OCR Text |
Show ! WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Harvest This Year Second Largest In U.S. History, Government Says; Reds Purge Czech Property-Owners (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Witness ii1: ft.! V::;;: M,::W' : ;; xfSsia C$- P W-i-STf9 .1:11111 it " vWfc?v ' BURLEY: U.S. Likes Quotas The government took first steps toward continuing existing rigid marketing controls on burley tobacco to-bacco amid calls by agriculture secretary Charles Brannan for another three-year control program pro-gram and for views by interested persons on the question. BRANNAN'S REQUEST for the three-year extension of control on the burley crops stemmed from the fact that this year's prospective production of about 590 million pounds is well above the current annual rate of disappearance. The leftover of burley on October 1, the beginning- of the 1949-crop-marketing year, was estimated at 970 million pounds about 7.5 per cent above that of a year ago. It was the highest on record. Brannan, in asking for expressions expres-sions of views by interested persons, per-sons, was acting under requirements require-ments of the law. The question is expected to be submitted to a referendum ref-erendum in December. Approval byat least two thirds of those voting vot-ing would be required. QUOTAS for the 1947, 1948 and 1949 crops were voted in 1946. Brannan is also required by law to proclaim quotas by December 1 if he finds there is a surplus within terms of the law, and there would be few who would not concede that a surplus exists. BIG STEEL: Try, Try Again The government was pledged to do its best to bring peace into the steel industry. MORE AND MORE meetings had been arranged in an effort to end the deadlock between workers and operators. Cyrus Ching, U. S. conciliator director, made the first peace move in the extended strike when he arranged informal meetings meet-ings with steel companies and the striking CIO United Steelworkers. Both sides had been holding doggedly to their pre-strike positions posi-tions the union for company-paid insurance and pensions recommended recom-mended by a presidential board, and the industry for welfare benefits bene-fits with workers helping to foot the bill. SOME COMPANIES had agreed to accept the union terms, but this did not mean strike's end. The stakes were big in the contest. con-test. Where big steel went there would go most of U. S. industry, inasmuch as steel usually sets the pattern in wage and labor nego-' tiations. HARVEST: Second Largest America's horn of plenty con-1 con-1 tinued to go all out in its production produc-tion of food for the world. Latest crop summary of the U.S. department of agriculture showed that good harvest weather would assure the nation of its second largest larg-est volume of crops in history, topped only by the record-breaking haul of 1948. EQUALLY important was the fact that a record supply of corn was on tap for producing meat, dairy and poultry products, i , The month of September brought conditions sufficiently favorable to boost total production prospects 1 per cent, despite a slight decline in the corn estimate. Total crop volume was indicated at 131 per cent of the 1923-1932 base level, second only to last year's 137 per cent. However, present indications are that this may be the last year for some time that crop production reaches such astronomical heights. As surpluses were mounting almost alarmingly, the .government was preparing to take action to reduce output next year. There was every likelihood that market quotas would be slapped on some of the basic crops which have been overflowing into storage in recent years. THIS YEAR'S huge output is the result of fairly large production of most individual crops, rather than record-breaking yields of just a tew. Nearly 128 million tons of livestock-feed grains are being pro-duced pro-duced this year, including a corn 1 crop of about 3.47 billion bushels. Last year's corn crop of 3.65 billion bushels set an all-time record. The 36.5 billion tons of food grains now estimated, though exceeded in each of the past three seasons, is greater than in any earlier year. Included in this figure is a bumper wheat crop of 1.12 billion bushels, virtually all of which has been harvested. har-vested. CONGRESS: (7 Half a Loaf The first session of the 81st congress con-gress headed toward an October adjournment with less than half of President Truman's program written writ-ten into law. THE PRESIDENT could count 15 major accomplishments, by his reckoning, at least, on the part of the congress he helped ride into office last November. Left as unfinished business for the 1950 congressional campaign, however, were a number of highly controversial proposals among the 22 requests that Mr. Truman had laid before the present session without getting final action. Chief among these is the Taft-Hartley Taft-Hartley act repeal, which was turned down in both houses during this session. The President undoubtedly un-doubtedly will revive the issue in January, and the outcome this time may depend upon how some special elections this year to fill senate and house vacancies turn out. SOME OF THE other requests which Mr. Truman is almost sure to re-introduce early next year will be for a system of compulsory health insurance, civil rights legislation, legis-lation, standby price-wage controls and the passage of "Point 4" legislation legis-lation to guarantee U.S. support in developing backward areas of the world. PAY BOOST: For Cabinet There was good news for cabinet members, who have been plugging along at the same old salary ever since 1925. A joint