Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH IT labine defense costs zoom skyward As army navy start tapping appropriations for new Y year car EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are arc those of the news analyst and not n necessarily of this newspaper released by western newspaper 1 I nion 2 1 it aa 11 I 1 I 1 A A HOESS HOMES AT HAMMOND IND SEE HOUSING A 40 acre elephant may become a national model DEFENSE spree in 1922 the U S spent 0 only for its army by 1929 the dove of peace cooed coded so pleasantly that only was needed for all defense army navy and coast guard the upward swing in in arms costs did not start until 1936 gained strong impetus last year and zoomed to unprecedented peacetime heights in the current congressional session As the 1938 1933 39 fiscal year ended and military men reached for new funds provided by a new year the next 12 months indeed looked like record breakers summing up the past year undersecretary of war louis johnson told readers of the army and navy jour 6 i undersecretary JOHNSON the army got its share nal that new planes heavy and medium bombers pursuit attack observation cargo and training had been delivered and that more had been ordered most of them single engine pursuit ships upped per cent under current orders were sound locators for antiaircraft control antiaircraft anti aircraft artillery per cent aircraft artiller artillery yi per cent antiaircraft anti aircraft control directors per cent journal readers also heard from the navys paymaster rear adm ray spear that his extraordinary expenditures next year will help U S industry per cent will go for materials for labor but what interested most taxpayers was how much americas defense spree would cost figures ARMY reg regular U lar appropriation S 1939 deficiency bill extraordinary army bill 69 panama canal new locks 2770 0 civil pilot training 5 civilian conservation corps civil functions works total N NAVY AVY reg regular u lar appropriation 7 1939 deficiency bill shore establishments strategic materials 1000 supplemental c construction 12 1 total COAST GUARD regular appropriation 1939 deficiency bill expansion total 1 f when taxpayers totaled these figures they found defense costs had risen considerably above mere the total bill 2861 HOUSING NG hammond plan biggest criticism of federal housing administration homes is that they cost too much for the small wage earner likewise huge metropolitan slum clearance projects merely add to a cites congestion instead of following the futures inevitable trend to decent decentralization last year at hammond ind four brothers darned frank william joseph and john hoess divided a 40 acre white elephant into one acre homesteads sized up hammonds workmen who earn from 25 to 30 a week and have neither savings nor guaranteed jobs and decided to build homes for them each was to be a five room house with two bedrooms kitchen living room and bath costing 1600 to 2500 including land of each tenant they asked 10 per cent down and 25 a month plus 6 per cent amortized interest left to the occupants were painting gec decorating orating plumbing and fixture installation installation though all homes were wired by this summer 36 of the 40 homesteads were occupied tenants were eating out of their gardens and were hard at work making homes out of houses this successful experiment might have gone unnoticed except for ne braskas sen george norris who recently expounded its merits in the chamber as a comparison with and projects said he the idea is to build a home for as little money as possible we should extend assistance to the laboring men and poorer classes who do not now own houses but desire to own them next came a subpoena for brother frank hoess to explain his project this month before sen joseph C OMa honeys temporary national economic committee which may recommend it as the basis for a national program to amend the 1937 housing act awaiting hearing time frank hoess busied himself opposing a proposed clearance program for hammond and nearby gary ind both suburbs of chicago his reasoning not only will te tenement ne apartments increase congestion i but they also eat up in rent the money a workman might U use se for easy payments on his own home mediterranean rebound one year ago turkeys premier refik ruled a mediocre nation no more important to war frightened france and britain than her inconsequential neighbors iraq and iran but by early july of this year the turks were so solidly locked with allies far and near that both benito mussolini and adolf hitler frowned when they looked at the eastern mediterranean first anti axis move by turkey came following italis dinv inv invasion a sio n of albania which burst asunder the piffling riffling piff ling balkan entente with bulgaria leaning axis wise and a nd yugoslavia torn by a croat slav feud premier made haste under under british tutelage to form a new mutual defense pact with rumania and greece both of whom are now ready to fight 1 da a nazi fascist invasion of yugoslavia or 2 a dictator drive starting Bulgaria in next in quick succession came turkish pacts with france and britain the former in exchange for french cession of the beag league ue of nations rn mandated hatay hata Y republic syrian AIex Alex andretta upshot of these treaties was that western democracies gained control of t the he stra strategic tegid dardanelles Darda nelles and gaining access to the black sea to help rumania in case of war and draw friendly russia into the mediterranean I 1 meanwhile came tur turkish k pacts with ira iraq q iran and afghanistan ghani stan while E egypt agypt opened conversations seeking balkan aid should italy invade nile in terri territory tor Y desperation axis powers attempted to form a balkan counter block of yugoslavia bulgaria and hungary only the latter of which could offer much help in war adding to woes boes are three western mediterranean developments op 1 portugal gals S reaffirms tion of fidelity to its alliance with britain 2 spain s apparent insistence on neutrality in a general genera war 3 increased british naval and military strength in the gibraltar area POLITICS decision not in many a moon h has the U S seen a more popular politician than james aloysius parley farley who lifted franklin roosevelt to the white house twice who thus lifted himself from obscurity and who this year or next must make the greatest decision decini on of his miraculous career sh shall all he back the president for a third term thereby forsaking his political friends who have left the new deal standard or shall he desert thereby losing the support of roosevelt men either path may be suicide and best guesses hold that not even ji jim m farley himself knows which path to take but this much every politician knows next years democratic convention must build its reelection election re platform on the record of eight years under franklin roosevelt otherwise the party has no leg on which to stand if jim farley is to desert the president and seek a very logical vice presidential candidacy for himself under either vice president john nance garner or secretary of state cordell hull he cannot afford to speak against his boss lest it undermine the bartys only platform neither can he speak in his boss favor for that would stamp him perman permanently antly with the new deal stripe for a man whose entire future hangs on a network of friendships any commitment before the P resident president announces his decision would be fatal meantime the postmaster general is wasting no time building more political fences for whoever can use political toli them hem himself the president or any of a bakers dozen potential candidates when he tells audiences his party will win in 1910 on the roosevelt record it means nothing pennsylvania titans dream in 1837 intrepid pennsylvanians ians first thought of building a south penn railroad cut through the rugged appalachians from harrisburg to pittsburgh fifty years later two industrial titans almost did it andrew carnegie because another line controlled rail traffic and pegged freight rates out of pittsburgh william H vanderbilt because the same railroad purchased a line which paralleled his new york central tracks along the hudson they abandoned it in 1885 by 1940 the year old dream will be completed not as a railroad but a four lane moderate level express toll highway which uses eight of the nine tunnels started by Vander bilts workmen knocks the tops of smaller hills and spans deep valleys total cost |