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Show '2'. . ' :"v ":: By Walter Shead ANNOUNCEMENT by the Eis-.enhower Eis-.enhower headquarters that he will open his campaign in the south recalls the prediction in this column col-umn that, as a result of the two political conventions, the southern states would become a battleground battle-ground during the campaign. Although the concensus here Is that there Is little danger of a bolt of the Dixie states from the Democratic Demo-cratic standard, the wide popularity popular-ity of Eisenhower gives his managers man-agers the feeling that a campaign in the south Is worth the gamble. Already announced for set speeches in his airplane junket through the south are Richmond, Va., Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Jack-sonville, Miami, New Orleans, Fort Worth, Houston, Memphis and perhaps per-haps other southern cities. Also there is little doubt but that Governor Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee, will make a tour of southern cities at some point in his campaign. Republican leadership particularly particu-larly entertains hopes of breaching the southern line by capturing Florida and Texas. It is known that the GOP senatorial committee, chairmanned by Senator Dirksen of Illinois, plans to send financial help into Florida in support of Eisenhower-Nixon clubs and for John P. Booth, Miami attorney, GOP nominee for the senate against Senator Spessard Holland. The Republican Re-publican congressional committee may also send money into Florida in at least two congressional dis-trists dis-trists perhaps three, the first, fifth and sixth congressional districts. There is little question but that Gen. Eisenhower will get more votes than any other Republican in modern politics, but, since he must get these votes on a Republican Repub-lican ticket and not under a Democratic Demo-cratic or Dixiecrat banner, there is little belief here that he will capture cap-ture any electroal votes south of the Mason-Dixon line. What the general may do, however, is give 1 hope and impetus to the two-party system in the south which is badly needed to bring out the best men in both parties in the southern states. On the basis of a real revolt in the south, it could be possible for Eisenhower to capture such states as Virginia, Florida and Texas, with a possibility in Louisiana and South Carolina. But to date there is no indication of any such uprising, despite the fact that Governor Jimy Brynes of South Carolina signed a petition to place Eisenhower Eisen-hower electors on the ballot, Byrnes has publicly said he would go along with the Stevenson-Spark-man ticket. As a matter of fact, a survey indicates that 06 southern dally newspapers are supporting Eisenhower as against 29 for Governor Gov-ernor Stevenson. At any rate, Eisenhower's Eis-enhower's quick tour into the south is an attempt to capitalize on this sentiment for him. National Bureau of Economic Research Re-search says that back in 1932, when national and private debt was rel- . atively small compared to present debt, it was equal to 59 percent oi the national wealth. Today a vastly increased debt is only 53 percent of the national wealth. Today our net debt, says U.S. News and World Report, is $241 billion, federal, state and local, plus $270 billion in private debt. Our national wealth totals $968 billion dollars. Republicans are treading on thin ice in charging the Truman administration admin-istration with rigging the market in 1948 and with creating a false issue over shortage of grain storage facilities. Congress imposed a ban on the Commodity Credit Corporation Corpora-tion to store grain by an amendment amend-ment to its charter preventing CCC from renewing leases on land where storage bins were located, or acquiring land elsewhere. Also when there was a decline in grain prices due to world demand, lt was the CCC which moved in to support the market. |