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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS U.S. Rejects Stalin Peace Talks; Norway Prefers Western Alliance, Spurns Russian Council Suggestion (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions art. eprMed In the se columns, they are thoi of fVeilern Nevtpaper UnJoa'i wwi analyst and not nrceiiarUy of thlt acwipapcr.) inn 1 1 ii I.T...H ijii.n.i nmm iinuuu.i i wmwmi'mwmnwmymm iiuwaw.iiiin.nl '' 1 V - X . ' SOVIET "BARKIS" . . . Like the Dickens character, Russia's rremier Josef Stalin was "willing" to meet with President Truman to talk peace. But the question was: how willing? He Is shown above with President Truman when the two met at Potsdam. PENSION BILL: Vefs Must Wait Little possibility was seen by congressional con-gressional leaders for enactment of a veterans' pension bill during the current session. The administration Is openly opposed op-posed to any such measure, being quoted as saying a program already offered "could not be considered in accord with the program of the President." THE PROPOSAL to which the refence was made is veterans' pension bill to give servicemen of the last two wars $C0 monthly pension when they reach age 60, plus disability payments. It is estimated es-timated this would cost almost two billion dollars the first year, with later outlays reaching multi-billion dollar levels. Under this measure, sponsored by Mississippi's Rankin, a veteran need only to have served 90 days in either world war to qualify for a pension. The extra disability pay would range from $20 to $120 a month, with no proviso that the disability disa-bility must have been incurred In service. Veterans administrator Carl R. Gray, Jr., said that while he was neither opposing nor favoring the legislation in his capacity as veterans' vet-erans' administrator, its magnitude must be weighed closely now to prevent unwarranted financial outlays out-lays in the future. He pointed out the cost burden might be so great as to endanger the entire veteran-compensation veteran-compensation program. PRESIDENT TRUMAN was on record with this statement: "The necessity for new or extended, benefits bene-fits for veterans without service disabilities should be Judged not solely from the standpoint of service ser-vice in our armed forces, but in the light of existing social welfare programs pro-grams available to all veterans and non-veterans alike." Mr. Truman also said in his budget bud-get message: "The program of veterans' vet-erans' services and benefits should reflect the fundamental fact that our primary long-run obligation Is to dependents of veterans deceased from service causes, and to veterans vet-erans disabled in the service. At the same time, we should preserve and stress our basic objective of assisting assist-ing the recipients of these benefits to be as nearly as possible self-reliant self-reliant and self-supporting members of our society." All of which indicates that veterans vet-erans of both world wars expecting pensions and disability allowances had best be prepared to wait awhile. SATURATION: Claimed for Taxes WANTS OPEN DISCUSSION Truman Won't Talk Behind Iron Curtain It was beginning to look like "Uncle Joe" Stalin and Harry S. Truman Tru-man never would get together for a talk looking toward settlement of U. S. and other western powers' differences with the Soviets. "Meet Stalin behind the iron curtain?" Secretary of State Dean Acheson snorted in disdain, declared in effect that the idea was preposterous. pre-posterous. Acheson went further. He asserted indirectly that the Russian leader U. N. Facilities Ottered If Truman, Stalin Meet The United Nations stands . ready to aid in any way it can in any East-West talks, according accord-ing to a statement by Trygve Lie, secretary-general of the organization. Lie declared he would be "most happy" to have U. N. facilities used for a conference between Josef Stalin and President Presi-dent Truman if the two leaders were to suggest it. Beyond that he would not go in commenting on the interview inter-view in which Stalin said he would be glad to confer directly with President Truman on a possible Soviet-American peace pact. He added that the U. N. has several facilities which might be used advantageously in the event of such a conference. was playing politics with peace -hopes of millions of people. Anyway, Acheson went on, what might be gained? Hadn't the Russians Rus-sians consistently blocked all efforts in the United Nations looking toward , disarmament, control of the atom bomb and creation of a U.N. police force? BUT THE U.S. couldn't be put In the position of appearing disinclined disin-clined even to talk about perce, so ' Acheson left the door open for parley; but there were some American Ameri-can conditions this time. The White House, it appeared, would be willing to see Stalin in Washington. Stalin had said he'd be willing to see Truman behind the iron curtain. And there the matter stood. Acheson made a further point. The U.S., in any event, would not discuss with Russia alone any points having a direct interest to other nations. As for a "peace" declaration, Acheson declared be found this puzzling Inasmuch as Russia, the U. Millions of Americans would agree with the premise: Taxes in America have reached the saturation satura-tion point. Former President Herbert Hoover made the assertion to congress. As a remedy, he suggested unsnarling a century of government red tape, a slash in federal spending. FOR ALL HIS earnestness and the force of his figures, Herbert Hoover, "great engineer" of the depression, was a voice crying in the wilderness. wilder-ness. While President Truman outlined the need for vast federal expenditures expendi-tures for world social and economic Improvement, as well as for defense measures, he had said nothing about reduction of government expenditures. expendi-tures. There was nothing in his announced an-nounced program relating to any such action. True, there have always been one or two individuals in every congress who have sought to stick a finger in the hole in the