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Show NEiipfGO-flGUflD KAI asm crew pearsoh Washington, D. C. KEY ECONOMIST OUT Handsome, platinum - haired Ec Stettinius, acting secretary of state, telephoned "Assistant President" Jimmy Byrnes, asked that he call a meeting of the War Mobilization cabinet to consider cancellation of war contracts where foreign countries coun-tries are involved. Already various war contracts are being cancelled, and some of the cancellations, especially espe-cially those involving the purchase of metals, mean breaking commitments commit-ments to foreign governments. Byrnes agreed, called the meeting. meet-ing. On the morning set Stettinius phoned again. "We've got to call off the War Mobilization cabinet meeting," he said. "Why?" asked the puzzled Byrnes. "Feis has resigned," replied Stettinius. Stet-tinius. "He's the expert on foreign war contracts." He was referring to Herbert Feis, economic adviser to the secretary of state. "Well, can't you come to the meeting meet-ing and present your views to the cabinet?" suggested Byrnes. "No," replied Stettinius, "Feis is the only man who knows anything about the subject." The special cabinet session was postponed. Note: Herbert Feis, related by marriage, to the late President Garfield, Gar-field, is a distinguished liberal economist econ-omist appointed by Secretary of State Stimson under Hoover. His resignation was handed to Hull shortly after the resignation of Sumner Sum-ner Welles, at which time Hull began be-gan to sweep out liberals. When newspapers revealed this clean-out, Hull held up acceptance of Feis' resignation, left word that it be announced an-nounced while he was in Moscow. DIES COMMITTEE DYING The Dies committee soon will release re-lease an interim report, listing the various Nazi and Jap groups which operated more or less openly in this country until Pearl Harbor under the names of tourist bureaus, trade associations, etc. It will be prosaic, less sensational than previous reports, with a backhanded back-handed slap at the administration for permitting such things to happen. hap-pen. Employees of the committee are bemoaning the report's mildness. Committee funds are getting to the point where the house must be asked for more, but maybe the dough will not be forthcoming unless Dies can throw the house something far more sensational. The only thing sensational that forthright Martin Dies can drag out now concerns Communist influence among the Negroes, and he hesitates hesi-tates to do this, fearing nation-wide repetition of the Detroit race riots. WHEAT UNCERTAINTIES Though no announcement has been made, inside word in the agriculture agricul-ture department is that wheat farmers farm-ers will get a loan price of 90 per cent of parity, which is a 5 per cent increase over this year. Officials recognize that something attractive must be done to increase wheat plantings. As it looks now, plantings are going to fall below the high goals set by the government an acreage increase of 14 million over this year. This year farmers had the 85-per-cent-of-parity loan, which acted tg support the price, plus both parity payments and conservation payments. pay-ments. But congress has knocked out parity payments for next year, leaving a margin of uncertainty as to whether wheat will bring as much as flax or grain sorghums, or some other crop. Planting is now well along in the winter wheat belt, but it is reported to be a slack planting. Never has there been so much demand by farmers to know what the price is going to be. And the official answer an-swer is still withheld. And when the announcement is made, it will be a loan figure of 90 per cent of parity, whereas farmers would like to have 100 per cent, to make up for the loss of parity payments. pay-ments. All this confusion comes at a time when there is a greater demand for wheat than this country has ever known. In addition to the tremendous tremen-dous demand for wheat for flour, 450 million bushels haje been used for animal feed in the past 12 months, and still more will be needed for the same purpose in the next year. And beyond that, the government has pledged another 50 million bushels bush-els for foreign relief. ATI this explains why the gates are being opened again to imports of wheat and barley from Argentina, Argen-tina, for tht first time in quantity since the drouth years. CAPITAL CHAFF C Wendell Willkie tn his closed door session with GOP congressmen described de-scribed Stalta as a "he-man's he-man, he-man, who doesn't go in for glamour, but who keeps his word and expects others to do the same." C. More and more railroad workers are saying that they would be better bet-ter oft if the railroads were run by the government C Lat spring, delivery of heavy bombers to the V. S. Eighth sir foree hi Britain was inereased greatly. great-ly. The Increase is still continuing. |