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Show yHKV NBWS ANALYSIS I Senate Debate-Curb Row Renewed; Rent Curb Bill Favors 'Home Rule'; Pit Walkout Slims Coal Stockpile "...! in thru columns, they are thoie of, EDITOR'S NOTE : When . o" nece.s.rU, oi this newspaper.) Westera Newspaper Union news uv I Bottoms Up! 2 xc 'tSi ' FILIBUSTER: Truce Called The long, weary talkathon in the U. S. senate was over - but the battle over the proposed curb on senate debate was by no means at an end. A compromise had been effected with the aid of GOP support, but the administration was committed to oppose the peace formula which had been adopted. THE FILIBUSTER had continued con-tinued 15 days over a proposed change in senate rules. There was no doubt that southern senators, who led the talkathon, had emerged victorious. The talkfest was staged to delay President Truman's Tru-man's civil rights bill, and it had done just that. The provisions of the peace for-mula for-mula were: 1. Unlimited debate in the senate would be permitted only upon a motion to take up a rules change. Z. Debate on all other matters could be curbed by the "yes" vote of 64 of the chamber's 96 members. Majority leader Scott Lucas (D., 111.) attacked the compromise pro-I pro-I posal as a "move to perpetuate the filibuster." "Of course I'll oppose it," he told newsmen. "It's an effort to take the senate back 40 years." MEANWHILE Truman Democrats Demo-crats were reported launching a new parliamentary move to clamp down on debate. The senate already had overturned a ruling by Vice-President Vice-President Barkley that discussion to take up the proposed rule change could be ended if two-thirds of those voting desired. The vote over-ruling Barkley was 46 to 41. Administration leaders hoped to find some way to another ruling and, if they could change as many as three votes, a Barkley ruling could be sustained. Mr. Truman had proved he could win the presidency without support sup-port of the South, but it appeared it would be difficult to put through Attorney Carl J. Stephens of the Iowa farm bureau takes a swig of hog cholera virus in house of representatives in attempt to show virus was not dangerous to humans. A veterinarian declared j Stephens, after drinking the : virus, might be a cholera carrier for at least 19 days. RENT CONTROL: j t Home Rule Favored The administration's legislative program was bogging down at every turn in congress. Rent controls, vital to millions of Americans, were being prolonged, pro-longed, but not along lines desired by President Truman and his advisers. ad-visers. THE HOUSE had passed a rent control measure, but fixed extension exten-sion at 15 months, instead of the 24 the administration wanted, and provided for home-rule application, a factor opposed by the administration. administra-tion. If the senate accepted this version ver-sion of a rent control act. it would be well for all concerned in the nation to begin ascertaining views of their local rent control boards, for that's where authority to relax or continue rent controls would rest. The bill, passed by a vote of 261 to 153 is now in the hands of the senate for action and administration administra-tion forces are reported ready to renew their fight for more adequate ade-quate rent curbs there. Action on a senate version of rent controls had been blocked by the filibuster. CONCERNING local-option authority au-thority to do away with rent controls, con-trols, Tighe Wood, federal rent administrator, expressed the opinion opin-ion it might not work out too badly. He went as far as to say that "I would be willing to bet that 90 per cent of the 1,100 counties where we have rent control will not lift rent control under this amendment." Many Americans would wonder about that, and hope the housing chief was correct in his views. If he were wrong, and the senate enacted en-acted the house bill as drawn, a grave housing emergency might be created overnight. Wood, however, saw two essentials essen-tials lacking in the house bill. He termed these as criminal penalties for landlords overcharging on rent, and authority to recontrol apartments in residential hotels. STAFF OF LIFE: Cost Probe Due The housewife who had read that the price of wheat and flour had gone down, but who found bread prices remaining up, had company if she had begun to puzzle about the paradox. The senate of the United States was becoming interested, too, in this situation. JVnd, a broad senate investigation into prices of bread-along bread-along with other things - was "ready to go," according to Senator Sena-tor Maybank (D., S C ) AS CHAIRMAN of the senate banking committee, he called on government agencies for latest data on prices-especiaUy the spread between be-tween prices consumers pay and those farmers get tor their prod-ucts. prod-ucts. The chairman said the price investigation in-vestigation wants to know- Why are bread prices "at their level in view of the wheat and 'lour price drops? Why hasn't lard, soap and short-ening short-ening prices fallen off more? American housewives also would like to have answers to those que.- a legislative program without support sup-port of southern senators. JOHN L LEWIS: Herald of Spring To coal miners and coal-using industrialists in-dustrialists of the nation the infallible in-fallible sign of spring is neither the robin nor crocus it is John L. Lewis' annual call for the miners to leave the pits. LEWIS CALLED, and the miners heard and obeyed. More than 400,-000 400,-000 miners began a two-week layoff, lay-off, ordered, Lewis said, as a memorial me-morial to miners killed and injured last year. Skeptics were caustic. They saw another, more understandable reason rea-son for the work stoppage. The nation's na-tion's huge stockpile of coal, some 70 million tons, was looming too large in the Lewis eye. Unless this stockpile were materially decreased soon, the president of the United Mine Workers would be in a less tenable bargaining position later on. Another reason advanced for the layoff was miners' opposition to the appointment by President Truman of Dr. James Boyd as head of the U.S. bureau of mines. Advocates of this idea suggested Lewis' move was Intended to intimidate a senate sen-ate committee considering Boyd's appointment. IF THAT WERE TRUE, the attempt at-tempt was a dismal failure. On the second day of the walkout, the senate sen-ate committee approved Boyd's appointment ap-pointment by a vote of 10 to 1 admittedly to show Lewis that its members would not be intimidated. But the U.S. couldn't shrug off the Lewis move. Already 11 rail-roads rail-roads had ordered 57,425 workers furloughed. Coal is a vital freight item for these roads. The payroll loss to the railroaders alone would be at least five million dollars for the two weeks of idleness. THE MINERS themselves stood to lose at least 68 million dollars in wages. In two states steps were taken to file unemployment compensation com-pensation claims to take up the slack. But there was a big question ques-tion whether the states would approve ap-prove the claims, because so many states do not approve claims where loss of employment is caused by action of the claimant, himself such as might be ruled to be the case in the voluntary walkout of the miners. Meanwhile most miners' families prepared for a slim Easter. There would be little money to buy new bonnets or dresses. |