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Show ' j WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Truman's 'Non-Political' Tour Breaks Precedents, Hits Snags; Senate Fights to Recover Aid Slash By Bill Schocntgen, WNU Staff Writer (EDITOR'S NOTE: When epinlona are eipreeeed in thee calann. they ere theee ef Vtratcra New.p.per Inion'a new analyal and necessarily at this aepaper.) fiitijjii,iyri,,-ni ummjuh ,. 4 diiiii ww ihiwxiwdi iiwmmwij.i' wmmmw 1 V' ;i-,-Vrt-;,iKi,w ' i 'wSksJ ' !,!' !&! f i ' 1 I v.i J J I T i'ltoi "' '"''M 1 v I -jr. 'e-Tr V": ODDS ON SECURITY . . . Seeking to end what he termed a "desperate "des-perate gamble" with the nation's security, Sen. Chan Gurney (Rep., S. P.) (left) opened senate debate on the measure to draft youths aged 19 through 25. Chairman of the senate armed services committee, Gurney here Is discussing the draft bill with Senators I.everett Sal-tonstall Sal-tonstall (Rep., Mass.) and Richard B. Russell (Dem., Ga.). NON.POLITICAL: Truman s Tour President Truman's "non-political" swing through the West could be described as non-political only In the sense that Mr. Truman, as a candidate for Democratic re-nomination, re-nomination, had Jettisoned many of the rules of standard party politics. poli-tics. It was a lone wolf fight he was waging going over the heads of party leaders to talk directly to the people. And most of what he had to say to the people concerned the Republican congress and what hs termed Its Inaction. In Chicago, speaking before the Swedish Pioneer Centennial asio-ciation, asio-ciation, he hammered out a platform plat-form upon which he can be expected expect-ed to base his chances for re-nomination. re-nomination. It was a platform for "more and better democracy." From Chicago the President, with his entourage, headed for the heart of the farm belt, Omaha, Neb., and it was there that he was set sharply sharp-ly back on his heels. , He continued his lambasting of the Republican congress this time concentrating on GOP farm policies In a speech at the Ak-Sar-Ben coliseum in Omaha. Fantastically, in the coliseum which has a capacity ca-pacity of 10.000, fewer than 2,000 persons were present to hear Mr. Truman talk. This phenomenon was variously Interpreted. Some said the President's Presi-dent's box office appeal had wilted. Others claimed the Nebraska Democratic Demo-cratic machine had done a miserably miser-ably inadequate job in promoting his appearance. Probably closer to the truth was the plain fact that the "non-political" label of the presidential trip had backfired seriously. He made a political speech and had expected to get a crowd of friendly Democrats Demo-crats to fill the hall for the occasion. occa-sion. But the White House previously had told the Democratic organization organiza-tion in Omaha to lay off the political po-litical hoop-la, and the organization acted in compliance with those Instructions. In-structions. Payoff came when nobody no-body else showed up to fill the aching ach-ing void which the Democrats created cre-ated by staying away. It was an unpleasant blow for the campaigning Mr. Truman and one that might produce grave political po-litical repercussions. But the President was resilient And in a more or less happy frame of mind he left Omaha on his train and rode away into the setting s'in In search of happier bunting grounds. AID SLASH: 'Less Recovery? Sen. Arthur Vandenberg was fighting mad at what the house of representatives had done to his political po-litical baby, the world recovery program, pro-gram, by slashing nearly a million dollars from the appropriations for the Europe-Asia aid bill On the Republican foreign policy leader from Michigan rested the administration's ad-ministration's hope of reclaiming the appropriations cut In senate action ac-tion on the measure. Certainly, Vandenberg has a more than usual affinity for global aid program since It was he who labored to steer tht Marshall plan to congressional approval last April What the house had done was to approve a total foreign aid expenditure expen-diture of JJ.990.710.ra to be spread out over a period of 15 months. The administration had asked $6,-533,710,228 $6,-533,710,228 as the minimum fund needed for a 12-month period. Secretary of State George Marshall, Mar-shall, fighting hard against the cut, had asserted that the smaller appropriation ap-propriation would mean putting Europe Eu-rope on a relief dole, rather than helping it to its feet. But Rep. John Taber (Rep, N. Y.), chairman of the house appropriations appropria-tions committee, went right ahead and swung the ax. He said the funds his committee proposed were all that could be spent with any degree of prudence. Paul G. Hoffman, head of the European Eu-ropean recovery program, said he "certainly hoped" congress would restore the cuts. - ERP was hardest hit in the fund cut Whereas congress previously had authorized up to 4.245 billion dollars in 12 months for that 16-nation 16-nation recovery project, the appropriations appro-priations bill as passed by the house knocked that figure down to 4 billion bil-lion dollars for 15 months. Other reductions: Assistance to Greece and Turkey was cut from 275 million to 200 million dollars and aid to China cut from 463 million to 400 million. DRAFT: Debatable In the waning days before adjournment ad-journment of congress the senate had buckled down to the task of producing action on a limited revival re-vival of the military draft The house was waiting only for the senate to dispose of the question ques-tion before its members waded into the tricky currents of a similar measure. Legislators in both houses were treading gingerly about on the issue, throbbing with the knowledge that this is an