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Show Weekly News Analysis 1 European Crisis 'Postponed'; Delay May Be Fatal to Axis IJy Joseph W. La Hint? EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they ere those of the news analyst, and not necessarily ol the newspaper. Domestic In 1737 'he constitutional convention conven-tion wiped cut trade barriers between be-tween states. Since then financially pressed commonwealths have sought to protect their own tradesmen and taxpayers from competition with non-residents by licensing, inspection, inspec-tion, labeling and a host of similar regulations. Ey 1929 the barriers have grown so high that Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace claims it causes an incalculable economic eco-nomic loss to the nation. Forwarding Forward-ing a report by the bureau of agricultural agri-cultural economics, Secretary Wallace Wal-lace made these charges: (1) New York city's inspection requirements bar milk and cream , ! SECRETARY WALLACE He would hurdle the barriers. from points west of the New York and Pennsylvania state lines, thereby there-by raising prices on the metropolitan metropoli-tan market. (2) Trucking "wars" thrive in Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Wy-oming, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Maine tr;rt South Dakota, where restrictions re-strictions a.'"' imposed against trucks from neightforjng states. (3) Many states virtually bar produce of other states by establishing establish-ing unique trading, labeling and packaging regulations, quarantines, embargoes and "a bewildering maze of . . other impositions." Though the administration has thus far left remedial action up to states themselves, there is little reason rea-son to hope that 48 individual legislatures legis-latures can work out a nation-wide system, or labor hand-in-hand to solve a problem in which each has a selfish interest. But federal intervention in-tervention is broadly hinted in the Wallace report, one phase to cover interstate commerce of motor vehicles. vehi-cles. The proposed plan: A vehicle vehi-cle properly registered in its home state and with the interstate commerce com-merce commission would be exempt from further registration. Europe The Ides of March brought disaster dis-aster for Julius Caesar. The same Ides were scheduled by European observers to bring 1939 disaster to England and France via (1) conclusion conclu-sion of the Spanish war, (2) Italian territorial demands against France, and (3) a subsequent impasse in which London and Paris could choose between appeasing the Rome-Berlin axis or going to war. The two major hitches in this schedule came in Spain, where Loyalists Loy-alists did not capitulate as expected following the surrender of Barcelona, Barce-lona, and in the Vatican, where Pope Pius XI died. Obviously Italy could not free her hands for demands against France until she could withdraw with-draw troops from Rebel Spain. The pontiff's death brought a respectful pause in diplomatic warfare, coupled cou-pled with international conjecture over the choice of his successor. Whether the axis ever had a "plan" for March is questionable, but certainly the natural course of events would have brought a crisis. Today's most moot question in Europe Eu-rope is whether the unforeseen delay may not weaken the Rome-Berlin position. Speeding rearmament, forcing Germany into world trade submission, pledging aid to France, Great Britain has emerged a much stronger power the last 30 days. One idea of the crisis-to-come has been ofTered by Journal Des Debats, conservative Paris newspaper. The alleged plan, which Berlin described as "ridiculous and laughable": Fascist Fas-cist states (Germany, Italy and Japan) Ja-pan) would difluse trouble for democracies de-mocracies throughout the world, part of that campaign being Tokyo's recent seizure of Hainan island in defiance of France. Other troubles would include Italy's Mediterranean demands and agitation against Britain Brit-ain in already troublesome Palestine and Syria. This done, and mobilization mobili-zation completed, Adolf Hitler would make a "great speech" setting forth ultimatums, shocking the world next day by making "territorial "terri-torial security" marches into Holland Hol-land and Switzerland. This done, London and Paris would be given their choice of capitulating or watching Holland and Switzerland remain under Nazi domination. Housing Despite federal stimulus, home building has remained at low ebb since 1929, providing a good index of the times. In 1937 a hinted uptrend up-trend was cut short by rising material ma-terial costs and labor troubles. But by the current spring U. S. housing has reached such deplorable shape that renewed building activity is inevitable. in-evitable. Some idea of the industry's expectations expec-tations has been voiced by L. Seth Schnitman, consulting economist and member of the army industrial college, who predicts the greatest residential building volume since 1929. Activity for the first three months of this year is 75 per cent greater than during the comparable period last year, representing total expenditures of $325,000,000. Housing experts agree the initial stimulus was given by New York's Bowery savings bank, which recently recent-ly cut about one-seventh in the interest in-terest rate for mortgage money on Federal Housing administration insured in-sured home mortgages. Picked up by other New York banks, then spreading westward across the country, the plan has given impetus to investment building operations. England From mid-May to mid-June, Great Britain's King George and Queen Elizabeth will be guests of the North American continent on a junket which most good Americans regard as a simple, friendly gesture. But as travel time approaches, the royal expedition is meeting with far more distracting bogeymen than Toronto's Toron-to's Dionne quintuplets, which are being shipped 180 miles under protest pro-test to curtsy before their queen. From