OCR Text |
Show WASHINGTON- FROM OUR CONGRESSMAN W. K. GRANGER House Approves Debt Limit Increase In-crease The House voted to Increase In-crease the maximum limit on the national debt from $49,000,000,000 to tso,ooo,ooo,ooo because or the troublesome trouble-some world situation. The bill, which has gone to the Senate, Is designed to accomplish these four main objectives: I To Increase the present debt limit to $65,000,000,000. 3 To give the Treasury department depart-ment "more flexible control" over savings bonds as a means of financing. finan-cing. 3 To allow the public to participate partici-pate more directly in meeting the cost of the national defense program by substituting a new Issue of Treasury savings certificates for the war savings certificates now authorized au-thorized by law. 4 To remove the tax exemption privilege of federal securities by putting future Issues on the same federal tax basis as private obligations. obliga-tions. Changes Ti Be Hade In Farm Program ChiJiges are being worked work-ed out in the Department of Agriculture Agri-culture in an effort to cope with the price and market disturbances due to the war and to ease the economto and social effects of the war emergency emer-gency on low-income farm groups. The steps being considered would affect af-fect at least four major phases of government operations Included in the present program. 1 The home market. The plan would establish a two-price system for the large basic surplus farm crops whose export market has been severely reduced by war. 3 The foreign market. The government gov-ernment would act for the farmers. Surpluses of the five basic crops would be segregated in government pools. 8 Among the farmers'. The national na-tional marketing quota Would be divided up. farm by farm. The question of using Individual quotas would be up to the producers In referendumav 4 Low-Income groups. A larger share of federal funds would be used to distribute farm surpluses among the needy through the stamp plan. The Greatest Shipbuilding Program Pro-gram the World Has Ever Seen Gees Ahead At Full Speed In my article last week. I explained that the United States was planning and building ships faster than durlnj the World Waf days. Perhaps this should be clarified. The volume of merchant ship construction con-struction alone is not so great as that of the war-time emergency fleet. But this difference Is overcome over-come by the tremendous rush of naval construction which we have launched to complete our two-ocean two-ocean fleet within five years. During Dur-ing the World War, we turned out over 3.000 ships In a little over five j years. Unless the war In Europe ends very soon we are going to have to better that record. And we find ourselves In a fine position for that Important effort Our whole national shipbuilding program is divided into three dlvl- slons. First, normal; second, emergency; emer-gency; and third, naval The normal program means the kind of fine quality, high speed merchant ships that are being turned out under the U. S. Maritime Commission's regular regu-lar plan for replenishing the nation's na-tion's merchant marine. In next week's column. I will touch on more of this vitally important defense program. Gain la Highway Deaths Calls For Remedies) Automobiles have killed nearly 700,000 human beings in the United States, as recorded since 1813, and In only two of these 27 years has the annual slaughter shown any decrease. German Industry Continues At High Level Oerman Industry in November maintained about the same high level as In earlier months through the use of raw materials from occupied countries and the employment of war prisoners and foreign civilians. Industries In the occupied territories were being used to supplement Oerman production of supplies for the armed forces. Emphasis In production tended to shift from munitions industries proper to airplane and shipbuilding industries, of special Importance In the present state of the war. |