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Show WALTER SHEAD Savings Drives May Be Renewed THERE is a lot of loose money floating around the country ' so much in fact that presidents of all eleven district federal fed-eral home loan banks, and other banks, are behind a move to renew savings drives on government bonds to help siphon off the excess income which otherwise might for ce consumers' prices, still higher. This fact doesn't exactly agree with some reports that thousands of people are dipping Into savings in order to make ends meet to pay the grocery, clothing and rent bills. As a matter of fact the President's economic report said that expenditures bad caught up with Income and many were using savings or credit to keep the home fires burning. But the annual report of the home loan bank board Just released says savings held In the 6,100 savings and loan associations Increased In-creased in 1947 by $1,152,000,000, er 13.5 per cent, and brings total savings accounts to $9,700,000,000 as of last December SI. ' The report shows savings are dropping, it is true, as compared to peak years of 1944 and 194S. The report indicates that in 1947 the American people saved 9 billion dollars as compared to 22.2 billion in 1944 and 19 7 billion in 1945. There was nothing to spend money for, though, in those years. Other savings media also showed substantial increases during the past year. On the basis of figures covering life insurance companies, mutual savings banks, commercial banks, postal savings and savings bonds, total savings are estimated at $155,700,000,000. -- ' J -i. .4. WALTER WINCHELL Germans Hoard Own Food More than a million Bavarians in Germany went on strike recently, not against the American army but against their own government. They struck to get their own government to do something about German farmers, who wouldn't give up the food they are hoarding. ... At the same time our President asked American taxpayers for another 150 million dollars "to send more food to the Germans." It costs Americans Ameri-cans 24 million dollars to feed them 24 million dollars every month. Let 'em eat arsenicl The V. 8. military government govern-ment has signed a contract with the Kubio, Inc. (of Jersey City) for the monthly Import of 20,000 cases of German bottle beer te be sold In the U. S. The grain aupply of American breweries Is to be cut down but we will ship grain to the Germans so they can make and sell beer to ns! How can they call W alloc 4 fellow traveler? He isn't goin' no placet Kurusn, the Jap envoy who landed In Washington for "peace talks" two days before Pearl Harbor, now is father-in-law to an American army officer. . . . Tennis fans hear that Rlggs (who barnstormed with Don Budge last year) beat Budge out of his earnings (about $30,000) ir wagers. DREW PEARSON Army Supplants Navy in Favor FOR 13 long years under Franklin Roosevelt the navy had the Inner track at the White House. Now, under ex-Capt. Harry Trumanformer commander of Battery D, 129th field artillery, the situation is reversed. Political reports from various parts of the country Indicate that Mr Truman's loyalty to his personal doctor, Brig. Gen. Wallace Graham, will cost him perhaps a million votes. The public seems to resent the fact that Graham, sitting at the right hand of the President, speculated In the grain market, even more than they resent the speculation of Ed Pauley, who wasn't so close to the President. Nevertheless, Mr. Truman remains loyal to the army doctor. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed by the public is the fact that Rear Adm James Foskett has left the White House for "sea duty." Admiral Foskett is the President's former naval aide. Actually the reason for his exit is not necessity for going to sea, but the fact that he had a row with the army the army in this case represented by MaJ. Gen. Harry Vaughan. General Vaughan, a former manufacturer's representative in St. Louis, who used to train with Mr. Truman in the Missouri national guard, has got the President into all sorts of personal pickles. But despite that fact, he continues to be one of the most influential White House hangers-on. H. I. PHILLIPS . From a Winter Playground Shudda Haddim, the Egyptian horse player, is down in Miami, where he reports he has had such phenomenal luck that he has almost "broke even." He enjoys Florida racing, where he says it hurts less to lose money on account of the nearness of the gulf stream to the (2 windows. "Well, here I am In the land of Ponce Dl Liar," he writes, "and It is still 50, 15 and 6 that the fountain of youth won't even show, but I love It. Them coconut co-conut palms does sumpln' to me. If I gets switched off of a good thing It don't give me the same pain It doea when 1 lose under s northern maple or oak tree. 1XJO ONE offers the merchant ' especially the food merchant, anything but abuse," said the gro- ceryman. "We are condemned for high prices; accused of making exorbitant ex-orbitant profits, despite the fact that more than 50 per cent of those who engage in merchandising eventually o broke. The merchant Is faced with the payment of government "A lot of drugstores sell square aspirin tablets se they can be marked np with dots and used for dice before taking. The butcher gives you his track selections se-lections with every pound of hamburger. Every doorman marks your card for you. There are bridge tenders who won't raise the gates until you give them a sure thing. "Losing money down In Florida Is easier and It hurts less on account of you dress right for it. You ain't got much of a shirt on to begin with. And the pants Is such lightweight light-weight that even if you lose them you don't miss them." WESTBROOK PEGLER Skulduggery in the Courts AFTER Jimmy Petrlllo was acquitted In federal court In Chicago, Congressman Fred A. Hartley, co-author, of the Taft-Hartley labor emancipation law, said he wasn't any too sure that the department of Justice wss leveling In this case. I have been thinking the same thing about other union cases and some other department of Justice Jobs. They are getting very careless. You know what leveling means, of course. It Is a poetic term from the prize fighting racket To level is to put forth your best efforts, as the prize fight commissioners say. Lota of times I have thought that the department of Justice didn't put forth Its best efforts In cases Involving union gorillas or moving picture people or Ideological refugees. There is a fact about the duty of the federal Judges which few of us know and most of those few seldom remember. A federal Judge Is supposed to sniff out skulduggery done In his presence and to denounce any obvious crookedness or negligence on the part of the district attorney whether for benefit of the government or of the defendant. I dare say there have been cases where federal Judges had scolded district attorneys for bearing down unfairly on defendants. But I challenge you to cite any case where a Judge got disgusted and bawled out a prosecutor for willful and obvious neglect of the people's interest and failure to do his best. I say It Is high time one of them did. -A. J. J. WRIGHT PATTERSON Plight of the Groceryman subsidies; government encouragement encourage-ment of higher wages; Increased taxes; decreased purchasing value of the dollar; higher transportation costs, and other ever Increasing expense ex-pense Items. Yet the retailer Is expected ex-pected to absorb this Increased cost and still sell merchandise at icpres-slon icpres-slon prices." ' |