Show WEEKLY NEWS AWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W labine administration prepares F ight fight for reciprocal trade trad e treat treaties ies in face of senate opposition EDl TOllS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper released by western newspaper New paper union ninn COMMERCE trade battle just before christmas the state elate department found it wise to announce that no concession on copper tariffs will be made in its reciprocal trade pact with chile this set a 11 precedent because never before has the department divulged divulge d such information about an anticipated reciprocal pact before the treaty Is consummated sum mated official reason was widespread public interest but behind it lay the vocal protests of copper producing states who would otherwise join in the huo hue and cry when tile the reciprocal cipro cal program comes up for t 0 r re r c newal in congress next 4 term Y basis of I 1 opposition Is the claim that secre 1 l 0 CORDELL NULL of state sidle tary y will 1 he e win M y C comdoll 0 r d 0 I 1 I 1 hulls trade program breaks down tariff walls walla and permits foreign products under tho the most favored nation clause a concession on wheat from argentina for instance would be granted all other na nations eions holding reciprocal pacts with uio the U S it was rumored in washington this month that president roosevelt Is girding himself for or the toughest congressional gress lonal fight of his entire administration if necessary to extend the act etwas it was even reported ho he would attempt to beat republican critics to the gun by taking his fight to the country counter y before the G 0 P can make an open issue of it entirely aside from the trade acts influence on an U S economy observers noted it was not without important political significance since reciprocal agreements are not subject to senate ratification a luera lucrative source of legislative logrolling has been forfeited proud of his work secretary hull maintains he Is working to benefit the entire nation not any small section whether his admittedly sincere policy will prevail Is among the most anost important issues facing the naw new con congress gress agriculture An hungry for farm funds see ice below secretary of agriculture henry wallace has looked covetously on the well tended farm credit administration fund supervised per byrts by ts governor F F hill so conservative was mr hill that there still remains a 0 lending power which mr wallace thought should be used to bring benefits to drouth sufferers A alarmed I 1 a r in e d M mr r hill pointed out t that h a t t the h e 14 0 0 in bonds which he has sold to banks and private investors investor s M might ight b bo 0 jeopardized by a loose HILL POI policy icy of I 1 landing e n d I 1 n 9 NO money that might never be repaid wall street calling tho the wallace plan inflationary was equally alarmed but henry wallace was boss in lato late december franklin roosevelt found himself called upon to write mr hill a letter in accepting your resignation nallon I 1 want to express my very real appreciation of your services speculation on future immediately med lately became rife under its row new administrator dr A G black the agency will no doubt lose its independence tic do in closer with the department of agriculture and provide a measure of supervision over the farm operations of its borrowers farm money itlo it Is no secret that the administration la Is feverishly seeking to cut tile the corners in IMOs budget to make way for a boost in defense expenditures most carefully scrutinized item Is agriculture whose parity payments have cost annually the treas plight to is further complicated by congress failure to provide revenue sources for its farm appropriation tile the past two years several weeks ago the treas secretary Morgen thou met with ag ri cultures wallace and a host of fiscal experts to iron out this problem while the president told his press conference he would ask congress gress to dig up the mone money v it owes the treasury for or past farm pay ments wallace and morgen thau talked over the certificate plan under which farmers would got get their parity payments from consumers rather than the treasury how mr reacted to this plan was indicated a few days later although reports persisted that the president would isk ask congress to provide in new revenue next year his keeper of th the exchequer started a mild rebellion that may burst into flames when the budget Is finally announced said mr 1 I ii avent changed rny my views on consumer taxes the taxes are now a little over 60 per cent and high enough still unsolved was agricultures agri cultures no I 1 problem other problems C condition recondition of crops in the winter wheat area where an unprecedented drouth remained unbroken was officially stated at 55 per cent of normal this would bring a crop the third smallest on record fallie 1 I the bureau