dike of federal outlay, but to date the stopper has never approximated the cirmumfer-ence cirmumfer-ence of the orifice. Indications were that it would be thus in the 81st congress. HOOVER RECOMMENDED consolidation con-solidation of 1,800 bureaus, commissions commis-sions and divisions, but lurking in the background, ready to raise its awesome head at any moment, was patronage. Patronage means votes and votes mean legislative tenure, and with the one fattening off the other, Mr. Hoover's recommendations recommenda-tions commanded respect more for their temerity than for any hope of their adoption. chosen to stand with the western nations a decision certain to impair im-pair Russian prestige and to show the way, in some measure, at least, how other Soviet-threatened nations may find the way out of a seeming impasse. PRESS FREEDOM: Losing Ground? Newspapermen and radiocasters from Sauk Center to Gotham would shout "foul!." claim the opposition was hitting below the belt. A Baltimore criminal court Judge held three local radio stations and the news editor of one were guilty of contempt of court because they violated a court rule that restricts publication of crime news. THE JUDGE, John B. Gray, Jr., held, in a two hour verbal opinion that broadcasts of information about a convicted murderer, before his trial last summer, constituted not only a clear and present danger to the fair administration of justice, but "an obstruction to justice" in the accused's right to a fair trial. The court agreed with a defense contention that the nine-year old rule was an "abridgement of the freedom of the press," but asserted such an abridgement "is Justified because it conflicts with an equally potent constitutional right of an accused to a fair trial." NEW SHUTTER: Powerfully Fast A new fluid eyelid for a camera can blink and take a picture in 1-25 of a millionth of a second. This eyelid is an electrical shutter with S., and all other U. N. members are already pledged "by most solemn treaty commitments not to engage in war with one another." HE ADDED that the hopes of the world's peoples for peace are considered con-sidered by this nation to be fundamental, funda-mental, and that the United States would not play politics with these hopes. While it might appear an oversimplification over-simplification of the problem, many might raise the question that if Acheson is relying on Russia's U N. pledge to keep the peace, why should there be any official U.S. concern con-cern over the entire Russian relations rela-tions puzzle? The fact there is grave concern over the puzzle indicates Mr. Acheson Ach-eson may have been talking when he should have been thinking. NORWAY: Standing Pat Norway was drawing no cards. Standing pat, she would play the ones she had. IN OTHER WORDS, the Norwegians Nor-wegians wanted nothing but friendship friend-ship with the Soviets, but if it were ell the same, they would rather depend de-pend upon security in regional pacts such as the proposed north Atlantic alliance, than upon an alignment with the Soviet union. The position stated by Norway was in answer to a Soviet note asking ask-ing the nation's clarification of its view on the proposed north Atlantic setup. Norway said the United Nations had failed to provide the world with peace and security, and her own people's "serious concern" for their liberty had convinced the govern- ment that it was necessary to seek increased security through regional cooperation in the defense field. BUT THE NORWEGIAN government govern-ment assured the Russians that it would never agree to foreign bases on its soil "as long as Norway is not attacked or the subject of threats of attack." And the government govern-ment pledged itself to support a policy of non-aggression. The decision could be interpreted in no other way than as a definite setback for Soviet expansion-by-intimidation . policies. Norway is a small country and vulnerable to Soviet attack. Nevertheless, it has New Stamp ; .! TERRITORIAL This three-cent Minnesota territory ter-ritory centennial commemorative postage stamp will be placed on Bale the first time on March S, 1949, at St. Paul, Minn. ATOM RAYS: No Deformities Are victims of atomic bombings likely to product grotesquely deformed de-formed offspring? Many scientists believe that is one of the terrible effects of atomic radiation. There are as many more who disagree. But the U. S. army atomic energy commission has said no evidence of abnormal offspring had yet been found among the Japanese exposed to radiation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. no moving parts. It's fast enough to see any one of 25 things happening happen-ing within a millionth of a second. THE SHUTTER Is a murky fluid that blocks light. Two electrical contants are immersed in it. When a current is passed through, the liquid becomes transparent for an instant as if a bottle of ink became j water clear. I The photographic plate Is exposed to the action in front of the shutter for only the fraction of time when the liquid is clear. The length of exposure is governed by the voltage volt-age applied. The shutter offers a new way of slowing the action. The shutter was announced at the winter meeting of the American Institute of electrical engineers by A. M. Zaren, Stanford research institute, in-stitute, Los Angeles, and F. R. Marshall and F. L. Poole, U. S. naval ordinance test station. AMONG OTHER war-inspired devices de-vices being used in Industry, the "snooper-scope," which could "see" a man in the dark a quarter of a mile away, now is being used to find faults in power transmission lines. It spotted the enemy by his body heat as it was supersensible. MORE CLOTHES: British Ration Eased Great Britain has ended eight years of clothes rationing practically, prac-tically, that is. Effective now, any Briton with the money may go into any store and buy a suit of clothes, his wife a dress. And for the first time since January 1, 1940, be won't have to give 28 clothing coupons for the suit, 18 for his wife's dress. Coupons, however, will still be required for many articles of clothing. |