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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Bethlehem Steel Signs With Union; . Confusion Shrouds Defense Policy; Industry Profits Reflect Up-Trend EDITOR'8 NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of "Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Slowing Down J :) 1 L i w j life &4 ' , - & ess 1 RELIGION: New Concept Urged When man finds himself unable to cope with the myraid problems that beset him, when there seems to be no avenue toward solution within himself, he is wont to turn to the concept of Divine aid for the help he needs. AS THIS IS TRUE of most individuals, in-dividuals, it is essentially true of this nation, as evidenced by the motto on its coins, the frequent allusions to the Divinity in its constitution con-stitution and laws. But, it seemed, a new concept, s new dedication to religion was needed. President Harry Truman himself went on the air to emphasize empha-size that need. His broadcast was part of the program, "Religion in American Life," sponsored by the Federal Council of Churches, the Synagogue Council of America, and 18 other religious bodies. The President urged every American Amer-ican to take an active part in the religious life of his community and give generous support to religious institutions. Turning to the perplexed world situation of today, he declared that every problem in the world could be solved "if men would live by the principles of the ancient prophets i and the Sermon on The Mount." BUT, he added, that religion is like freedom "we cannot take it for granted." "Man to be free," the President ; said, "must work at it. And man ! to be truly religious must work at ! that, too. Unless men live by their faith and practice their faith in their daily lives, religion cannot be i a living force in the world today." BARKLEY: He Made It j He said he had no way of know-I know-I ing whether he'd "make the grade," ! but he made it. On Halloween eve, i Vice-President Alben W. Barkley's ; plans to marry his Missouri sweet-j sweet-j heart, Mrs. Carleton Hadley, were j announced. With the wedding i would culminate a romance' that had the entire nation looking on ! with eager and excited interest. THE VICE-PRESIDENT is 71 and i a widower. Mrs. Hadley is 38 and i a widow. Mr. Barkley's age, how-' how-' ever, was no apparent obstacle to his courtship, just as it hasn't been to his political and governmental , accomplishments. An ardent and active suitor, he 'squired Mrs. Hadley Had-ley to numerous social affairs, . al-1 al-1 most commuted to Missouri from Washington as the courtship progressed. pro-gressed. Mrs. Estell Rucker, mother of ' Mrs. Hadley, was all smiles when she was told of the proposed nuptials. nup-tials. "I've been sitting on a volcano," volca-no," she said. "It suddenly blew : up. All this excitement!" The Hadley-Barkley romance be-l be-l gan last spring at Washington when the two met at a party iri her honor by Clark Gifford, presidential adviser. ad-viser. PRESIDENT TRUMAN was duly notified of the event and, it was said, would be present at the wedding. wed-ding. GYPSIES: Free os Ever In Belfast, Ireland, there was sounded a new and lighter note in the dismal refrain of world confusion. con-fusion. Gypsies, with freedom of movement move-ment since time immemorial, were supported by the minister of home affairs when efforts were made to crack down on them and other itinerants in northern Ireland. THE MINISTER of home affairs took the view that proposed legislation legisla-tion was "rather too drastic to-meet to-meet a situation which Is more of an annoyance to individuals than a threat to community well-being. One complaint, issued to bolster the proposed legislation, was that the gypsies tramped down crops. Missing BIG STEEL: The Break Comes The break had come in the steel strike. The United Steelworkers had .signed an agreement with the Bethlehem steel corporation ending end-ing the strike for that company's 0,000 workers and breaking the otherwise solid front that had been maintained by big ' steel in the strike issue. IT WAS A TRIUMPH for CIO's President Philip Murray who announced an-nounced that the agreement called lor Bethlehem to pay the full cost of minimum $100-a-month pensions r lor all employees 65 or over with 25 years of service. A social insurance insur-ance plan also was included in the agreement. Bethlehem, the industry's second largest producer, was the first unit of big steel to capitulate to union demands for a company-financed pension and welfare plan. No one could say just how much the pension program would cost the steel company per hour for each employee once it begins operating. - It was expected the pension plan would start to function in January and the social insurance program would get underway at about the same time. Murray told newsmen that a ""very conservative" estimate of the pension cost to the company would be about 10 cents an hour, but added actuarial studies would have -to be made before the cost could be determined definitely. THE CIO LEADER said the Bethlehem action would set a pattern pat-tern for the steel industry, but declined de-clined to say what companies he 7 -was talking to privately. "Big Steel," speaking through XJ.S. Steel corporation President Benjamin F. Fairless said: "We renew our earlier proposals to sit down with the steelworkers union in an endeavor to negotiate a mutually satisfactory program ... of course we will study the Bethlehem settlement." The question was: How long would the remainder of "big steel" hold out? The Bethlehem pact was - . a forceful argument for the unions lor, they could argue, if Bethlehem can do it, so can you. STETTINIUS: Was Hard Worker With the death of Edward R. Stettinius, another major figure of the Roosevelt era pased from the American scene. The former secretary secre-tary of state died of a heart attack at the age of 49. STETTINIUS' contributions to his government were many and valuable. val-uable. A rich man's son, he scorned jha life of leisure and, instead, de-iermined de-iermined to make his own way, which he did rather well; He was chairman of the U.S. steel corporation corpora-tion at the age of 37. At 44, he was U.S. secretary of state, the top cabinet post. He was lend-lease administrator, ad-ministrator, taking