis-trative rulings, and will cost the government many millions of dollars. It is, perhaps, the only Instance in which the president's reorganized court has held against him unanimously. These highly technical. Black-delivered Black-delivered decisions Involve the right of a World war veteran to revive his lapsed $10,000 war risk insurance. The right to convert con-vert term insurance (payable monthly pending conversion Into a regular policy) expired in 1927 by act of congress. Any suit to compel revival of the Insurance policy must have been begun by July of 1930, again according to an act of congress. But many veterans, contending that they were unable to continue their monthly Insurance payments for want of disability compensation, have Insisted that they be permitted per-mitted to revive their policies ' whenever they received their compensation allowances. The claims division of the department de-partment of Justice and the lower low-er courts have consistently taken the opposite view, and thousands of veterans have lost out for thus reason. Now. reversing scores of rulings by the government govern-ment and the lower courts, the highest tribunal has held to the contrary. Unofficial estimates place the cost of these decisions at between $15,000,000 and 20,-000,000. 20,-000,000. Most embaraased justice is Stanley Reed. As former solicitor solici-tor general, he backed the government gov-ernment Hand. On the court he voted against it Advances In the fields of radio and commercial flying since the first World war are giving Cor-dell Cor-dell Hull's technicians many a headache In devising means for preserving American neutrality. They are reluctant to ask congress con-gress for a fresh law lest they be accused of war-mongering, and yet existing statutes cover none of the new problems which threaten to bring the war close to our shores and fireplaces. German firms or individuals, for Instance, can radio anti-neutrality messages to American friends in code they might even suggest sabotage but there Is no way to check, supervise or penalize penal-ize the offenders under existing exist-ing law. There is no way of proving, for instance, that recipi-. recipi-. ents of the message are sympathetic sympa-thetic to Its contents. The commercial com-mercial airplane provides even graver difficulties. Suppose, for Instance, that Herr Hitler declares de-clares that the air lanes between this country and Europe are zones which neutrals may not enter. There Is no known method under un-der which a transatlantic airplane air-plane can be searched and seized. It must be shot down or else forced to fly-to a belligerent country (Germany) for examination examina-tion of cargo and passengers. Now suppose and It isn't simply supposition that these planes are equipped with secret devices loaned to them by our military and navy. Figure that out and you can understand how complicated compli-cated this problem of neutrality becomes In the light of radio and airplane progress. Copyright 1939, McClure Syndicate |