OCR Text |
Show I Weekly IVews Analysis 1 ' Relief Crisis Faces Congress As WPA Runs Short of Funds I By Joseph W. La Bine I EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily oi the ne vspaper. Relief Already well worked out in White House circles are major points for leisurely congressional consideration. considera-tion. The points: (1) addition of millions to social security's tax-and-benefit plan; (2) a federal-state health program to cost $850,000,000 annually in 10 years, and to cost the U. S. government $65,000,000 the first year; (3) defense through rearmament rearma-ment and industrial mobilization; (4) railway aid, to be proposed jointly joint-ly by management and labor. Far more acute is the problem of feeding 3,262,000 U. S. citizens registered reg-istered on relief rolls November 5, and whose number has since been slashed drastically to make present funds last as long as possible. When congress voted $1,425,000,000 for relief re-lief last winter it stipulated the money mon-ey must last until March 1, 1939, but gave President Roosevelt the right to advance this deadline to February 1 in case of an emergen- JOHN L. LEWIS A'ol (600,000,000 but 1,000,000,000. cy. Either forgetting this stipula- , tion or hoping to scare the new congress con-gress into immediate action. Acting WPA Administrator Aubrey Williams Wil-liams now warns that WPA must shut down February 7 unless legislators legis-lators gallop to the rescue with ad- ditional funds.: How fast congress will gallop is another matter. Though President Roosevelt predicted last July that a $500,000,000 deficiency appropriation would carry WPA from March 1 to the end of this fiscal year (June 30), he has now announced through Senate Sen-ate Majority Leader Alben W. Bark-ley Bark-ley that an additional $100,000,000 will be needed. The anticipated situation: sit-uation: G. O. P. and independent Democrat legislators will fight for a thorough investigation of WPA "graft" and "politics," and will probably be reluctant to make a new appropriation until their curiosity curi-osity is satisfied. But whether this reluctance will be displayed over the $600,000,000 deficiency fund or next year's regular relief appropriation appropri-ation is anybody's guess. Loudest protest has come from John L. Lewis, president of the Congress Con-gress of Industrial Organizations. Demanding that congress" appropriate appropri-ate not $600,000,000 but $1,000,000,000 for immediate deficiency needs, he demands "no cuts" in relief rolls until private business can absorb the unemployment slack. The Lewis prognostication: "Unless action is taken within the first week of January, Janu-ary, 3,200,000 American workers and at least 10,000,000 human beings who depend on them will face disaster." Medicine Thus far no court has determined whether a medical association can be considered a trade under meaning mean-ing of the Sherman anti-trust act. But last October 17 the U. S. justice department's Trust Buster Thurman Arnold decided to find out. Placed under investigation was the District of Columbia Medical society. The charge: That organized Washington medical men fought the Group Health association (a medical cooperative co-operative of government workers) by harrasing Its doctors, keeping its patients out of hospitals and preventing members from getting proper care. Only two months had passed before be-fore Mr. Arnold's investigation was complete. At Washington, a federal grand jury found cause to indict three organized medical associations associa-tions and 21 professional leaders for violation of the Sherman act. Among indicted associations: the District of Columbia Medical society, American Ameri-can Medical association, Harris County (Texas) Medical society. Among indicted individuals: Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the A. M. A. Journal; Dr. Olin West, A. M. A. secretary and general manager; man-ager; Dr. William Dick Cutter, pres-tnt pres-tnt secretary of the association's council on medical education and hospitals. Law provides for one year in prison, pris-on, $5,000 Tine or both as penalty for conviction, but at best Mr. Arnold's case is nothing more than a test. From Washington's federal district 'court, a conviction would finally end up in the U. S. Supreme court, by which time the government will probably see no more nuisance value in its case. Behind the battle is organized medicine's loud objection to socialized social-ized medicine proposals made at last summer's public health conference. con-ference. Adamant to the point of anger, A. M. A. called a board of governors' meeting in Chicago and modified its original stand. Since then California's medical society has endorsed a public health program pro-gram and several other associations have shown favorable inclinations. Having started its investigation, the U. S. found it held a hot potato that could not be dropped. . Long before the case reaches its final stages, congress will probably approve ap-prove a federal-state public health program. Spain Last December 9, Rebel Generalissimo General-issimo Francisco Franco planned to start a whirlwind offensive in the Lerida area. Suddenly two sets of plans were missing, one smuggled across to Loyalist officers by a colonel. colo-nel. Later a British vice consul was found carrying more war plans in his brief case, though he was exonerated ex-onerated of responsibility. In the end General Franco stopped his war temporarily, arrested 800 plotters and decided his position was not so favorable as he might well desire. de-sire. Chief reason for Rebel dissention is the presence of Italian fighters along Franco frontiers, but to remove re-move Premier Mussolini's troops would cost the army considerable strength. Nor can the general blink at huge espionage activities, which mean that Rebel territory is heavily heav-ily populated with Loyalist sympathizers. sympa-thizers. Thus General Franco will probably delay his long-awaited offensive, of-fensive, to strengthen the moral position po-sition at home. Meanwhile, Loyalist Loyal-ist Spain will be able to relax and recuperate, strengthening its own forces through the delay. This situation looms important in the light of Great Britain's plan to grant General Franco belligerent rights. With Loyalist hopes much brighter, it would be foolish for London Lon-don to make this concession to win the friendship of Italy. Moreover, since the U. S. Red Cross plans to distribute wheat freely to both sides in the Spanish conflict, Great Brit-oo. Brit-oo. might thus find herself at swords-ends with Washington. Great Britain Periodically since the Munich treaty. