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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Moscow Talks Provide Peace Hope; Congress Eyes Inflation, Housing; Red Spy Scare Startles Country ' By Bill Schoentgen, WNTJ Staff Writer (FniTOR'S NOTE: When oplnlene are eiareaoed la theie aelumno, Ihey are lata af Meetera Newspaper latea'a analy.u and net necessarily at Itala aoiraaaBer.i MOSCOW: Conference Practically all that anyone knew during the initial stages of the Moscow Mos-cow conference between Josef Stal-' Stal-' in and the ambassadors of three western nations was that there was a conference. The opacTTy'Cf a thick censorship ban overlaid any details of what was happening. Nevertheless, the Impression was that the talks, fathered by the desperation inherent in the Berlin crisis, might be the first step in easing eas-ing off the strain between Russia and the western powers. Some Information that slipped through the secrecy wall Indicated that both sides might be willing to make some concessions In order to further negotiations between Russia Rus-sia and the U. S., Great Britain and France. The talks with Stalin and Molotov were reported to have produced at least one new suggestion that prior to another Big Four conference there should be a meeting of the U. S., Russian, British and French deputy foreign ministers. Such a conference would, theoretically, theo-retically, be accompanied by a gradual grad-ual relaxation of the restrictions which, the Soviets have clamped on the western areas of Berlin and which brought the East-West relations rela-tions to their present boiling point. Although It might be the height of optimism, Communist Russia being be-ing what it is, there was some faint hope that such a piecemeal lifting of the Berlin blockade might bring about a provisional meeting of minds on the subject of German currency and other irritating issues. is-sues. At the worst, such a discussion at least would tend to act as a brake against a drift to war and provide a breathing space for talks with Moscow on more basic controversies. controver-sies. There was, however, still another Interpretation of the discussions between be-tween Stalin and the three western ambassadors: Russia, having carried car-ried its Berlin blockade virtually to the ultimate point short of war, might be thinking that it had brought the western powers to a position where they would have to accede to Soviet demands if they wished to avoid conflict. CONGRESS: Unwillinn Probably the only accomplishment of the special summer session of congress called by President Truman Tru-man was to provide both parties with a bigger and better supply of political ammunition for the election elec-tion campaign. Democrats would be able to say that the GOP congress simply sat back on its haunches and did nothing noth-ing about the pressing problems of inflation, housing and other national nation-al Issues. Republicans could counter with the assertion that, within the bounds of their political beliefs and judgment judg-ment of what is best for the nation, na-tion, they did all they could under the circumstances. To that they probably would add the stock argument argu-ment that the whole thing is the fault of the 16-year Democratic regime and that the ultimate solution solu-tion must lie in the election of a Republican administration this November. une result or the special session that might be classed as favorable j was that It served to sharpen the rough edges of the wide cleavage between the two parties over domestic do-mestic problems and give the voters a more clear-cut, definitive Idea of what they will be deciding on November 2. Despite President Truman's laborious la-borious diatribes against congress and his repeated warnings that controls con-trols alone will curb the now dangerous dan-gerous inflation. In the final analysis it remained foolish to believe that the GOP congress ever would take the action he recommended. Republicans Re-publicans simply do not approve of that method of handling the nation's economy. Republican congressmen agreed only to string along with legislation legisla-tion serving to reimpose consumer credit controls, with some limitation limita-tion on' bank credits, and to speed action on a watered-down housing program which does little except ease credit terms for home builders. The anti-poll tax measure, blocked for a week by a droning filibuster by southern Democrats, Anally withered and blew away In dust. TAXATION: 12. llillian By the end of this year Individual Individ-ual taxpayers In the U. S. will have paid nearly 123 billion dollars in I direct personal taxes, according to a survey entitled "Domestic Consumer Con-sumer Markets" prepared by the National Industrial Conference board. Last year, the report says, Americans Amer-icans paid more in personal taxes Uian they spent for new homes, ears, tVuiiure and medical care. Then There Was . . If 5 . : -A v ' - ) v v Ian ail Tiii.ia-ri ,inn8y :-.aaaaaaaaaai Whittakcr Chambers, a senior editor of Time magazine and an admitted former member of the Communist party, got a load off his chest when he told the house un-American activities activ-ities committee (he names of a few more higher echelon government gov-ernment officials who had participated par-ticipated in the notorious Washington Wash-ington spy ring of a decade ago. His testimony Included the names of Alger Hiss, former for-mer state department official; Nathan Witt, former attorney for NI.RB, and Lee Pressman, former CIO general counsel. ESPIONAGE: Drap'on Seed The dragon seeds of international espionage sown during the war suddenly sud-denly had begun to bloom with a vengeance and the nation's capital seemed to be overgrown with spies and rumors of spies. First stone was cast by Miss Elizabeth Eliza-beth Bentley, self-confessed courier for Soviet agents, who revealed that much of her information had come from sources in official government positions. She showed no hesitancy in naming nam-ing names, among which were those of Nathan G. Silvermaster, board of economic warfare and war assets administration official; William W. Remington, former commerce department de-partment official, and Alger Hiss, former state department official active ac-tive In the establishment of the United Unit-ed Nations. There was no visible proof that any of the persons she implicated ever had furnished information to the Soviet espionage ring, although tome had Communistic backgrounds. As a matter of fact, the FBIreported that it had spent more than three million dollars in an investigation of the same matter months prior to tha current excitement. The G-men finally gave it up because of lack of documentary proof. But congressional Investigations were under way in both the senate and house. Testimony included the usual flamboyant accusations and recriminations re-criminations but failed to produce any concrete evidence. Rep. Karl Mundt (Rep., S. D.), chairman of the house un-American activities committee, added to the national impact of the affair by asserting as-serting that there is "good reason to believe a Communist spy ring is operating op-erating In Washington right now." His committee was investigating, he said, although the public hearings so far had dealt only with the testimony testi-mony that a Red espionage system was at work in the U. S. during the war. COTTON: Mechanized Last of the great American farm commodities to remain essentially a man-mule crop, cotton finally is becoming mechanized, thus eliminating elimi-nating the necessity of maintaining vast armies of laborers to meet the two peak labor periods of the crop cycle. Mechanization is one of the major ma-jor steps in the effort of cotton people from Virginia to California to achieve lower production costs. To the 124 million people In 18 states who derive all or a substantial substan-tial part of their income from cotton cot-ton it is of paramount importance that they keep their crop competitive competi-tive cost-wise. Tie answer lies, to a great extent, ex-tent, in mechanization. Thinning and weeding equipment and harvesting har-vesting machines are revamping the farm picture In the South. The mechanical cotton picker Is capable of performing the work of 40 to 50 human pickers, varying with weather conditions, land surface, sur-face, and other factors. Typical result of mechanization was the experience of a Mississippi farmer who used a flame cultivator to control weeds at a cost of 50 rents an acre at the same time human hu-man choppers were rusting $.". Of course, complete mechanization mechaniza-tion of cotton will not materialize overnight. National Cotton council, representing the entire Industry, reports that In 1317 less than 3 per cent of the crop could be classed as entirely mechanized. A considerable consid-erable portion of the remaining crop, however, was in various stages of mechanization. |