Show weekly news analysis european crisis postponed 9 delay may be fatal to A axis ats by joseph W la bine EDITOR S NOTE when op n ons are ar expressed in these columns column they are those of the news analyst fad and not ly of the newspaper domestic in 1787 the constitutional conven tion wiped out trade barriers be tween states since then financially pressed commonwealths have sought to protect their own tradesmen and taxpayers from competition with non residents by licensing inspect tion labeling and a host of similar regulations by 1939 the barriers have grown so high that secretary of agriculture henry A wallace claims it causes an incalculable eco loss to the nation forward ing a report by the bureau of agn agri cultural economics secretary wal lace made these charges 1 new york city s inspection requirements bar milk and cream SECRETARY WALLACE he ile would hurdle the barriers from points west of the new york and pennsylvania state lines there by raising prices on the tan market 2 trucking wars thrive in arizona kansas oklahoma wy oming colorado georgia missouri maine and south dakota where re strict sanctions ions are imposed against trucks from neighboring states 3 many states virtually bar produce of other states by 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 rea son to hope that 48 individual legis legs lasures can work out a nation wide system or labor hand in m hand to solve a problem in which each has a selfish interest but federal in tion is broadly hinted in the wallace report one phase to cover interstate commerce of motor cehi cles the proposed plan A cehi cle properly registered in its home state and with the interstate corn com merce commission would be exempt from further registration europe the ides of march brought dis aster for julius caesar the same ides were scheduled by european observers to bring 1939 disaster to england and france via 1 sion of the spanish war 2 italian territorial demands against france and 3 a subsequent impasse in which london and pans paris could choose between appeasing the rome berlin axis or going to war the two major hitches in this schedule came in spam where loy alises did not capitulate as expected following the surrender of barce lona iona and in the vatican where pope pius XI died obviously italy could not free her hands for demands against france until she could with draw troops from rebel spain the pontiff s death brought a respectful pause in diplomatic warfare 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 eu rope is whether the unforeseen delay may not we weaken ken the rome berlin Berhn 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 offered by journal des debats conservative pans paris newspaper the alleged plan which berlin described as ridiculous and laughable fas cist states germany italy and ja pan would diffuse trouble for de moc throughout the world part of that campaign being tokyo s recent seizure of hainan haman island in defiance of france other troubles would include italy s mediterranean demands and agitation against brit am in already troublesome palestine and syria this done and bation completed adolf hitler would make a great speech setting forth ultimatums shocking the world next day by making tern terri tonal security marches into hoi hol land and switzerland this done london and pans 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 up trend was cut short by rising ma tenal costs and labor troubles leso but by the current spring U S housing has reached such deplorable shape that renewed building activity is in evitable some idea of the industry s expect lations has been voiced by L seth 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 reater than during the comparable period last year representing total expenditures of housing experts agree the initial stimulus was given by new york s bowery savings bank which recent ly cut about one seventh in the in m terest rate for mortgage money on federal housing administration in 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 toron tos to s dionne quintuplets which are being shipped miles under 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 win ter in the heat of international 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 Beaver brook s daily express now the royal visit puts chamber lain himself on trial if it succeeds chamberlain goes up if it fails he goes down what englishmen mean by sue suc cess or failure of the american visit was finally brought into fairly close focus but it still remained a doubtful quantity probable 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 ef fecci ely darken the sky to nose they would reach 45 miles wing to wing 52 miles to build and maintain 6 planes plus person nel and equipment would cost about authorization for such a U S army air force has already passed through congress and the ap prop nation will follow close on its heels feels this done american avia tion will be in good shape but even today both army and navy boast new accomplishments army principal delight of maj gen H 11 arnold chief of the army air corps is the five man twin high speed da designed by 34 year old robert J woods after he consolidated the ideas of army experts and 45 civilian engineers draftsmen and engineers features of the aira cuda tremendous cruising range two anti aircraft cannon four ma chine guns and aerial bombs which explode like anti aircraft shells when dropped near enemy planes general arnold s opinion its it s the most striking example of airplane development of the past year any where in the world navy in choppy carlbean Carn Carri bean seas some navy planes one third the entire force recently provided eyes for U S battlewagons ing fleet problem one spec president roosevelt watched the conduct of these planes and re port edly asserted the U S had 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 1 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 re form has been tremendous that the public debt now stands at 40 that the treasury has a current deficit of 2 with reform achieved president roosevelt is willing to join conservatives in two mutually desired ambitions bal anding the budget and helping busi ness get back on its feet chief arguments concern the method new dealers whose pro gram is voiced by secretary of corn com merce harry hopkins would re move oppressive taxes and hope that the resultant boom would swell federal coffers balancing the et without eliminating I 1 necessary activities most businessmen and many congressmen would take an additional step economy total 1939 40 budget estimates are 8 creating a new 3 deficit and zooming the pub he lic debt smack against its legal debt limit of 45 unless congress raises the limit far from willing to raise it or even to ap prove the new budget congressional republicans have found strong 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 warn ing the country count rys s credit is good and I 1 don t think 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 1 m in favor of cutting senator harrison has already found support in two studies brookings surveying the new gov ern mental reorganization bill to consolidate and abolish executive agencies for the sake of economy and efficiency washington s thor ough searching brookings Brookm gs institution claimed it was ill conceived that no economies would result of agencies listed for reorganization only 54 require legislative authority and no legislation is necessary un less congress wants to give the president authority to make laws by executive order suggestions 1 prune all present activities rig porously 2 develop a more con sistena program national economy league rea son for this survey was that before lasting recovery and increased em can be a reality all SENATOR HARRISON time to stop look and listen doubts about national credit must be removed the plan reduce next year s deficit from 3 to comparative budgets omitted president a league sav expenditure budget budget it relief 2040 2 1 1400 64 public works 1131 social security AAA defense 1320 1320 interest 1050 1025 25 veterans all AD other 1293 total 78 ta 1708 receipts 5 0 6 net deficit 3 1145 assumes business improvement from pared budget so potent are economy s new friends that the administration may well find its cautious business woo ing program a boomerang wading half way across the pond of concilia tion when opinion favored a corn com passage mr roosevelt has been left behind and confronted with charges of insincerity because har ry hopkins the man who started his program would need business support to win the 1940 nomination |