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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS- U.S. Formosan Intervention Urged; Drive Is Launched to Trim Budget Group to Press for Child Welfare; (FDITOB'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these colnmns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) I Atomic 'Advances' f V A 1 FORMOSA: Shall We Intervene? As the agitation for U.S. intervention inter-vention in Formosa grows, many Americans will have a sharp flashback flash-back of memory to the days when Anthony , Eden and others were urging boycotts against Mussolini and the Japs as campaigns of conquest con-quest were getting underway. Now, there are many important U.S. officials and ex-leaders who argue that the United States must step in to keep Communist China from swallowing up Formosa. Use of armed force, if necessary, is recommended to stop that movement. move-ment. LATEST TO JOIN with those ad-. ad-. vocating intervention in Formosa was Herbert Hoover, former president pres-ident of the United States. He contended con-tended that such a policy was necessary nec-essary to safeguard this country's own security. Hoover argued the U.S. should use its naval power to .protect not only the big island stronghold of Formosa but also lesser islands which Chiang Kai-shek's forces . David E. Lilienthal, atomic energy commission chief, told a news conference that there have been "several secret advances" ad-vances" in the development of atomic energy. He said these are comparable to the "breeder "breed-er design" in 1049. EDUCATION: Money & Health FOREIGN AID: Appeal to Reason It was impossible at the moment to evaluate its effect, but the fact that Sen. Tom Connally (D., Tex.) chairman of the senate foreign relations re-lations committee was urging a reduction in foreign-aid spending was certain to carry some weight in congress. CONNALLY forecast a "sizeable" "size-able" cut in funds for the third year of the European recovery program, pro-gram, and explained that he meant "anything up to a billion dollars." Congress voted more than 3.75 billion bil-lion for the program in 1949. The most rabid supporter of the aid-to-Europe program would have to concede that there has been no little visionary treatment of the problem, with the top-drawer do-gooders do-gooders finding it hard to restrain themselves when it came to giving away the American taxpayers' money. There had been plenty warning and admonitions from men in government gov-ernment qualified to talk about the situation, but for the most part their authority wasn't sufficient to permit their interfering. However, with Senator Connally on the side of a reduction' in the program, the situation took on a new aspect. THERE WERE PLENTY observers ob-servers who felt that unless the United States took a determined stand in insisting that Europe begin be-gin now to do something to rehabilitate re-habilitate itself, the drain on American Amer-ican funds would not only continue indefinitely, but might even increase. in-crease. The Texas senator might have had some such idea in mind when he talked ERP fund reductions. It was a little more difficult, however, to understand his position posi-tion with regard to Spain. Connally Connal-ly urged that the United States exchange ex-change ambassadors with Spain immediately and to call off its diplomatic dip-lomatic boycott of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. He wanted "strategic" Spain in the North At. lantic pact. ECONOMICS: Stability Urged In the field of U.S. economics, there was pulling and hauling that would hold some measure of amusement were it not for its basic grimness. With President Truman previously committed to a tax increase, and some of his cabinet members advising against it, the no-tax-hike group found important im-portant support in the President's council of economic advisers. THIS GROUP, reporting to the President on the general economic situation, steered clear of any definite tax stand, but did not hold an olive branch to business. And it hinted that some changes in the present tax structure should be made in order to meet what it called a "need for more stability" in government actions affecting the nation's economic well-being. That word "stability" was the tip-off. It meant, anyone could reasonably rea-sonably assume, that the council felt U.S. business must have some assurance that it is not going to be confronted continually with an ever-shifting government tax policy. pol-icy. This coupled with Commerce Secretary Sawyer's suggestion that excise taxes be repealed, could be regarded as a definite switch in high-level thinking on tax matters. THE COUNCIL explained it this wav- were seeking to defend along the south China coast. He declared such a step would "erect a wall against communism in the Pacific" and offer a "continued "con-tinued hope of some time turning China into the paths of freedom again." HOWEVER, the decision was further complicated by a British stand that American China policy would strain Anglo-American relations. rela-tions. Indications were that Britain was just about ready to recognize the Chinese Communist regime. Always the practical realist, Britain Brit-ain moves wherever her own best interests dictate, or where she thinks they dictate. Hence, for the U.S. to lash out at the Chinese Reds just when the British were trying to woo the Communist business busi-ness apparently wasn't going to sit well with Great Britain. BUDGET: Drive for Balance According to house Republican Leader Martin of Massachusetts, the United States government should be able to live within its income without raising taxes. That of course meant that the U.S. ought to be able to balance its budget. MARTIN joined forces -with Sen. Robert Taft, of Ohio, who is on record as saying he believes the federal budget could .be balanced in fiscal 1951. The two lawmakers ' are united in a drive to attempt to force the government to live within with-in its income. The project obviously had more merit than chance for success, for with congress predominantly Democratic, Dem-ocratic, there would be little probability prob-ability of any great tax changes in the matter of reduced operating expenses. All indications were that while there might not be any tax increases, in-creases, there certainly would be little of tax reductions, despite administration ad-ministration claims that the eov- The needs of education in