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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Truman. Faces Fight on Liberal Legislative Program; Russ Hit British Diplomacy at UNO Meet . Released by Western Newspaper Union. those ol (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these colnmns they er) Western Newspaper Union's news analysis and not necessariiv 01 wns """" I ! - - hmiipl j I - . . " 5 7 f,Y - J - - " 4 $ , 1 One of 75,000 steel workers to walk out of Chicago area plants, Hugh R. Patterson leaves picket line to warm up near stove. STATE OF UNION: Bickering Ahead Yielding no ground to conservatives conserva-tives in and out of his own party, President Truman proposed a sweeping sweep-ing liberal legislative program for congressional enactment during the present session. Despite Mr. Truman's brave show, however, immediate congressional reaction indicated that he faced a fight every inch of the way on measures meas-ures embracing labor, housing, social so-cial security and public health insurance, in-surance, international loans, public works, military conscription, farm loan programs and broadened crop insurance. Of all the President's major proposals, pro-posals, retention of price control machinery ma-chinery to head off postwar inflation and extension of the second war powers act to continue emergency authority, were conceded comparatively compara-tively smooth sailing. A lively fight loomed over the President's labor proposals, including includ-ing creation of fact-finding machinery machin-ery to establish the basis for settlements settle-ments of disputes; increase of the minimum wage to 65 cents an hour, and prohibition of discrimination in employment. Also foreshadowing a struggle were Mr. Truman's requests for establishing es-tablishing price control for old and new houses, creation of a permanent perma-nent national housing agency, and continuation of subsidies for low-rent low-rent dwellings. The President's appeal for compulsory com-pulsory health and disability insurance insur-ance was another proposal that promised to stir up a congressional tempest, what with the additional taxation that such a program entailed en-tailed and the medical profession's strong resistance on grounds that it represents a step toward state socialism. so-cialism. In the field of international relations, rela-tions, Mr. Truman's recommendation recommenda-tion for the granting of a 4 billion 400 million dollar loan to Britain was due to come under the fire of critics deploring the liberal terms offered. Congress also remained cold to his plea for military conscription, if volunteering vol-unteering fails, to preserve the might of the U. S. and influence postwar post-war diplomacy for peace. UNO: Feelings Ruffled Long suppressed, ill feeling between be-tween Britain and Russia flared into the open at the first meeting of the United Nations organization in London Lon-don over the question of occupying occupy-ing smaller nations in the middle and far east. The trouble started with Iran's appeal ap-peal to UNO's security council to look into Russian activities in the northern sector of the country where the Reds reportedly have been encouraging separatist movements move-ments and blocking government efforts ef-forts to stamp out the uprisings. Though Britain did not actively figure fig-ure in Iran's action, Russia felt that the empire, with vast oil interests at stake, had inspired the plea. Retaliating, Russia asked the security se-curity council to investigate and take action on British occupation of Greece and the East Indies, where Tommies have been retained to restore order. Declaring that Britain's presence in those countries coun-tries was designed to influence internal in-ternal politics, the Reds said that such intervention by reactionary elements were not uncommon. Retaining their traditional diplomatic diplo-matic aplomb, the British were quick to answer the irate Russians, asserting that while they were in both Greece and the Indies at the request of the respective govern ments, the Reds had been asked to leave by Iran. British occupation of Greece has long irked Moscow, the Tommies' presence there serving to maintain a balance between leftist and rightist right-ist forces and also assure the empire em-pire of a friendly government in the peninsular country lying above the strategic Suez canal. Prior to British occupation, the left-wing Elas forces, which had waged an underground battle against the Axis, constituted a major ma-jor force and stood on the thresh-hold thresh-hold of attaining internal control despite de-spite violent opposition from rightist right-ist elements. WAGES PRICES: Tug Behind Scenes As federal seizure of packing plants loomed, government officials scuffled behind the scenes over the question of increasing prices to offset off-set wage advances, with OPAdmin-istrator OPAdmin-istrator Bowles opposing the move and Secretary of Agriculture Anderson Ander-son advocating it. While Bowles fought tenaciously against price increases in an effort to hold the line against inflation, Anderson vehemently vehement-ly deplored the waste of both meat and feed during the strike of 263,000 CIO and AFL packing pack-ing house workers at major plants. With the big operators op-erators asserting that they faced a squeeze in submit ting to union demands without com-rjensatorv com-rjensatorv ceiling hikes, the situa- 1 Sec. Anderson I Chester Bowles tion was of unusual interest to livestock producers, since the possibility existed that buyers would bid down cattle if no other means prevailed pre-vailed to relieve the cost pressure. Following the packers' rejection of an original government gov-ernment offer of increasing in-creasing the price on meat purchased by the U. S. because be-cause of no assurance of volume, Mr. Truman and aides sought to overcome the objection by guaranteeing guaran-teeing to buy a certain quantity. The administration also weighed an increase in civilian prices. Stubbornly leading a stabilization stabiliza-tion fight, Bowles had also bucked the administration's consideration of substantial price increases to the steel industry in the government's efforts to settle a strike which threatened threat-ened to crimp the entire reconversion reconver-sion program, already 90 per cent complete. While the government refused to concede that steel had been promised prom-ised substantial ceiling boosts to offset off-set higher wages to the ClO-United Steel workers, it was understood that Mr. Truman was ready to grant the industry a $4 a ton hike, $7 a ton having been asked. Bowles had held out for a $2.50 a ton raise in the attempt to limit prices on items vital to the manufacture of numerous numer-ous civilian products. Meanwhile, both industry and CIO girded for an all-out battle over the wage question, with the union hammering ham-mering the companies for refusal to accept President Truman's compromise com-promise offer of an 18 cents an hour raise to maintain high take-home take-home pay, and the corporations insisting in-sisting that their proposal for 15 cents an hour would boost wages to over $50 per week. I FRANCE: Old Game politi Long known for' shown no cal history, France r Eigns of reformn f deGauUe-s world, with Gen. of tne pro- ro -inting up the situation. and n, Between World War. French Prem,errS' ent, came and strings of gvesrenann falling out vent with the season . g whenever the afflber refused to support Though it was P'aneanew republic, Uar stresses m th an all-powerful coib au. the chief executive of h s .to have partly s tern &mnge. teS7gaandS emphasizing the pos-ment, pos-ment, and, in env against sibilities of saaSnedtUP'S0cfalists the Communists ana combining to curtail his mi program. JAPAN: To Try Big-Shots With Allied trials of JaPanf se criminals scheduled for March Gen eral MacArthur took teps o as sure the quick and speedy judgmen of suspects, capitalizing ences drawn from previous cases conducted in the Philippines and Yokohama. . In an effort to circumvent the destruction de-struction of records and the reluctance reluc-tance of many witnesses to testify tes-tify against defendants, MacArthur ordered the admittance of such evidence evi-dence as letters, diaries, sworn or unsworn statements and reports issued is-sued by individuals possessing personal per-sonal knowledge of incidents. To be made up of nine members, representing the Allied powers, the tribunal will judge crimes against peace, including the plotting and conduct of wars of aggression; crimes against humanity, ranging from murder to deportation of civilians, civil-ians, and finally conventional war crimes, including violations of the customs of combat. Because of the general campaign to make him the scapegoat of the war, Hideki Tojo, who failed to take his life when first apprehended by American troops, will rank as the star defendant of the approaching approach-ing trials. |