Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS communists offer vague proposal for negotiations in korean war army amy plans 24 li U i visions by july MS knotul when opinion are arc eap exp essed in these columns they hey ar are those thos 0 rl 0 ot western no r news oal yit and not of ebli p PEACE pries price Is too high communist chinas cainas ambiguous proposal for a truce in korea tanned fanned the hopes for peace among the american people and created a dangerous beaus division among the free nations tho the chinese proposal said in part if the withdrawal w ol of foreign troops from korea was being put into effect neiping would advise the tha chinese volunteers to return to china the statement did not guarantee that chinese troops would be withdrawn nor did it say gay anything about north korean forces the statement state meni was too ambiguous in the opinion of most american observers withdrawal of the US fleet from formosa and a sent seat in the united nations for communist china also appeared in vague terms in the proposal for a truce the kindest thing that could be said about the chinese statement was that perhaps there was a desire for peace in china but from the american view that price was too high F from rom the more practical viewpoint however the note put the united states in a bad situation politically it if it agrees to consider Pei pings renewed overtures tor for a negotiated peace it Is bound to incur wide criticism at home if it shuns these overtures the accas accusations a of the soviet union may fall on more fertile ground the chinese move was seen by some observers as an attempt to block the american proposal in the UN of branding china the aggressor in korea if that wa was S its purpose it succeeded at least temporarily other observers questioned the status of the statement it was not addressed addi essed united nations it was little more than a postal card to india in reply to questions ons of poll policy dy ARMY 24 divisions army strength by july aly will be equivalent to 24 combat divisions gen J lawton colllns collins army irmy chief of staff reported recently t the buildup build 6 up of combat strength by july will include 18 divisions and 18 regimental combat teams with supporting up porting units together with numerous numer ous independent tank battalions ta lions field artillery battalions and similar combat units collins indicated however he did not believe the nations current goal of men in the armed forces will be enough and the total boosted and while army officer and government officials talked of manpower p problems on the home front a new koreans casualty list 1 was announced by the department of defense an additional 2424 casualties reported by t the h e department bring the korean war total to the department said were killed outright ha had d died of wounds and 22 men originally listed as missing in action have been determined ter mined to be dead thus the death toll stood at wounded totaled including the 77 2 who later died dl edeThe tho missing total of included men who since have returned to american control and known prisoners of war PRICE FREEZE needed for long time by the time this appears in print the administration should have acted on the price wage controls so long needed to sta stabilize belize the nations economy in its all out mobilization effort during the early weeks of 1951 the need of price controls became a pressing matter as wholesale prices hit an all time high the cost of the average fam ilys food was the highest in the nations history critics of the administration had demanded a price wage freeze for some time government officials however protested any freeze would be meaningless unless adequate qua t e m machinery to enforce price controls was available it was also apparent that there was considerable difference of opinion between charles E wilson defense mobilization chief allen alien valentine economic stabilization chief and others in charge of the administrations efforts to set up a wage price control organization zatto n president truman entered the fray by firing valentine and appointing eric johnston head of the motion picture association ri of america to take his place johnston will settle any disputes between the OPS and administration critics demands for price wage controls included a rollback roll back of price to january 1 As for wages a temporary freeze wall was the most popular demand but only temporary until some kind of wage control formula could be worked out LIVING COST hits an all time high the ile cost of living in the united states hit an allt all time irtie high early in 1931 1951 with the dollar worth less than 60 cents of its 1939 buying power the latest estimates placed the cost of living at per cent higher than in january 1939 although food alone went up almost per cent in the last if 11 years the jump mp was even greater in some individual foods for example the bread and butter the average factory worker could buy in 1939 for 39 cents tiow now cost him approximately an analysis of the figures revealed that a man who made ten years ago now needs to match his buying power the equivalent of a a year income then is now the averhage aver average lage factory worker earned approximately 1390 a year in 1939 and about last year a an increase of per cent BONDS treasury plans extension the treasury plans to offer holders of series E savings bonds an opportunity to keep their bonds another 10 years at 29 pi per cent interest and to retain the g government interest rate on long term treasury bonds at 25 per cent it was reported recently secretary y of the treasury snyder said holders may cast their bonds IW continue jnue to hold the present bonds with an automatic interest b eating bearing extension which would amount to 29 20 per cent compounded at the end of 10 years or exchange the bonds tor for current income savings bonds of series G which bear interest every six months congress must pass the 10 year ext extension ensign however before it will become effective of the of total outstanding savings bonds nearly 35 Is in the series E TAFT A shift in policy 0 observers of american political an eye ye on the a activity c always keep party not in power er as an indication ot of the trend of thought in the na tion for this re reason ason sen robert tatt taft was back in the limelight causing c using considerable speculation on his sudden shift in policy toward sending US troops to europe only a week before taft who Is undoubtedly the most influential republican in congress blasted away at the aar adr administration nini arid and president truman in particular for or promising to send troops to eu europe rope then one week later he shifted his position and said he aou would id favor sending a limited number to the continent what dols does it mean the average american wanted to know it would seem that sen senator ator taft had suddenly become imp impressed with the fact that our safety Is tied with that of western eurol europe it t would also indicate that he has removed the steam from the all out opposition in congress to send troops to europe when taft first announced his opposition to participation of US troops in n the defense of europe he found himself confronted by a difference of opinion from other influential fluent ial members of his party A number of them expressed the opinion that a decision against sending additional troops to europe would be fatal to any program of mutual defense tafts shift caused considerable comment on the american scene tor for two reasons ile he has often been called an isolationist and he is a man who seldom changes his policy once he has stated it publicly it is generally concluded that the majority of the american people do not sanction isolationism tafts shift could have been made because he ha recognized that tact fact this does not mean however that the shift Is so extreme that the senator from ohio can be called an internationalist alist HOUSE brands china aggressor the house ol of representatives in the opinion of many blundered into the field of foreign affairs with a heavy step by demanding that the united nations should immediately act and declare the chinese communists an aggressor in korea the united states had been working for this in behind the scene maneuvers at the united nations tor for time for a while there were reports that the majority of western nations was in favor of the action t on shortly after the house resolution was passed however opposition to the m move 0 v e appeared especially among the nations in the middle east some nations adopted the attitude that branding china the aggressor would completely cut off any chances for a negotiated pence peace and agitate the international crisis the house action can be said to reflect the growing determination of the american people against the wave of appeasement that was evident in many quarters of the nations not so many weeks ago RUSSIA delighted with debate the soviet union expressed Us its delight over the current foreign at fairs debate in congress by releasing every criticism of president truman and secretary of state dean acheson the russian government tells the people that the debate reflects deep american dissatisfaction with present foreign policy and a growing desire tor for a change in what it i calls the bankrupt policy of force |