Show NEWS REVIEW el YIE W aid for china asked senate AX budget cut although it was obvious that his heart wasn gasn t in it president tru man presented congress with a re quest for million dollars to be sent to china as a prop for the foundering economy of chiang kal kai shek s nationalist government white house and state depart ment sources admitted that the re quest was something less tharl a half measure and claimed that the president had acted under pressure from the republican congress which has insisted that the U S must support chiang against the communist revolution in connection with the european recovery plan at best the million dollars Is a token gesture just a chip in rela tion to the vast amount of timber that would be needed to restore the rotting derelict of chiang s govern ment theory behind this latest exten sion of aid which will be used to finance chinese imports of cereals petroleum coal fertilizer and so forth is that the money will enable chiang s government to free other resources for purchase of arms and ammunition to continue the fight against the communist guerrillas but that is more of an idle hope than a valid theory because the government forces despite their american arms and equipment are being bested consistently by the communists BUDGET CUT indifferent W th little discussion and a good 9 deal of outright indifference the senate adopted a resolution to cut pres dent truman s fiscal 1949 budget by 2 5 bill on dollars how much significance the sen ate resolution would have in the final analysis was questionable in view of prevail ng uncertainties which might affect both sides of the ledger the 2 5 billion dollar reduction would leave an estimated 10 bill on dollars for tax cuts and debt deduc tion republicans therefore were feeling increasingly confident that an income tax slash of up to 5 bil lion dollars could be enacted brevity of the senate discussion and its lack of apoplectic oratory was in direct contrast to last year s strident contest over the budget committee committees s recommendation of a 6 billion dollar cut in the 1948 budget democrats made no effort t to block the proposed spending i slash ilah which had been recommended by the house senate budget committee it still requires house adoption biggest bug in the senate s budget recommendation was the fact that it probably embodied a number of inaccurate estimates republican sponsors of the measure admitted that accurate estimates of budget needs were impossible at the time sen styles bridges rep N II 11 chairman of the budget committee compared the estimates with a pre game guess at the final score but sen alben barkley dem dern ky called the procedure a step in the dark IRELAND new premier even to members of the eire as who had helped defeat him it was strange to see eamon de valera premier of ireland for 16 years sitting quietly on the opposite side of the house as leader of the opposition in his place as premier was john A costello former attorney gen eral whom the assembly had voted into office after a new six party co had taken control of the leg isla tive group as a result of the previous elections costello in a dignified speech to the assembly explained his sudden emergence as premier of ireland I 1 consented to this nomination at the request of a number of parties who felt that the interest of the country required that there should be an inter party government and that the premier of that govern ment should occupy a position in political life detached from the con trover sial bitterness of the past the inter party government whose choice costello was is corn coin pounded of six political parties of apparently divergent ideals re publican united ireland labor na dional labor independent and farmers fa rm ers just how long a government made up of so many diverse corn com ponente would last was the subject of much speculation in ireland in their present cooperative mood the parties of the coalition may carry on for a year or two but few were prepared to give the government a much longer span of life CAT FEET first a dream like the fog that comes on little cat feet carl sandburg honored and honorable free verse poet and voluminous biographer of lincoln was creeping into the senatorial race in illinois A hitherto almost imperceptible drive supporting sandburg as a pos sible candidate for senator picked up considerable impe with the release Z of a public opinion pall indicating that he might become a popular choice over the t h e democratic candidate paul H douglas and the republican candi SANDBURG date sen C way land brooks As far as the question of how a poet can turn into a politician is concerned those favoring him lurn say he is a good man he understands the common people and is educated avd well informed about the coun try s needs the opposition claims he is politically inexperienced and since he is a writer is an cal dreamer and an idealist but sandburg the poet once wrote the c ts is a dream nothing happens unless first a dream |