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Show V WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS I Truman Signs FJorih Atlantic Pad; Brannan Farm Plan Beaten in House; British Clamor for A-Bomb Secrets (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) ENVOY TO COSTA RICA SWORN IN . . . Joseph Flack (left) of Doylestown, Pa., places his left hand upon the Bible as he takes oath of office and is sworn in as new ambassador to Costa Rica from the United States. He succeeds Nathaniel P. Davis. The wife of the new envoy is looking on as Stanley Woodward, chief of protocol proto-col officer at the state department in Washington, D. C, administers admin-isters the oath. INCOMES: Profits Decline Net corporation income, according accord-ing to the securities and exchange commission dropped to an estimated esti-mated two billion, 400 million dollars dol-lars after taxes, in the first quarter quar-ter of this year. THIS INCOME was approximately approxi-mately 16 per cent below the profits prof-its for the corresponding quarter of 1948 and 18 per cent below the preceding quarter. The drop in sales, the report said, more than offset lower costs and expenses. Experiencing the largest declines in net earning were the large corporations. cor-porations. Thesv; lower, profits were, said to have been reflected in low-: er rates of return on stockholder's equities. The SEC reported: "The ratio of profits after taxes to stockholders' stockhold-ers' equity for corporations over 100 million dollars in assets dropped from an annual rate of 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of 1948 to 14.4 per cent in the first quarter this year." SMALLEST-SIZE CLASS corporations corpor-ations with less than $250,000 in assets as-sets showed an increase from a small loss to 8.4 per cent. All but two of 22 industry groups showed declines in profits after taxes from the fourth quarter of 1948 to the first of 1949. ARMISTICE: Israel-Syria Accord Syria and Israel have signed an armistice agreement that will keep their military forces behind their international frontiers and estah- lished demilitarized zones in the contested areas. THE CEREMONY, taking place between the Israeli and Syrian fighting lines in north Galilee, will lead, it is hoped, to an early settlement settle-ment of issues between Israel and the Arab states in the Lausanne, Switzerland, talks of the UN Palestine Pales-tine conciliation commission. Israel has signed armistices with all the Arab countries that took part in the Palestine conflict Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. The agreement is another tribute to the skill of Dr.' Ralph Bunche, UN mediator, and Brig. Gen. William Wil-liam E. Riley, US chief of staff. IT HAS been agreed that uri-, restricted civil life may be re-( sumed in the demilitarized zones pending final peace negotiations when an international boundary will be clearly defined. The agreement calls for the withdrawal of defensive forces to a line three and a half miles deep on either side of the armistice line. This keeps the Arab legion and the Israeli troops out of grenade-tossing distance of each other. GUATEMALA: Rebellion Off A military revolt in Guatemala against the , government of Pres-! ident Juan Jose Arevalo died out.! Calm spread over the capital after I 24 hours of fighting that followed I the assassination of Col. Francisco! Javier Arana, chief of the armed1 forces. 1 FORT GUARDIA DE HONOR, , the seat of the revolt, was regained! by loyal troops and civilian vol-; unteers. All fighting ceased. Forty persons were reported, killed, according to the police di-( rector. No United States citizens, were among the casualties. Observers said the colonel was killed because he refused to lead an uprising against the government, govern-ment, and then his death was used as an excuse to attack the government. govern-ment. Among those fighting were many who belonged to a political party backing Arana for president. All state' ministers were loyal to the president. THE GOVERNMENT armed large groups of civilians for the battle against the rebels. BRANNAN PLAN: Loses Trial The house approved a measure continuing the farm price-support program in its present form. The bill was slated to go to the senate. The house vote was 383-25. The retention of the 90 per cent of parity supports killed the Aiken law, passed by the Republican-controlled Republican-controlled 80th congress and which was scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1. The administration gained a partial par-tial victory in eliminating the Aiken law but saw defeat in being denied a test run of the controversial controver-sial Brannan agricultural plan. Under the Brannan planj perishable perish-able crops would be allowed to sell at what the market would pay; then the government would pay the farmers the difference between the support level and the average price the farmers got. The Pace bill, which embodied provisions for a trial run on three farm products of the Brannan plan, lost out, 222-152. A substitute for the Pace bill, the Gore measure, suspending the Aiken law and continuing the present pres-ent farm program, won by a final vote 383-25. One of the surprises of the session ses-sion was the very few votes cast to keep the Aiken law alive. Corridors of the house office building where the meeting