over that post in 1941, a job in which he directed the 60-billion-dollar flow of supplies sup-plies that played a major role in defeat of the axis powers. Youngest secretary of state since the administration of George Washington, Wash-ington, Stettinius held the post only 11 months. He resigned to become the first U.S. delegate to the United Nations general assembly. He was one of Roosevelt's advisers at the Yalta conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Indicative of the general slowdown slow-down in industry and field affected af-fected by it as a result of the coal strike is this photo of a store of the Westland mine of the Pittsburgh coal company. Because sales dropped so much with miners out of work, the store cut its operating hours from 9 each day to 4. DEFENSE: Some Confusion It was difficult to reconcile Mr. Truman's constant emphasis on the grave defense problem, that he said confronts the nation, with his slashing slash-ing of the air force budget which limited the groups to 58, and the more recent decision of the navy to cut 31 warships from the active fleet. THESE ACTIONS served only to intensify the average citizen's confusion con-fusion and puzzlement as to what actually is the status of the country's coun-try's defense needs. The navy's top admiral had been ousted because he contended present pres-ent defense policies would destroy navy value and effectiveness. Other navy officials were facing probable punishment for speaking out. Unification Uni-fication and harmony were urged on all sides as a desperate need if this nation is to protect itself in the world of today. Despite all that, the air force was to be less than its generals declared de-clared it should be and the navy was being deprived of much of its strength. This left still hanging the question of who was right in the row over armed service unification and the proper defense setup. THE NAVY was taking 77 ships out of active service cutting the operating fleet by 31 warships in line with fund reductions. The fleet by mid-1950 will be made up of 237 combat vessels, instead of the 268 it had on September 1. Most of the cut was to be in the Atlantic force. . It was also reported that 54,891 men will be whittled from the navy and marine corps by next July to. correspond with the reduction in ships. INDUSTRY: Profits Climb The first upward trend in U.S. industry profits since the peak of earnings was reached in the third quarter of 1948 was reported in New York. Profits turned around and headed upward in the third quarter of 1949, the report said, and pointed out that 1948 was a banner year that surpassed sur-passed even the fabulous 1929. Thus it appeared that industry earnings were at a record peak. BUT THE PICTURE was not quite as bright as it may have appeared. ap-peared. Washington had a different ; Vl"-V - ; C '1 ALBANIA: 'New 'Strong Man' The Communists were beginning to throw their weight around in Albania. A new Communist "strong man," Lt. Gen. Mehmet Shehu, Moscow-trained army chief of staff, was reported gradually taking over control from Premier Hoxha. ACCORDING to reports reaching western diplomats, Shehu appears to be the actual ruler of the country. coun-try. Hoxha, Albanian leader for live years, was reported to have been shoved into the background although he retains the title of premier. The "strong man'" is only 36 and .J he not only is the boss of the army, but also chief of the secret police, interior minister and vice-premier. He is described as the most ruthless ruth-less Communist in Albania. He gained considerable fame in Albania Alban-ia during the war by leading the first Albanian partisan division in many deadly raids against Germans Ger-mans and Italians. NICKEL CUT: Howl of Protest t The Eatonton, Ga., city council recently devaluated the nickel and right away got a taste of the trouble Britain is having with the pound sterling. The value of the nickel went down when the council raised the price of soft drinks by levying a penny tax. The bottling business immediately went to pot. Some store quit ielling loda pop altogether al-together to escape the customer ire. report. Commerce Secretary Sawyer Saw-yer reported that the coal and steel strikes had increased the number of jobless by 225,000 in the week ending October 8, as compared with early September. It was quite possible pos-sible that the strike effect had not been felt strongly enough as yet to influence the roseate report concerning con-cerning earnings in industry. The future was uncertain. As strikes continued, so would purchasing purchas-ing power dwindle, and with that fall-off would come an inevitable decline in industry earnings. HE EMPHASIZED that the figures fig-ures released do not show the full effects of the strikes because they were compiled while the walkouts were in their early stages. As for industry profit, a compilation compila-tion by the Associated Press showed net profits of 314 companies amounted to one billion, three mil-ion, mil-ion, 644,061 dollars in the third quarter quar-ter of this year an increase of 4.3 per cent over earnings of 962 million, 102,819 dollars in the second sec-ond quarter of 1949. Bethlehem Appeal Protestant churches during the Christmas holiday season will seek funds to provide clothing, education, recreation and spiritual leadership for refugees in the Near East. Church World Service, Inc., overseas over-seas relief agency for 23 Protestant j and Orthodox denominations, said j a special Bethlehem Appeal com-I com-I mittee would seek gifts to aid refu- gees stranded in Bethlehem and other Near East areas. Stuart Benson, 72,. internationally interna-tionally known sculptor, was reported re-ported missing when the Polish liner "Sobieski," on which h was a passenger, docked in New York. The ship's master said the ship was searched foi 24 hours but no trace of Bensoi was found. ASIA: How Much? Top policy makers in the U. S. government were beginning to talk about a "little Marshall plan" for Asia, hoping that congress will appropriate ap-propriate approximately a billion dollars to "start off" the program designed to stop the spread of communism in Asiatic countries. The news was in line with announcement an-nouncement of a meeting early next year to set up a non-Communist union of southeast Asian countries. |