Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH IV labine german peace drive eclipsed by war threats in near east politicians hold Us S interest EDITORS NOTE opinions aro are expressed in these columns they hey aro are those hoso of tile ho news analyst and not necessarily of title tills newspaper Me released leased by western newspaper New paper union on the scene POLITICS in tho the background since congress reconvened presidential politics stole the show again when tile tho democratic nat national ionnI committee selected chicago as its convention site republicans public ans who scheduled their meeting later in the hope that democrats would set a convention date were outfoxed out foxed this resulted in min minor or dissension among G 0 P leaders who debated whether to set a date immediately or keep stalling since third termites dominated tho the democratic meeting observers there would be a strong fight to pres ident roosevelt in the city where ho he was first chosen in 1032 As chicago became a political focal point so BO did illinois there were signs that both pre president ident roosevelt ident garner would bo be entered in the april 0 preference primary while in new york tho the 00 P backers tom dewey challenged sen bob taft n 14 am X fx A X ACCUSE it HOOK lie ile apologized and other republican hopefuls to a contest lu in the same primary AMERICANISM UN ended was the episode in which rep frank hook charged that martin cun un american ism dies was working in cahoots with william policy pelley leader of the antl semilia silver shirts when policy surrendered and admitted that letters used as evidence were forged hook apologized on tho the house floor if this had been a campaign to smear irrepressible EUROPE rumors while the western front remained quiet and while finland continued making a shambles out of russ Rus dussias sias vaunted armies two diametrically appos opposed ed offensives were taking shape one for war the other tor for pence peace reace peace drive berlin denied it but reports persisted that would offer the allies a settlement via tho the league of nations acono economic ale committee at the hague terms 1 no reparations 2 return of ex german colonies 3 nazi retention of and the polish cor aldori aldor 4 tin an austrian plebiscite neutrally managed 5 restoration of czech polish and slovak states state it if the denials were sincere observers wondered why herr hitler tried so hard to minimize his relations with moscow arch fon of tho the democracies no military pact exists said the reich nor will germany help russia fight tile tho finns pence peace gossip only increased when berlin called home its envoys to finland and russia would germany try to settle this war it if so was it a prelude to peace in tho the west war drive overnight the balkan states mobilized their armies to full strength members of the little entente backing rumania against the territorial demands of hungary italy was seen joining them across martin dies it had only served to strengthen him and tho the cause of his I 1 ism committee next day FBI F rounded up 12 persons charged with recruiting americans for service with tho the communist forces in spain CONGRESS tho the house continued lopping millions from president Roosevel ts budget and tho the senate continued re storing them the senate voted down a cut in civil aeronautics authority funds bringing tho the independent bill back to 11 cut but it was still 53 millions under budget estimate estl mate ing a good start on the me ago millions congress hopes to sove by way of avoiding now new defense taxes meanwhile the house slashed away at tho the state justice justic eco corn ineice deportment department appropriations bill LABOR john owls lewis C I 1 0 0 which has been striking at the new deal lately turned a partial about face by defending thu the national labor relations act against A F of LAn L changes before tho the house NLRB committee C I 1 0 s philip murray rend read a statement in which lewis charged reactionary and anti antl labor corporations are arc die tilting A F of L s proposed amend ments at miami A F of L s executive board was also getting hostile toward the now deal urging encouragement coura gement of private enterprise and charging tho the administration with trying to place labor under its thumb the entire labor govern ment picture was pretty complicated complicate d TURK V ot MAN ARABIA I 1 N oba NEW TROUBLE SPOT but will the allies attack first the black sea turkey concentrated troops on the russian frontier iran and afghanistan doing likewise one explanation was that russia planned d a drive into this british sphere of influence see map another explanation was that the allies planned a deliberate attack on russian oil wells in the caucasus region thereby drawing soviet troops from the beleaguered beleaguer ed finnish front end and cutting oft off nazi petroleum sources observers asked themselves whether this was the reason french authorities thorit ties les had raided the russian commercial office in paris deliberately inviting soviet reprisals also was it the reason turkey a british french ally unceremoniously unceremonious y seized the german owned ship yard I 1 in tile the the wars in the ho west france reported the quietest period since the war began almost six months ago and nazi raids on north son sea shipping were slackened perceptibly in the north finnish troops repulsed one soviet attack after another most activity being confined to the area around lake ladoga cadoga finnish military observers estimated that reckless use of manpower had cost the reds dead and wounded in a single week nevertheless increasing rhythm of soviet attacks was wearing the finns down a situation that disturbed the allies increasingly following a meeting of the british french war council it was on an bounced concrete aid would be rushed at once prime minister ch chamberlain amb erlain told the house of commons as much while france kept relaying italian warplanes war planes which germany refused to let cross the reich ilow how italy Is cooperating with the finns was revealed in rome by finnish minister eero who reported italian volunteers have been turned down because no visas were available but hundreds have been granted too |