Show NE NEWS WS RE REVIEW VIE W london meet dissolves disso eso inflation n bill defeated defea ed the lethargic uninspired end ng of the big four foreign ministers conference in london was bemmis cent of nothing so much as the rather dreary business of tossing out the christmas tree after the holidays hoi days there was a small amount of nos talgia and regret expressed over the abrupt finish of the unsuccessful dis cushions cus but there was also a thinly veiled feeling that perhaps after all it was a good thing the affair was over As seen dimly through clouds of futility and frustration what the windup wind up of the german and aus trian peace treaty talks amounted to was this the western powers had tailed failed utterly to reach any kind of agreement with russia on the ate fate of germany and the failure leaves europe more firmly div ded than at any time since the war ended although the delegates were un able to agree on any single issue on their agenda the po nt upon which the conference balloon burst was the problem of german reparations to the inevitable question what now diplomatic authorities were answering with a prediction that the united states great britain and france would begin negotiations soon among themselves concerning the un fl fi cation of western germany russia would be out of it and there was no prospect ot of another tour four power meeting in or in any other year CONGRESS man ilan of the two pressing reasons why hy president truman called congress into special session in november one had been disposed ot of but the other kept hanging around like an evil spirit as the year drew to a close the senate and house had voted strongly in favor of authorizing up to million dollars tor for emergency winter relief tor for france italy aus tria and china but no such accord was displayed in dealing with the problem of inflation at home rejecting president truman s 10 point proposal for fighting inflate on by imposing wage and price con and select selective ne rationing house republicans offered an anti inflate on bill based upon voluntary agree ments for price reductions with a two thirds vote needed for passage the republican measure went down to defeat to the house split almost exactly along party lines over the bill not one democrat breaking ranks to vote in favor f avor of it the president has asked for for bread and you have given him a stone said rep brent spen spence ce dem ky in summing up the de bate for the democrats rep A S mike dem okia okla dusted off another bromide when he charged the GOP majority with sett ng up a straw man to combat the menace of inflation that was the swan song for any anti antl inflation legislation during the special session although the senate was preparing to act on the house killed bill there appeared to be little likelihood that the cans would be able to put through their proposals thrift plan meanwhile although congress had g ven its approval to the apropo that interim relief should be rushed to europe and china the emergency aid issue continued to send forth echoes this time the struggle arose over the actual bill to appropriate the million dollars previously ap proved by congress the bouse house ap prop nations committee showing the same cutting ways it had ex habited earlier in the year toward budget requests knocked 88 98 million dollars off the original figure in pre pe paring the bill tor for floor action thus the bill earned carried only mil I 1 lion for winter relief the ampro privations pnat ions committee headed by rep john taber rep N Y said the cut was represented by items which would have been used by france and italy for payment of interest on their foreign debts and tor for making payments on commer cial accounts aroused at the republican dis play of economy democrats la belled the committee s action as an undercover attempt to hamstring the aid program they served no tice that they would attempt to re store the cut TRAINING in driving it a training course in automobile driving were made a requirement in the curriculum of every high school treffla deaths could be re deuced by 5 to 10 a year ac cord ng to dr wayne hughes diorec tor for of national safety council councils s col lege and school division A safety council survey made among cleveland high schools be tween 1939 and 1941 showed that ef driver training reduced aral fie accidents by 50 per cent the council said it is our firm belief that if U ev ery high school in the nation would put into effect such a course we would see miracles within five years dr hughes asserted officials pointed out that statistics tor for 1946 proved that mile for or mile the 15 24 age group was a third more dangerous behind the wheel than any other comparable segment of the population that group account ed tor for 33 8 per cent of th mhd nation s fatalities in 1948 1946 at present only 10 per cent of the 25 high schools in the U S have what the council regards as ade quate driver training courses and only a part of the schools conduct mg ing such courses have actual auto mobiles in operation |