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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS New Taft-Hartley Battle Looms; Solons Ridicule Recession Idea; Dictator Feared in Defense Plan I Newlyweds : j " pi x-.:..:.:::v: tf v 1 - i ' J TAFT-HARTLEY: Another Try The administration hadn't given up, despite a humilating setback In the senate by Taft-Hartley law supporters. It was reported that President Truman's congressional aides were planning another try at repealing the measure, but had reached no decision. THIS CAME to light after House Speaker Sam Rayburn concluded a conference with the President. The decision on a new repealer effort ef-fort was to await further conferences confer-ences with labor committee members mem-bers In both houses. While the persistence of the administration ad-ministration might be comendable, the wisdom in any further effort toward a Taft-Hartley repealer was doubtful. A majority of top leaders had conceded there was little hope of getting the bill changed at this session of congress, and all, including in-cluding administration leaders, were willing to make the question an issue in the 1950 congressional elections. THE RESULT of the vote on changing the Taft-Hartley labor law was confusing to the average observer of the political scene. If labor had played as important a part as it was conceded in the election elec-tion of President Truman and with congressional elections up next year how could so many senators have found the courage to fly into the face of what might seem certain cer-tain defeat? On the other hand, if labor's role in politics is as negligible as others claim, why was the administration pressing so hard for the Taft-Hartley repealer. One thing appeared certain: There were many congressmen congress-men sufficiently unimpressed with labor's political importance that they didn't mind going contrary to labor's wishes on the Taft-Hartley issue. RECESSION: Ho, Ho, Ho! Governor Fuller Warren of Florida and a honey blonde daughter of California, the former for-mer Barbara Manning, are shown as they left the reception following their wedding in California. Cali-fornia. DEFENSE: Dictator Feared In nearly, all discussions concerning concern-ing unification of the nation's armed services, one thing stood out many congressmen feared the possibility of a "military dictator" if framers of a unification bill weren't careful. THIS feeling was put into words by Georgia's Representative Vinson Vin-son who proposed several amendments amend-ments to the pending bill, declaring that he wanted to make sure no military dictator ever arises in the United States. Vinson, a Democrat, is chairman of the house armed services committee. The amendments he proposed would take the armed forces out from beyond the recently enacted government reorganization law, and put them beyond a shuffling by President Truman; put a civilian chairman over the joint chiefs of staff, a body which includes the highest officers of the army, navy and air force, and fix the membership member-ship of the national security council by law, requiring that other members mem-bers be subject to approval by the senate. THESE AMENDMENTS were proposed to a unification bill which already has passed the senate. The measure is one which would in crease the direct authority of the secretary of defense over the armed forces. Louis Johnson, who holds that post, has told the house committee he needs that authority to make the 1947 unification act work. He pledged to save over a billion dollars dol-lars a year in operation of the military mili-tary services if the bill were passed, and a civilian manager put in charge. With unemployment figures standing stand-ing at the highest peak in 11 years, and many nationwide organizations and national leaders casting about for a bulwark against economic hazards, congressional leaders were laughing at the idea the nation might be edging into a depression. THEY had just conferred with President Truman and upon emerging emerg-ing from the conference ridiculed the notion that all might not be as rosy as possible with the nation's economic picture'. If the lawmakers were out on a limb, they were way out, for House Speaker Rayburn and the senate Democratic leader, Scott Lucas, minced no words in expressing their optimism. "WITH 58 million people employed em-ployed in industry and 30 million farmers with money to pay for whatever they need, I'll be if I see how you can call it a recession," reces-sion," Rayburn declared. Said Lucas: "If it is, it's the most prosperous one we've ever experienced." experi-enced." MEANWHILE, it. was said President Presi-dent Truman was preparing a special spe-cial economic message for delivery to congress. It was expected to carry recommendations for dealing deal-ing with declining prices and the unemployment situation. Out of all this came repetition of the additional-taxes proposal. Asked about that, Rayburn said it had yet to be determined. He did not make it clear whether he meant President Truman is reconsidering his plea for four billion dollars in additional taxes a year, or whether the matter is still up in the air in congress. NEW HOMES: More Cash Buyers planning t o finance homes through FHA-insured mortgages mort-gages may have to make larger down payments from now on. THE federal housing administration administra-tion had cautioned its underwriters to consider declining construction costs when appraising houses for insured loans. The result, the agency said, would be lower mortgages on many new homes. If the builder fails to cut his selling price in line with lower costs, the down payment will be higher. THE decline in building costs and materials have been noted since late last year, the underwriters underwrit-ers were told. Most materials are plentiful, it was said, and production produc-tion rates of workers in many sections sec-tions have improved. INTELLECT: Women's Best? If two Indiana university professors profes-sors are to be believed, then the male of the species must face an unpleasant fact namely, that girls (or women) can reason better than boys (or men). THE professorial gentlemen claimed, and cited figures for proof, that the female is the superior su-perior of the male in the reasoning department, and this despite ten million jokes, books, philosophical discourses and general experience to the contrary. The professors say unequivocally that given a set of circumstances, the lassies can come up with more logical answers than boys can do. These gentlemen are Dr. William H. Fox and Prof. Nicholas A. Fattu of the research division of Indiana university's school of education. edu-cation. They made the tests in two high schools, one in a city of 11,000 in north central Indiana, and the other in a consolidated rural school near Indianapolis. TO USE the professors' own words in the report: "Scores on the interpretation of date test, seeking to establish their relationship to measures of achieve-ment, achieve-ment, personality and interest, found no differentiation ... but there was a clear cut advantage for girls in both schools in ability to reason, to see relationships, to make comparisons and to suspend judgment until pertinent facts are collected." To which many a male will counter: coun-ter: Too bad they seem to lose those faculties when they grow up. |