senate-house conference managed to arrive at an agreement to boost cabinet members' salaries sal-aries from $15,000 to $22,500 a year. THE CONGRESSIONAL group also approved pay raises for some 200 other top-drawer federal officialsat offi-cialsat a cost of $1,087,000 annually. an-nually. In addition to raising cabinet salaries, sal-aries, the pay bill will: GRANT Undersecretary of Defense De-fense Steve Early $20,000 a year instead of $14,500, and the armed-forccs armed-forccs secretaries $18,000 a year instead of $14,000. Most of the undersecretaries of the varioui departments will go up from $10,330 to $17,500. J. Edgar Hoover who, as head of the FBI, now receives $14,000 will get a raise to $16,000. Admiral Arthur W. Radford took the stand before the house armed services committee to testify that current defense plans and military setup relegate rele-gate the navy to a role "useless "use-less and inadequate" in the event of an atomic war. CZECH PURGE: Slow Terror Slow terror, the kind that eventually even-tually is born in persons living under any totalitarian government, was seeping through Communist Czechoslovakia. Cause of it was a Red purge, aimed primarily at supposed bourgeois bour-geois elements, but leaving no man, be he a Communist party member mem-ber or not free from the fear that he may become a victim sooner or later. UNCONFIRMED reports of the total seized or marked for arrest in the Communist police roundups ranged between 30,000 and 40,000. No information was being given, either as to causes, results or any other details of the widespread arrests. ar-rests. The pattern of the purge was clear. Landlords, architects, confectioners con-fectioners and other small shopkeepers shop-keepers were being picked up and their business confiscated. In some cases, their apartments were seized and families dispossessed. In the main, it was a drive against Czechoslovakia's propertied proper-tied classes, theoretically the mortal mor-tal enemies of Marxist communism. HOWEVER, the prosecution of the property owners was accompanied accom-panied throughout Bohemia and Moravia by purges of government employees, the clergy, army and even the Communist ranks. Charges, where there were any, ranged from high treason and sympathy with Titoism or "western imperialism" to simple denunciations denuncia-tions by snoopers who had overheard over-heard suspicious bits of conversation. conversa-tion. Possible hint as to the reason behind the purge was the report that the government is having trouble not only in its campaign to control the Roman Catholic church, but also its efforts to prod higher production out of the workers. CHINESE REDS: Win Diplomats Was it a case of rats deserting a sinking ship? That might have been a plausible plaus-ible construction of the move as Chinese diplomatic-staff members in Paris deserted to the Communist regime at Peking and called on Chinese diplomats throughout the world to follow their example. GEORGE MONG, counselor of the Paris embassy, made the announcement. an-nouncement. He reported that 11 diplomats, eight from the embassy and three from the consulate had walked out on Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government at Canton. The development posed a problem prob-lem for the French foreign ministry's minis-try's Asiatic affairs section. They were particularly concerned by the threat of a rebel sit-in at the embassy. em-bassy. However, the issue was resolved re-solved when the French moved firmly to back up the Nationalists and struck the dissident Chinese envoys off its diplomatic list. THE FRENCH difficulty was clear. While Paris still recognized the Nationalist government, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the western powers eventually may recognize the Communist regime re-gime of Mao Tze-tung. Already there have been conversations on I that subject. NAVY: Blue Fading The man with the charming smile, the iron will and a weakness weak-ness for salt water and blue uniforms uni-forms was no longer in the White House. Top man in U. S. government, govern-ment, instead, was a hard-bitten captain of artillery in World War I, an army enthusiast with little in common with sailors. THUS THE NAVY, embattled against a horde of critics, detractors, de-tractors, and air-minded big brass was literally fighting for its life before congress. The battle dragged on and on, while the huge B-36, world's largest bomber, shook and bumped about in the verbal hurricane hurri-cane raging in Washington. The U. S. air force, for the moment, mo-ment, at least, held the center of the stage, seemed assured of most support. The navy, according to one witness, would be relegated to the status of a convoy force if present unification plans for the armed services were carried out. Hitting out viciously at the air force, the navy declared building of the B-36 was an inexcusable waste of taxpayer money, claimed the big ship could never do the job expected of it, argued and fought for a chance at a duel between be-tween the navy and the bomber. Conferee V Lfc. .... x.&x&J John L. Lewis, chief of the United Mine Workers, coal miners' union, shown as he met with mediators in Washington Wash-ington in an effort to settle the coal strike. BENEFITS: For War I Vets President Truman signed into law a bill increasing disability and dependence payments to World War I veterans by an estimated 112 million dollars annually. Among its major provisions were: Provide full compensation, Instead In-stead of 75 per cent, for veterans whose disability is presumed to have resulted from war service. Increase the length of time for which payments may be made. |