was held were filled with lobbyists for various farm organizations. Police had the area roped off. Democratic Leader McCormack (Mass.) argued that opponents of the Pace bill were obligated to offer of-fer some kind of alternative. "I'm concerned about the consumer," con-sumer," he said. "When he reads about millions of bushels of potatoes pota-toes being burned under the present pres-ent farm program, he wants to know what's wrong." CRAZY FISH Searchers -after the unique can find the "screwiest" fish acquar-ium acquar-ium in the world at the University of Toledo, Ohio. As a by-product of research into means of boosting the stock of fish in the nation's lakes and rivers, Floyd J. Brinley, physiologist, has developed the following: Thirty-three-eyed brown trout. Trout with extra transplanted hearts outside their bodies which continue to pulsate after, the fish have died. Trout babies which, in the interest in-terest of determining the effect of oxygen on the heart action of fish, live in oxygen "tents." ATOM DATA: England's Needs-Reports Needs-Reports say the administration has investigated the possibilities of sharing atom-bomb secrets with Britain by executive agreement without action by congress. Some law-makers have sought to tie the President's hands. The idea has been discussed but no decision has been reached to carry it through. It is considered a matter of the senate-house atomic atom-ic committee, the state department, depart-ment, the armed services and the atomic energy commission. A secret meeting at Blair House was thought to have been called by Truman to discuss the matter. The United Kingdom and Canada Cana-da co-operated in atomic development develop-ment during the war and are believed be-lieved to know all about the wartime war-time bomb. The atomic energy law of 1946 has forbidden further exchange of information. Some sources say Great Britain can produce an atom bomb of its own if it decides to concentrate on the problem. Britain may have threatened the United States with loss of uranium ore from British-owned Belgian Congo mines if the U.S. refuses" to yield atomic secrets. Britishers have been resentful that their observers were not allowed al-lowed at the Eniwetok bomb test. Roosevelt established the precedent prece-dent of presidential co-operation with Britain in things atomic without with-out congressional authorization. Queen WARNING: Pact Okayed Russia received a warning that any further aggression in Europe will be considered an attack upon the United States. The warning came in the form of an 82-13 ratification rati-fication of the Atlantic pact by the senate. It was the first time in American history that a peacetime pledge had been made that the United States will take action (military action, if necessary) if certain other nations are attacked. UNDER the north Atlantic treaty this nation and 11 other nations pledge that an attack upon one will be considered an attack upon all. The pact also pledges that the 12 members of the treaty shall prepare pre-pare for mutual defense before the need for military action actually arises. A small minority waged bitter opposition to the pact during the 13 days of senate debate upon it. Three Republicans, Wherry of Nebraska, Ne-braska, Taft of Ohio and Watkins of Utah, tried to write a reservation reserva-tion into the treaty, specifying that ratification did not impose upon the United States the moral or legal obligation to supply arms to the other 11 signers. The heavy vote for ratification and the impressive vote against arms reservations were victories for the senate bipartisan foreign policy. Only two Democrats voted against ratification Johnson o f HOUSING: Modest Home A modest home may be built for $5,900, federal rent director Tighe Woods has proven. He was trying to solve the military's housing hous-ing difficulties. The over-all size of the house is 15 by 38 feet. The price includes sewer and water systems. Chairman Vinson (D., Ga.) of the house armed services committee commit-tee said he was going to examine Woods' home near Fort Belvoir, Va. The committee has studied a military construction bill authorizing author-izing the armed services to spend more than 449 million to house 7,795 military families. THE BILL would limit homes in the United States to $16,500 cost each with no limit on those built abroad. :lSliliiSfSlliiSIilS lllll;Mllllpp: 1111 Colorado and Taylor of Idaho, Henry Wallace's running mate in 1948. President Truman then asked congress for a billion, 450 million dollars to finance an arms-aid program pro-gram for western Europe after signing the pact. Is there anyone to dispute the decision of the judges in selecting select-ing Janice Harvell, 18, of Carolina Caro-lina Beach, N. C, as queen of the Lions? The smiling miss won the title in competition with beauties of other nations. The crowning occurred at the 32nd annual convention of Lions International at Madison Square Garden, N. Y. PROTEST: Reds Denied Russia protested against Italian membership in the north Atlantic alliance, but her protest was denied de-nied by secretary of state Dean Acheson. Russia claimed Italy's participation was a violation of a treaty she had with Russia and other allies after the war that she would join in no alliance directed di-rected against any of the victors. Acheson denounced the Soviets. |