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Show . feHiinB rttAay7ashington By Walter Shead AS THE TWO political parUei prepare for the long battle to the November election, it appears that the American people have some fine hairs to split to determine deter-mine the winner of the presidential contest. For, as Is customary at the close of the fiscal year, over economist, econ-omist, government and private, and all large business trade groups including in-cluding the United States Chamber Cham-ber of Commerce, come out with their predictions for business during dur-ing the coming year . . . and all, without exception predict business will be good and employment high. In its prognostications the U.S. Chamber reported a $40 billion Increase In-crease in the gross national product prod-uct during the past year and a rise of $13 billion In the national income , in the first quarter of the year. Prices have remained stable, personal per-sonal savings continued to climb, tremendous expansions are planned by the oil, chemicals and electric power industries, the defense program pro-gram is "now really beginning to roll" and will preceed without undue un-due hardship to the civilian economy. econ-omy. The disturbing factor, the Chamber Cham-ber said, was the ponderous government gov-ernment payrolls. Total civilian employment rose in May to 61.2 million and the roll of unemployed remained at a post-war low of 1.8 million. In any ordinary year such a rosy report as this, particularly from the most constant critic of the administration in power, would be enough to win an election. However, it appears this one Is not going to be any ordinary election. elec-tion. One issue, of course, will be on foreign policy and the Korean war. The 82nd congress adjourned for the conventions with more work left undone than was accomplished. As is usually the case, for six months the congress fritters away long hours on useless debate and then come down to the last week and passes a whole raft of measures of which 73 'per cent of the membership member-ship does not know the content. On the huge money appropriations, over which they have wrangled all sessions, huge sums are added or slashed from the totals and a mere handful of one house or the othor ratify by voice vote after hearing reports of the Conference committees. commit-tees. The house really went wild on the controls bills, and was bailed out by the Senate just as it happened in the passing of the 1951 version of the defense production act. There were many amendments, slashes, cuts, contradictions, and the conference con-ference committee worked long hours in bringing some semblance of order to the weakened bill. While it was far from the administration bill presented, it still gave controls over wages, prices, rents, credits and allocations for another 10 months. As it left the house, it was a politic club in the hands of the administration, since the house had killed price controls but hung onto wage controls, thus lifting the lid on everything the working man had to buy but keeping a lid on his wages . . . and that act may have repercussions in many labor centers cen-ters in the coming election. Overriding veto of the McCarran bill on immigration was a bitter pill for the President to take, the proponents winning by one vot over the necessary two-thirds While the President admitted there were some good features In the blithe said they were so embedded in un-American and other bad fea tures it was Impossible for him U sign it. However the bill become law, at least until the next congres |