of agricultural economics estimated the farmers income from his products in 1039 1939 dropped to from the previous year 41 although bales of cotton and cotton products were sold abroad under the export subsidy plan between august 1 and december der 15 15 less less than halt half of it has been shipped because of a shortage of ocean freight space PAN AMERICA neutrality high sounding was tho the mile neutrality belt thrown around the western hemisphere when europe went to war last ast september chief sponsor was the U S whose undersecretary of state sumner welles promised his nation would take the lions share of patrol duty but by christmastide the U S was feeling less altruistic burled buried at buenos alres aires was capt huns hans langsdorff who killed him 7 u A COLUMBUS as ai expense self after scuttling his battered pocket battleship gro gral spes off montevideo te british ships cheated out ot of the kill sailed oft off for other illegal conquests roosting boosting Ro at a florida port was the nazi freighter aranica arauca Arai ica driven to shelter by a british cruiser at new yorks ellis island were survivors of the scuttled liner columbus whose capt wll wil helm daphno charged a british boat had fired across his bow by this time pan america was so aroused that washington had its choice of enforcing neutrality or sacrificing rif prestige with 20 other nations the U S signed an ineffectual protest to the belligerents mean while sumner welles prepared for U S participation in the forthcoming pan american conference but enthusiasm was waning while tho the state department sold said as s little as possible while the navy remained unenthusiastic about its job of pat patrolling roling ng a mile coastline captain daehne and his crew had a merry christmas as uncle sams guests THE WARS in the west germany German Ws eighth railroad accident since september I 1 killed more people 52 dead 30 injured than were lost in several days on the western front where on an undeclared yule trupe truce held sway As usual there was more activity in the north sea britain which was reported building a speedy fleet of super planes adopted the trick of toying mines from the air As tho the year ended various forecasts had it that 1 the next 12 months will bring a raging war 2 the netherlands will be invaded oy by germany after its canals are frozen over 3 britain and france arc planning a big naval drive on the nazis lit in the north it was an unhappy christmas tor for dussias Rus sias atheistic dictator josef stalin even unhappier happler un were two of his stooges reportedly purged for fallu tailua Oe on the tha finnish front gen K A Meret skov leningrad military districts chief of staff and otto kuusinen finnish communist who organized the peoples government the day russia began her ill starred invasion while helsinki was evacuated in the face of a threatened christmas air raid the finnish high command claimed its toe foe had been routed on all fronts WHITE HOUSE message to pope plus XII franklin roosevelt transmitted his christmas greeting his hope that men will I 1 decline to accept for long the law of destruction forced upon them by wielders of brute force and his announcement no that former U S steel chairman myron taylor had been named U S representative to the vatican said the letter also transmitted to dr george butterick of the federal co council un cil 0 of f ch churches arches and rabbi cyrus adler president of the jewish theological seminary 1 I take heart in remembering that ina in a similar time isaiah first prophesied the birth of christ the president also fl L reportedly authorized the paring of about from war and navy department estimates to hold next years national defense cost to meanwhile the house naval subcommittee asked the navy for estimates on ton battleships bigger than any yet built minnesotan Min rep melvin mad maas dreaming in even bigger figures figure s wanted them tons each fl took time off to celebrate christmas with four generations of the clan roosevelt ASIA ungrateful recipient washington was still silent at christmastide over japans present the iha announcement that chinas cainas yangtze river would soon be reopened to foreign traffic missing were the whoops of delight that tokyo expected from american newspapers missing too was enthusiasm thusia sm among U S business men in china nevertheless many an observer wondered if the U S be a bit more receptive japans ture was significant in that it rep ZIA N nl M 1 1 1 1 0 k NOBUYUKI ABE ll 11 I 1 his cabinet lalli resented an attempt to patch trade relations before the abrogated treaty expires january 28 20 should the gesture fall short premier nobuyuki abes weak sister cabinet is apt to collapse col lapso danger lies in the tact fact that nip pons polls am american an hating army would seize control if the abe government falls once that happens U S bust busi ness men might as well pack their bags and go home |