Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS berlin crisis hears showdown first draft begins special session opens Cam campaign L by bill gen staff writer EDITOR S 5 NOTE when opinion opinions are expressed in these columns they are those 0 f western newspaper news paper va un on s news analysts and not neo essar ly of this s new newspaper sr 1 al 10 0 NOT YET BUT SOON josh sergeant now vou but just wait a few months BERLIN showdown Show doun the old familiar pattern ot of just one crisis after another in the cold war between russia on the one hand and the western allies on the other was being repeated again in the berlin showdown but an un easy world watched anxiously fearful that at any moment some crisis might explode into actual warfare urgency of the berlin crisis re suited in the recall of gen lucius D clay U S military command er in germany and his top cal adviser ambassador robert murphy for a firsthand report on the situation clay conferred with president truman state secretary marshall and army secretary royall on means of carrying out the amen can government governments s intention to stay in berlin despite the concerted rus sian drive to force the western powers out the official line was laid down by secretary marshall who said that while the united states would not be coerced or intimidated by the russian blockade of berlin the ad ministration nevertheless will proceed to reach an acceptable tion to avoid the tragedy of war although rumors that the berlin blockade might prove the spark that would enkindle fighting war fare permeated official quarters the U S position appeared to be that this country hopes to avoid war however if the russians are determined to cause more serious trouble at berlin this government is determined to resist force with force it is equally determined to avoid taking any step which might make the situation more serious as long as negotiation and other diplomatic means remain open there will be many more talks much painstaking deliberation among the western powers in con lection with the exchange of notes regarding the berlin blockade ir retrievably linked up as it Is with the over all german settlement marking the high water mark in the deepening berlin crisis and lending emphasis to the de tion to back up its policy that american troops will not leave berlin the united states dispatched powerful reinforcements to its air arm in strife torn europe A big question mark still con berned russia a ultimate objectives was the kremlin merely trying to drive the allies out of berlin or was this but another step in the funda mental objective of moving the iron curtain inexorably westward coun try by country until it embraced the whole heartland of europe DRAFT blows strong america a first draftees 1948 style are going to be whisked into uniform so fast they won t know what hit them the draft proceedings will start rolling monday august 30 when the first of 9 youths will register registrations will con dinue on 17 designated days extend ing to september 18 from these millions of men volunteer draft boards throughout the nation will select the manpower to match the material build up of air land and sea forces called for under the rearmament program military men are set to welcome the first draftees draftee sl into their ranks any time after september 22 under th law actual drafting cannot start until that date the presidential proclamation setting the reg istra tion dates did not specify when in I 1 FOOD consumes dough confirming suspicions which house wives have held for many months department of commerce analysts reported that food stores easily get a bigger part of the retail dollar now than any other bus ness food stores are doing far better than be tore fore the war by taking in 27 6 cents of each dollar spent in retail chan nels in 1940 by comparison their share was 23 5 cents according to the report would begin but they are not expected to start before october 1 the first draftee it is indicated will be 25 unmarried and a non veteran registration dates specified by mr truman for each age follow the oldest group meaning men born in 1922 after august 30 1922 will be registered on monday august 30 men bom born in 1823 1923 august 31 and september I 1 men bom born in 1924 september 2 and 3 men bom born in 1925 september 4 and 7 men bom born in 1928 1926 september 8 and 9 1 men born in 1927 september 10 and 11 men born in 1928 1923 september 13 and 14 men bom born in 1929 september 15 and 16 men born in 1930 before septem her 19 september 17 and 18 the proclamation stated that youths bora born after september 19 1930 will register on their eighteenth birthday or within five days thereafter about 1200 I 1 youths come into this category yearly CAMPAIGN advanced with the kickoff advanced six weeks through president truman a action in calling congress back into special session the american people are in for one of the most heated and intensive presidential campaigns in recent history the whole political calendar r has been advanced this year the president presidents s opening message to the recalled congress signaled the ini bial salvo in the campaign which will be in full swing until the november balloting normally national candidates wait until after labor day before entering into thorough going dis cassion of the issues of the cam bogn this year a s campaign also be came more involved with the addi tion of third and fourth parties to the field although its ticket of henry wal lace for president and glenn taylor for vice president was in the field month ago third party adherents followed the republicans and democrats to philadelphia for their nominating convention rebellious southern democrats after walking out on their regular party conclave gathered in bir mingham ala to enter a fourth party in the field heading the states rights ticket are gov J strom thurmond of south carolina for president and gov field ing L wright of mississippi for vice president the states rights democrats have shown their greatest strength in alabama and mississippi where a combined 20 electoral vot votes es are pledged against mr truman CRACKDOWN on reds uneasiness over the foreign sit bation was reflected in two actions directed against subversive ele meats ments on the home front in the greatest crackdown in his tory on the communist party in this country a special federal grand jury in new york indicted 12 party leaders on charges of con and agitating to overthrow the U S government and of being members of a party which threat ens overthrow of the government the special grand jury to delve into communist activity was creat ed in june 1947 by order of atty gen tom C dark clark included in the roundup were william Z foster party chairman and several times communist can didace for president of the U S benjamin davis new york city councilman john gates editor of the daily worker and several members of the communist na dional board almost simultaneously charges that everal hundred foreign agents have used the united nations to cover subversive activities here were hurled by state department representatives at a senate commit tee hearing robert C alexander assistant chief of the department departments s visa corn com mission declared that some of the agents were employees of the unit ed nations or came here in some way related to the U N such per sors are covered by the aterna dional immunities act passed in 1945 surprised at the charges united nations officials insisted that it was up to the state department to back up the charges with facts A check on nationalities of U N staff members showed that of a total of 2 there were 1463 1 for eigners from the iron curtain countries there were but many were appointed before the change of governments put their homelands into the russian sphere that man again 3 0 14 31 04 maj gen lewis D hershey ts Is sworn in as director of tive service for the second time hershey who will direct the na eions tion s first peacetime draft held the same post during world war ti U of money aloney there are potential stacks ot of money in the stacks of straw which annually go to waste on U S farms although the paper industry offers a large potential market for the product farmers last year burned or did not use about 38 million tons of straw according to department of agriculture estimates recent technical advances have made possible a large expansion of the market for straw it has been found suitable for blending with wood pulp to make fine papers and also can be used tn in the manufacture of v various a r I 1 0 u a insulating building board products principal industrial use for straw at present Is in mak ing corrugated strawboard which Is used as a liner in cartons and boxes some straw also is used tor for coarse grades of wrapping paper research by the department of agriculture laboratory at peoria ill indicates that straw pulp can be substituted for 25 to 40 per cent of the wood pulp now used in fine and specialty papers the strawboard industry was es in this country around 1800 1900 when wheat was harvested with binders and threshed every wheat farm then had its straw stack and the straw could be baled when the combine harvester came into general use most of the straw stacks disappeared development of pickup balers however once again have made straw collection on the farm a practical operation in normal times it Is estimated the farmer may add 8 to 20 per cent to his cash income from wheat by collecting and selling the straw WAR still costs the costs of war continue long after the battles cease A grateful uncle sam already has expended 8 billion million dollars to re turning veterans during the first four years of the G I 1 bill of rights veterans administration reports accounting for that total were 14 million thousand benefits it Is impossible to determine the exact number of world war 11 vet erans who shared in this payment |