June 8 to 11 the royal party will visit the U. S. Because the entire journey was planned last winter win-ter in the heat of international chatter chat-ter about "democratic solidarity," more than one anti-Chamberlain writer has tried to place the prime minister in a difficult position. A sample, by one Peter Howard in Lord Beaverbrook's Daily Express: "Now the royal visit puts Chamberlain Chamber-lain himself on trial. If it succeeds Chamberlain goes up. If it fails he goes down." What Englishmen mean by "success" "suc-cess" or "failure" of the American visit was finally brought into fairly close focus, but it still remained a doubtful quantity. Probable meaning: mean-ing: The visit will "fail" if U. S. citizens get the impression that King George and Queen Elizabeth are making a begging expedition to gain American aid in pulling England's chestnuts out of the European fires. Defense Six thousand airplanes would effectively ef-fectively darken the sky. Nose to nose, they would reach 45 miles; wing to wing, 52 miles. To build and maintain 6,000 planes, plus personnel person-nel and equipment, would cost about $300,000,000. Authorization for such a U. S. army air force has already passed through congress and the appropriation ap-propriation will follow close on its heels. This done, American aviation avia-tion will be in good shape. But even today both army and navy boast new accomplishments: Army. Principal delight of Maj. Gen. H. H. Arnold, chief of the army air corps, is the five-man, twin-engined, high speed "Airacu-da," "Airacu-da," designed by 34-year-old Robert J. Woods after he "consolidated" the ideas of 500 army experts and 45 civilian engineers, draftsmen and engineers. Features of the Aira-cuda: Aira-cuda: Tremendous cruising range, two anti-aircraft cannon, four machine ma-chine guns and aerial bombs which explode like anti-aircraft shells when dropped near enemy planes. General Arnold's opinion: "It's the most striking example of airplane development of the past year, anywhere any-where in the world. Navy. In choppy Carribean seas some 600 navy planes one-third the entire force recently provided "eyes" for U. S. battlewagons solving solv-ing Fleet Problem XX. One spectator. spec-tator. President Roosevelt, watched the conduct of these planes and reportedly re-portedly asserted the U. S. had naval na-val air forces as good or better than any other. Said Adm. William D. Leahy, chief of naval operations: "The performance was the best I ever saw. They carried out their mission without an accident." Congress Most Americans do not realize that the bulk of New Deal reform measures have been adopted in one form or another. But practically everyone realizes the cost of reform re-form has been tremendous, that the public debt now stands at S-S0.000.-000,000. that the treasury has a current cur-rent deficit of $2,200,000,000. With reform re-form achieved, President Roosevelt is willing to join conservatives in two mutually desired ambitions, balancing bal-ancing the budget and helping business busi-ness get back on its feet. Chief arguments concern the method. New Dealers, whose program pro-gram is voiced by Secretary of Commerce Com-merce Harry Hopkins, would remove re-move oppressive taxes and hope that the resultant boom would swell federal coffers, balancing the budget budg-et without eliminating "necessary" activities. Most businessmen and many congressmen would take an additional step economy. Total 1939-40 budget estimates are $8,995,000,000, creating a new $3,326,-000,000 $3,326,-000,000 deficit and zooming the public pub-lic debt smack against its legal debt limit of $45,000,000,000 unless congress raises the limit. Far from willing to raise it, or even to approve ap-prove the new budget, congressional Republicans have found strong support sup-port in rebellious Democrats. Their spokesman is Mississippi's Sen. Pat Harrison, who came out for a flat 10 per cent budget cut and a warning: warn-ing: "The country's credit is good and I don't hink we have reached the debt danger point, but the stop-look-and-listen sign is up ... A lot of this emergency stuff could be cut, and I'm in favor of cutting." Senator Harrison has already found support in two studies: Brookings. Surveying the new governmental gov-ernmental reorganization bill (to consolidate and abolish executive agencies for the sake of economy and efficiency), Washington's thorough-searching Brookings institution claimed it was ill-conceived, that no economies would result. Of 132 agencies listed for reorganization, only 54 require legislative authority, and no legislation is necessary unless un-less congress wants to "give the President authority to make laws by executive order." Suggestions: (1) Prune all present activities "rigorously;" "rig-orously;" (2) develop a "more consistent" con-sistent" program. National Economy League. Reason Rea-son for this survey was that "before lasting recovery and increased employment em-ployment can be a reality ... all, I X?S SENATOR HARRISON Time to stop-look-and-lislen? doubts about national credit must be removed. The plan: Reduce next year's deficit from $3,000,000,000 to $500,000,000. Comparative budgets (000,000 omitted): President's Leapue Sav- Expenditure Budget Budget Ing Relief $2,040 $1,400 $640 Public works ... 1.131 700 431 Social security . 928 928 AAA 694 500 194 Defense 1.320 1,320 Interest 1.050 1,025 25 Veterans 539 539 All other 1.293 875 418 Total $8,995 $7,287 $1,708 Receipts 5.669 6,142 Net deficit ... 3.326 1,145 Assumes business Improvement from pared budget. So potent are economy's new friends that the administration may well find its cautious business-wooing program a boomerang. Wading half way across the pond of conciliation concilia-tion when opinion favored a complete com-plete passage, Mr. Roosevelt has been left behind and confronted with charges of insincerity because Harry Har-ry Hopkins the man who started his program would need business' support to win the 1940 nomination. |