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has held his breath while parliament voted on a motion of non-confidence. Each time he has won, yet each time the opposition opposi-tion gets stronger. Though still not powerful enough to threaten Mr. Chamberlain's personal position, his foes have found two definite points of vulnerability on which the prime minister must soon act: Appeasement. Since last summer Mr. Chamberlain has believed that England can avoid war only by keeping Germany and Italy contented content-ed through concessions. But every concession has been followed by more demands, and parliament is getting tired of it. On January 11 the prime minister will go to Rome, where observers predict he will of- ft ) YV Jf 1 r f ' ' . t , . ' . , . j fe .: J' - t ' Nfcj LESLIE IIORE-BELISIIA lie put his boss on the spot. fcr to win French territorial concessions conces-sions for rrcmier Mussolini. If he docs, and if he gels no adequate compensation, Mr. Chamberlain will become a virtual political suicide as the result. Armament. Though anxious to appease, ap-pease, England is also anxious to protect. During September's crisis trenches were dug, gas masks distributed, dis-tributed, anti-aircraft guns installed and defense li .iture distributed. When the crisis passed, highly publicized pub-licized War Minister Leslie Horc-Belisha Horc-Belisha arose to tell parliament how hopelessly inadequate and niesscd-up niesscd-up the defenses had been. Though this situation was Mr. IIorc-Belisha's responsibility, nothing happened to him. Hut while Mr. Chamberlain journeys about Europe in the role of peacemaker, level-headed homebodies home-bodies are beginning to demand removal re-moval of the war minister and the institution of a greatly speeded, greally expanded defense program. This would be n personal defeat for the prime minister, who appointed Mr. lloie-I!eli:ha to his present important im-portant post. Agriculture Each winter a new crop of agricultural agri-cultural ax-grinders appears in congress. Not to aid this year's crop, but because the law requires it, Secretary Henry A. Wallace's farm experts have just released salient sa-lient information on 1938 production. Facts and figures, with background from 1933: Taking total farm production from 1923 to 1932 as 100 per cent, succeeding suc-ceeding years have seen the aggregate aggre-gate slump to 88.2 per cent during 1933's drouth and cotton-plowing; drop again to 71.6 per cent in parched 1934; zoom to 94.6 per cent in 1935; sink to 79.6 in 1936; skyrocket sky-rocket to 113 in 1937. But in 1938, though acreage was 3.5 per cent below be-low the 10-year acreage, lush Mother Moth-er Nature came through with a crop of 104.8 per cent. Samples for 1938: 1938 1937 10-yr. av. Wheat930,801,000 876,000.000 752,891,000 Corn 2.542,238,000 2,651,000.000 2,306. 000.000 Oats 1.053,839.000 1,162,000,000 1,042,461,000 Thus, though the total went down, wheat went up. Meanwhile prices on everything went down and foreign for-eign nations became more self-sufficient self-sufficient than ever. Three-fifths of U. S. senators and congressmen know their farmer constituents have an acute problem, as does Secretary Secre-tary Wallace. But while congressional congres-sional ax-grinders may attempt to throw out AAA (possibly substituting substitut-ing the domestic allotment plan which would peg home prices and dump surpluses at world prices) Secretary Wallace hopes congress will give AAA another chance. Critics of AAA maintain that recent re-cent referenda on marketing quotas quo-tas for cotton, rice and tobacco gave Mr. Wallace's program a rebuff, but the secretary thinks otherwise. While rice and tobacco growers turned thumbs down, cotton producers produc-ers accepted what he calls "the most extreme and controversial s?? x' - - f, V? - ' - v ' - 'I ; is . i?, - V 1 ,x ; V 1 y . I SECRETARY WALLACE (f ill AAA get another chance? phase of AAA." Like the farm bureau's bu-reau's Edward O'Neil, Mr. Wallace thinks his program sound: "I am confident that (AAA) principles will be continued and that they will be strengthened and improved to be of more benefit to farmers." Meanwhile, not waiting for the much-feared acreage reduction orders or-ders (which will possibly be smaller small-er than many anticipate), U. S. winter win-ter wheat farmers are voluntarily cutting production in the hope of raising next year's price. First estimates es-timates on the new winter crop call for 385,000,000 bushels, the smallest crop since 1935. China Last autumn China's Generalissimo Generalissi-mo Chiang Kai-shek picked up his coat tails and fled to the interior, looking little more important than one of his untrained, unkempt soldiers. sol-diers. With Japan pressing him hard, the smart, benevolent dictator set up headquarters at Chungking. Western democracies, watching Japan Ja-pan close China's "open door," thought Kai-shek was as futile a hope as their once-prosperous trade with the Orient. But during December both the U. S. and Great Britain made a surprising turnabout, granting China Chi-na huge loans to develop her western west-ern provinces. At first it looked like democracies were merely applying ap-plying a clover squeeze play against China, but late developments prove that Chiang Kai-shek not the U. S. or Britain did the squeezing. The well-confirmed report: That Kai-shek called both U. S. Ambassador Ambas-sador Nelson T. Johnson and British Brit-ish Ambassador Sir Archibald Clark Kerr to his Chungking stronghold, telling them bluntly that democracies democra-cies could choose between (1) giving giv-ing him aid and protecting their interests in-terests in the Orient, or (2) watching watch-ing him turn to Russia or even Germany for help against Japan. Meanwhile U. S. -British action has given China confidence and aroused Japanese hostility. While French labor leaders began calling call-ing for a boycott on Japanese goods, Tokyo papers urged use of "actual power" against Great Britain and the U. S. One idea: To return Britain's Brit-ain's crown colony of Hong Kong to "Chinese" sovereignty. Miscellany At Detroit, public bus dt'ivem were ordered to take passengers to their own doorsteps New Year's ev between hours ef midnight and 6 a. m. At Mexico City, the government-owned government-owned telegraph system announced a one hour daily period when complaints com-plaints can be sent by Mexicans to President Cardcnat1 five of charge. |