Show 79 14 iki III lii 0 0 0 a 0 6 0 M 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 this past week in congress has seen both sen senate ate and house marching two ways the senate talking about economy and actually shaving about a billon dollars off the defence bill with the house in seeming contradiction whooped thru a veteran i bonus bill which will coast nobody knows how many billion i i and also a new postoffice posto post fuce fOce pork I 1 I 1 barrel bill which appropriated i to buy sites and 1 prepare structures for every I 1 1 1 I 1 congressional district in the i I 1 country the senate passed a sim similar bill back bacon on search march 18 is and presumably more funds will be forthcoming later for any actual construction work i i whether the soldier bonus bill which includes all veterans I 1 of both world war I 1 and II 11 will now get on the senate calendar at this late date Is conjectural insofar as the peace and other foreign program measures are concerned the first thing on the calendar is passage of the extension of the reciprocal trade agree agreements ments which expire on june 30 in the last congress it will bo be remembered with the backing of both governor dewey dewcy of new york and governor warren of california the congress ref refused used the usual three year extension and made the agreements good only until the june date this year this year however the agreements have been blueprinted blue printed as an indispensable part of the marshall plan this question of garfs tays taps has been under constant attack since 1934 when under the pressure of the then secretary of state cordell hull and president roosevelt the first reciprocal cipro cal trade agreements were enacted they have been fought as now deal ever since despite the fa fact c t that as far back as 1906 a republican president mckinley said that isolation was dead and the way to peace and prosperity was through reciprocity treaties president truman is now insisting that his congressional leaders oci ocl also consider his point four program in the must legislation for this congress the legislation has been drafted and proposes a coordinated plan for the united states and the united nations to develop the resources industries and standards of living of that large part of the world where there here are backward areas al and 1 sub standard living r the first part of t the e program deals with policy provisions for setting up the machinery and providing technical assistance to those backward countries which can now use it it likely will operate under the state department although eventually I 1 it t may require a separate agency the second part of the program is designed to employ private enterprise and private risk capital and to this end some guarantees are arc being written into the legislation against depreciation pre clation of currencies and specialization bation or expropriation of industries the united states is expected to contribute about 50 the first year under related programs this country already is committed t to 0 about of this amount other industrial countries such as england and france arc are scheduled to put in about 18 in case casc ah ariy early arly adjournment prevents passage of the le legisla isla isia tion lion there is stopgap stop gap machinery already sel sot up for starting the point four program in the bill known as the U S informational and aduca dional exchange act of 1048 it has in it authorization for technical assistance even though it wa wasla bled bied the voice of america program when it went through congress other legislation involved in our economic program as it affects our foreign polity policy include the international wheat agreement and U S membership in the international trade organization the wheat Tre Tr atry catry which died in the congress is up again the ITO faces difficult sledding it is proposed according to its sponsors to prevent economic warfare and establish a code oj of fair dealing in foreign trade it is set up to tackle such problems as cartels surpluses full employment and the formalities which discourage free trade ITO is back by the committee for economic devel opy ment various and church groups and trade union unions ii ila iia howe however veri verp contains ma points 1 ants which according to the united cited states chamber of commerce and the Nat national ional fonal association of manufacturers would prevent effective usefulness opponents of the plan to pla pia pince place c the the entire authority over in the hands of the secretary of agriculture won a victory in the we senate when the conf conference 1 arence report on the measure came back bade I 1 to the senate the house had in aisted that members of the should be name named d by the secretary I 1 of agriculture and ami serve herue at his discretion |