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Show WALTER SHE AD Threat to Free Enterprise T WISH someone would explain what kind of free enterprise 1 it is that compels a free enterpriser to buy from his competitor com-petitor or close up shop." The speaker was J. P. Seiberling, president of Seiberling Rubber company, before a house committee's hearing on sale of government-owned rubber plants. Seiberling was voicing opposition to the same sort of thing independent steel, aluminum, glass and other industries in-dustries have complained about in the sale of other government-owned plants to private industry when the only private industry big enough to buy is the already monopolistic, powerful, competitive "big industry." As a matter of fact, there is no such thing aa free enterprise in this country in the several branches of industry where the big boys have a throttlehold on competition. Seiberling declared, first, that these government owned synthetic rubber plants which cost the taxpayers a half billion dollars should not be sold until a national emergency rubber stockpile is built, nor so long as the government requires mandatory use of synthetic rubber in tires. He pointed out that companies of moderate size which could not buy the plants would be required to purchase synthetic rubber from their competitors, com-petitors, which would give the big rubber manufacturers a "real .nd possibly pos-sibly decisive competitive advantage." -i i L i WALTER WINCH ELL Doodling on the Typewriter Great description of "news" by a leader of India: "News is anything that is bad." . . . Eisenhower's appearance ap-pearance on the newsreel screens entices the lustiest applause. . . . The posies Vickl Cummings gets backstage at "Love or Money" are from the stagdoorkeepers of her last four flops. Headline: "King George Out-qulps Out-qulps Bob Hope." Blimeyi What's 'is bloody 'hooper? . . . Hope presented Their Majesties with autographed p 1 c t n r e s. They'd have preferred autographed auto-graphed checks. Gloria Swanson may be the next of the syndicated columnists out of town at first. Girl-talk stuff. . . . B'way bookies now betcha on the total points two teams score in basketball. The Gen. Bennett Meyers war frauds thing (and the way be dragged in a married woman's name) recalls the Harry K. Tbaw murder case. , , . Thaw shot architect Stanford White dead (on the Madison Square Garden roof) for "seducing" Mrs. Thaw, showgirl Evelyn Nesbit. . . , The millionaire-killer beat the chair by doing a bit in the daffy house until the public cooled off. . . . The N. Y. World (a respectable news-Paper) news-Paper) "tried the case in the papers" by running a contest before the trial offering offer-ing $500 for the best letter telling why Tbaw should die. . . . The winning letter: let-ter: "Any man who, to save bis own skin, would drag the good name of a woman into the case, doesn't deserve to live." DREW PEARSON Voluntary Price Control Fails FEDERAL RESERVE board Insiders report that more and more of the " country's big business leaders are coming to the view that voluntary controls on prices will not work and that congress eventually will have to enact the President's 10-point program of compulsory controls on prices, credits, allocations, et cetera, if the war on inflation is to be won. Typical example of the ineffectiveness of voluntary controls or self-policing by Industry Is the wild competitive war that has broken out in the mail-order industry since expiration of Regulation Regula-tion W, under which the government required a one-third down payment and t year to pay for goods purchased on the Installment plan. ' Bowing to competition within the Industry, major mall order houses have slashed the down payment to 10 per cent on most merchandise. Meantime, many other installment firms are requiring no down payment pay-ment at all. It was such "easy credit" buying that led to the last depression, depres-sion, and that is why more and more of the nation's business leaders reluctantly are coming around to the view that the only realistic way to deal with mounting prices, credit expansion and other inflation germs if by returning to compulsory controls. i.ii.i K. J. PHILLIPS Love and Pickets This department hasn't been in-trigued in-trigued by anything in years as much as it has by the case of a Now York woman who, claiming that her sweetie-pie wasn't living up to his promise to wed her, picketed pick-eted his home. She marched up and down before the house bearing the equivalent of "Unfair" banners. The idea opens infinite possibilities in the world of romance. It may be difficult to tell from a couple's actions whether they are making love or just going through arbitration proceedings. Who will be able to observe any boy and girl and say for certain whether they are going together or just talking over their latest jurisdictional juris-dictional dispute? i l That action of Hollywood's top men in firing some dozen Reds, while generally welcome In the matter mat-ter of known Communists, was certainly cer-tainly a new development in the slow motion technique. nOT STUFF My mind quite receptive will shortly be filled With gossip (the spiciest yet): Yes, soon the most colorful news will be spilled . , . It's hairdresser day for my pet Pier. "New mode, alt-year, 2-bedroom, 4-room 4-room bouse, 57,900. Enjoy the full benefits of this famous fake site with five miles of shore front," Ad vertisemenl, The candor kid again. i WESTBROOK PEGLER Politics in Teamsters' Union A HOSTILE agent with Intent to unmnsk the boss politicians of the Teamsters' union and to make them appear ridiculous and mean could not conjure more effective bombast than they proudly publish in their own Journals. The ignorance expressed in some of the royal and imperial bulls of Dan Tobin, the "international" president, is stupidly artless. Dave Beck of Seattle, Tobln's assigned protector In the Northwestern province, has the sense to employ professional talent In mixing the hog. wash published In his Washington Teamster. Tobin edits his own International Interna-tional Teamster. Beck is the aspirant to Tobln's throne. The old humbler thought Beck seemed a little too eager when he called off the vandal goons In the Oakland general strike last winter. Tohln already had called them off and was awaiting acclaim when word came that Berk was the man of the hour. The old flannel-mouth's own message had been held up while Beck beat him to the streets with the order to cease and desist. Then last August the union held. In San Francisco, its great interna-tional interna-tional convention of dukes, princes and barons, come from near and far on lavish expense accounts. With Old Dan's blessing. Beck put through a constitutional amend-ment amend-ment creating the special office of executive vice-president with plenary , powers. That being done. Beck's only remaining uncertainty lay in the risk that Tobin might name someone else to this Job. WRIGHT PATTERSON Trained Administrators Needed CINCE close of the war we have had some horrifying glimpses of reckless and wanton waste. In the name of national defense. We now are going to provide billions of dollars, dol-lars, IS to 20 such billions, for the purpose of rehabilitating Europe; to again put the nations of that continent conti-nent on their feet as oroducers. Con gress or the President, or both, will provide an organlzation-a man or a group to administer the money the American taxpayers provide Those taxpayers are demanding the best brains the nation can muster for such a purprw. They want men possessed of the know-how of pro-duction. pro-duction. v |