election year and furthermore further-more there are any number of American parents ready to offer material objections at the ballot box if their boys are called up for military mili-tary service. In the face of all this the senate, nevertheless, was tryir g to do soma kind of a job. Its measure provided pro-vided for the drafting of men 19 through 25 in sufficient numbers to bring the armed services up to their authorized strength. The bill would permit 18-ycar-olds to volunteer for a year's training, thus disposing cf a universal military training act for the present Among the side issues that arose during the senate debate wai the old bugaboo of civil rights. After an abortive two-hour filibuster by southern Democrats, the senate voted 37 to 35 to outlaw the poll tax at a requirement for voting In federal elections so tar as members of the armed forces are concerned. Actually, it was a minor Issue. Inasmuch In-asmuch at most of the seven southern poll tax ttatet still have in effect wartime suspensions of the tax for members of the armed services. Under the senate measure the draft would be authorized for five years, but the program It left flexible flexi-ble enough to congrctt each year could raise or lower both the regular regu-lar and reserve forcet to meet shifting world conditions. Drafted men, after completing two years of service, would have to serve In the rcrrve for five years or, at a matter of choice, volunteer tor an additional year In tht regular services or two years in tht national guard. LVTEST: In Bombers Army air forct It developing another an-other new long range jet bomber which will use prnpellort driven by Jet turbines. It It called the XQ-52. XQ-52. The experimental plane reprc-tentt reprc-tentt another effort by designer! to overcome the high fuel consumption consump-tion and resulting limited range cf jet bombers but still retain the Jet't high tpeed. Jet-driven propctlort may provldt partial answer. MINE TALKS: More Snags As usual John L. Lewis was mining min-ing the channels of possible agreement agree-ment in the latest series of contract con-tract discussions between him and representatives of the soft coal mine operators. The explosive the UMW chief planted this time was a demand that the operators first guarantee welfare wel-fare aid for distressed miners before be-fore they can expect his union to sign a new contract Thus, the "Lewis situation" In the United States was being brought to the fore again. Already the possessor of enough government injunctions to paper the den of his Springfield, 111, home, Lewis received another one before he would consent to bargain with the operators on a new 1948-49 contract con-tract (The old contract expires June 30.) U. S. District Judge T. Alan Goldsborough issued the latest injunction in-junction ordering Lewis to bargain with the Southern Coal Producers association. The mine chief previously pre-viously had refused to bargain with the association because the 14 member mem-ber groups were being represented at the contract talks by Just one man. However, Lewis bowed to the injunction in-junction and agreed to talk. In the course of this talk one of the first things he did was to call the mine operators "fat cats" and then wave an arrogant club at them with these words: "We assume that you would deplore de-plore any impairment of your abnormal ab-normal income after July 1. Such an assumption would seem to be a logical predicate for the making of a new wage agreement before that date." Briefly, it looked as though Lewit was determined to strike again. Deprived De-prived of one anag, he Immediately grasped another. As a result the first round of contract talks was fruitless. GERMANY: New Plan Pivotal point of a healthy and prosperous Europe, Germany long hat been under scrutiny by the Allied Al-lied powers who have been searching search-ing for a way to return it to the world family of nations without starting another squabble. Zonal partition of Germany perhaps per-haps hat been the biggest hindrance hind-rance to the formulation of tuch a plan, and Russia consistently has objected to re-establishing an autonomous auton-omous German government. Now, however, a new plan wai afoot. The U. S. and five other friendly powert Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands revealed a scheme for lelf-government in western Germany. Ger-many. At the tame time notice was terved on Russia that occupation troops will remain there "until the peace of Europe It tecured." The plan calls for international contrcl of the Ruhr and for itcpt toward convening a German constituent con-stituent assembly In the three western west-ern zones "to prepare a constitution constitu-tion for approval of the participating participat-ing ttatet." That wat the skeleton of a program pro-gram which might put Germany back on its feet Reaction in the U. S. wat favorable. favor-able. Tht ttate department hailed it at a major ttep toward recovery in Europe, and it also wat regarded regard-ed at a body blow to Russia In tht cold war. But although the plan asserted with tome vehemence that "Germany "Ger-many must not again be permitted to become an aggressive power," there wat tome worry at to whether France would approve it Doet tht decision to go ahead with tht political rehabilitation of western Germany to the exclusion of Russia's eastern tone mean that tht defeated nation is finally and Irrevocably split? U. S. officials don't think so. The theory is that although it wat Rut-sla Rut-sla Itself which forced the western powers to act without Russia, th new program does not preclude tht participation of the rest of Germany In the new tclf governing federation if and when the people of the Soviet Sov-iet tone want in. |