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Show SCANNING THE WEEK'S NEWS 0 Main Street and the World OPS Orders New Beef Price Control Plan Calling for 10 Cent Rollback BEEF PRICE CONTROLS In one sweeping order that will touch nearly every family in the home towns oi America as well as 300,000 meat retailers and 25,000 packers, slaughterers and other meat wholesalers, whole-salers, the OPS put into force a new beef price controi program calling for almost a dime-a-pound roll-back at the butcher shop by October 1. The order is expected to save the Americar. housewife $700 million in the butcher shops. Housewives cannot expect retail prices of beef to drop immediately, however, because the program provides for progressively reducing ceiling over a period of time that will allow livestock producers to unload their high cost animals. Livestock men have balked at controls over cattle prices and warned they would result in less meat production. Michael V. DiSalle, OPS director, direc-tor, will likely be severely criticized by the industry. These are the steps in the new beef program: 1. A 10 per cent cut fa prices which slaughterers may pay the farmer for cattle. cat-tle. This goes into effect for accounting periods beginning be-ginning on or after May 20. 2. Dollar and cents ceilings ceil-ings aTe fixed for wholesaler whole-saler and retailers for the first time. The wholesaler ceilings go into effect May 9. the retail ceilings on Mav 14. Butcher shops must post Editors Meet retail ceiling price cnartSj Edwin S. Friendly (left), retiring presi- dent oi the American newspaper pub- ' n . , , ... , , l- 1 3- Prices slaughterers may Ushers association, bands over bts gavel . ... . J . 1 ri 1 n it r 1 u ti Pay fr cattle are to be re- to his successor, Charles V. McCahill. The , , , .... , . ... sn.L i . duced an additional four and editors held their bytb annual convention , . ,, . , i7 j one-half per cent on August recently in New York. . , , r 1 and by same amount on ' October 1. 4. On the same August 1 and October 1 dates, retail beef prices cuts of from four to five cents a pound will go into effect. MORE CONTROLS Main Street may feel a greater degree of the control pinch if President Truman's proposed legislation gets through congress. He has called for re-enactment, with some stiffening, of virtually virtual-ly everything in the defense production act of 1950. In view of Mr. Truman's Tru-man's recent troubles, it is doubtful if bis suggestions will be accepted without considerable criticism. He proposed: 1. Fixing the parity price for each farm commodity as of the beginning begin-ning of its marketing season for price control to cover the entire season. 2. Establishing effective rent controls for both residential and commercial com-mercial properties "wherever needed to stabilize the cost of living and the cost of doing business." 3. Strengthening machinery for the enforcement of price control regulations. regu-lations. 4. Authorizing the government "to build and operate defense plants, to produce essential materials and equipment. 5. Providing for controls over credit in the sale of existing housing. 6. Regulating speculative trading on commodity exchanges. THINGS TO COME If the man on Main Street thinks the Truman-MacArthur Truman-MacArthur controversy is going to die, he is badly mistaken. The battle s just about to begin. This was indicated in a long and extemporaneous speech by Sen. Robert Taft in which he attacked the U.S. joint chiefs of staff and demanded de-manded that the U.S. go "all-out" in Korea. The senator said that he was willing to follow the MacArthur proposals pro-posals for bombing military objectives in Communist China and for giving giv-ing logistical support, meaning transport and cover, to Nationalist attack on China proper. The senator's speech made it clear that the Republican plan to use the forthcoming investigations of the MacArthur dismissal to force an overturning of present far east policy. A WARNING TO AMERICA Robert A. Vogeler, shaky, pale and nervous was released from a Hungarian prison after 17 months imprisonment. imprison-ment. He had a message for the Main Street of America. "I want to warn every individual American that what happened to me can happen to them if we don't band together to destroy these enemies of individual freedom," he told newsmen after his release. "I have a message for America an important one. "America must be made aware of what can happen to human rights right of a person to go where he wants and say what he wants ... or the right to be able to go to bed and not be afraid of being taken away from his family to prison in the middle of the night." RETURN OF LABOR With the return of organized labor to all defense-mobilization agencies, the man on Main Street can expect the unions to exert a greater influence over the administration's future defense de-fense proposals. ; . It was evident by labor's return to the defense agencies that the administration had surrendered on many points of conflict and is now willing to listen to the united labor policy committee. Union leaders made known immediately their first campaign. As one expressed it, "We will now turn the heat on congress by undertaking a new campaign for tighter price-control laws and other legislation to insure in-sure equality of sacrifice in the defense effort. Chinese Attack South of Parallel A VS. tank battalion lumbers into a defense position north of Seoul, prepared to take a heavy toll of advancing Chinese Communist forces. SPRING IN KOREA It is spring in Korea. But there is no peace and tranquility in the warm sun. The song birds can not be heard for the constant roar of artillery. The tender sprigs of grass and shrubs are trampled beneath the boots of invading Chinese and defending United Nations troops. It is time for war in Korea. But the great Communist spring offensive is not doing so well. And the people in the home towns of America who are thinking of their sons and brothers and husbands have gained confidence from reports of allied victories. The Reds approached Seoul, but came tg a dead stop after allied naval, air and artillery bombardments. On other fronts the fighting had died down for the time being. But as long as it is spring in Korea, the Communists will attack. This time, however, they are running into a meat grinder of fire power. |