the nation, apparently were to be well looked after in Washington, as far as interest and stressing of necessity neces-sity were concerned. The American Parents' Committee Commit-tee announced a nine-point program pro-gram in the child' welfare field for consideration at the current congress session. THIS COMMITTEE was organized organ-ized three years ago to work for a national program to benefit children. chil-dren. Legislation the committee . will press for will be: The national school-health-services bill for an annual 35 million dollars grants-in-aid for school health examinations and treatment for all school children.. This measure meas-ure has been passed by the senate. sen-ate. The public - school - construction bill, asking five billion to match state funds for a nation-wide survey sur-vey of needs, and other sums for emergency school construction, which have been approved by the senate. THE federal aid - for - education bill, which would provide 300 million mil-lion for grants-in-aid to the states under a formula which gives a larger proportion of funds to the needier states. This bill passed the senate but was blocked in the house because of the controversy over "services" to parochial schools. The national child-research bill, which asks 7.5 million annually for research in child life and developments. develop-ments. The bill on social security revisions, re-visions, asking increased benefits for dependent children. The local public-health-units bill, which would increase health safeguards safe-guards for children. AN INCRC7 in funds for the Children's Bureau. Increased school lunch appropriations. "While we should aim in the long run for reasonable stability in tax policy, the great changes in the tax structure over the most recent years and the double reversal of economic trends in 1D49 may make it necessary to alter the tax structure struc-ture somewhat before a basis of stability in future years will have been laid." This new course launched the council on a course its former chairman, Edwin G. Nourse, repudiated re-pudiated that of making recommendations recom-mendations directly to congress on matters of the administration's economic eco-nomic policy. Margolis Quits 1 ", --v -.,f W i ernment couldn't operate without more tax revenue. Where the bal-ancing-up will come is problematical problemat-ical as yet. TAFT and Martin outlined their views as congress ' reconvened. Both declared they would oppose vigorously any administration request re-quest for increases either in corporation cor-poration or high-bracket income taxes. Taft said he would not object to a deficit of about two billion dollars in 1951 if he were sure the government govern-ment woud get back into the black in fiscal 1952. The deficit this year is expected to run about 5.5 billion dollars. BRITISH: No, Thanks Miffed because the world bank wanted to know too much about its operations, Great Britain's colonial colon-ial development corporation withdrew with-drew its application to the international inter-national , bank for a loan of five million dollars. The 280-million-dollar government govern-ment corporation, set up in 1948 . to foster colonial development, said it wanted the loan to buy "indispensable" "indispen-sable" American-built land-clearing machinery. THE CORPORATION would have been required to submit its detailed de-tailed budget to the bank for some years ahead and would have had to make quarterly statements showing total assets, liabilities and expenditures of each of its multiple mul-tiple operations. ' Chairman Lord Trefargne told newsmen the corporation would buy the "second-best" machinery constructed in Britain and Italy. He declared the bank's terms were "too onerous." The corporation's projects now underway included: Agricultural developments in Borneo, Bor-neo, British Honduras, the Leeward Lee-ward islands, and Africa; forestry and mineral projects in British Guiana, and factory construction tn northern Rhodesia, Kenya and Jamaica. COFFEE: $11 More The recent zoom in coffee prices, which jammed food stores with excited ex-cited crowds of economy-conscious shoppers, will add a little over $11 to the average American household's house-hold's coffee bill for 1950 unless fewer or thinner cups are drunk this year, says the family economics econom-ics bureau of Northwestern National Nation-al Life Insurance company. The retail rise in the United States, averaging around 22 cents a pound from mid-summer to mid-December, mid-December, parallels an almost equal climb of approximately' 21 cents a pound in Latin-American prices on green coffee, according to the bureau. AMOUNTING to over 38 times the cost of the coffee price rise, or approximately $425 per year, is the average U.S. family's share of the 20-billion-dollar increase since 1939 in our government's annual an-nual non-military expenditures, the bureau points out. A yearly saving of $86, directly and indirectly, would be the average aver-age family's share in the four billion bil-lion dollars which it is estimated can be saved each year merely by modernizing and streamlining government gov-ernment operations; this saving would pay for the average household's house-hold's entire annual supply of 51 pounds of store-bought coffee, even if the price went to $1 a pound, and still leave $35 for sugar and cream, the bureau calculates. Sleep Habits Revealing Since practically a third of one's entire lifetime is spent sleeping, this phenomenon properly engages the attention of scientists. As witness the conclusions by Prof. Alfred Adler, psychologist, that the person who sleeps on his back, stretched out like a soldier at attention, 'vnnts to be as great as possible. The sleeper who curls j up like a he:!geho" he says, prob- ably lacks courage. William N. Margolis (left, above) has resigned as assistant as-sistant to federal labor conciliation concilia-tion service director Cyrus Ching (right) . Margolis planned to open offices in Washington and New York as a labor relations rela-tions consultant. SECURITY: A Plea to Wait Bernard Baruch, elder statesman with an over-sufficiency of this world's goods, didn't think social security benefits should be paid when the recipient becomes 65 years of age. Himself a vigorous 79, Baruch said the retirement age should be raised beyond 65. He suggested revision of social security laws to permit persons over 65 to go on working and accumulating ac-cumulating larger payments. |