Show NEI NEWS WS RE REVIEW VIE W bily big c 4 harmony remote grain men ask hearing illarin g BIG FOUR pessimism with the imminence of the most v vital ital international occurrence of recent months the big four foreign ministers meeting in london on november 25 the mood surrounding the coming conference was predominantly one of pessimism that there was much justification for such pessimism no one doubted when the chief representatives of the U S great britain france and russia come together they will tackle the tough deadlocked problems of writing peace treaties tor for germany and austria deputy foreign ministers to in london to dispense with prell preliminaries nd n d baries before marshall molotov bevin and bidault put their heads together said the powers were as badly split as ever on major issues it the conference falls fails as 9 it is very likely to do the V U S will have to face the question of whether or not it wants to conclude a separate peace with that portion of germany outside the russian occupied zone such a treaty not involving the soviets probably would precipitate a final split between this nation and russia nevertheless sentiment has been rising in the U S favoring such an action if the soviets refuse to cooperate in straightening out the problems of germany james F byrnes former secretary of state advocated that course as have other responsible officials the corollary to that proposition Is that the U S then must follow through by keeping itsell itself strong militarily and economically proving to the rest of the world that it has embarked on a defir definite lite policy course and that that course is the right one invitation grain battle three of the nations major grain exchanges smarting under president Tr accusation that their speculation is responsible lor for prevailing high prices 0 of cereals have carried the attack into the enemy camp by requesting a special congressional investigation by the joint committee on the economic report the request was made by the chi cago board ot of trade kansas city board of trade and the minneapolis grain exchange in a letter to sen robert taft rep 0 and rep jesse P wolcott rep mich c co 0 chairmen of the committee taft responded immediately with a promise of further hearings countering mr Tr repeated charges that gambling and speculation by grain exchanges have boosted food prices higher the exchange officials contended that the real cause of the rise in grain prices is the administrations extraordinary and ever increasing purchases of grain and flour tor for export administration bungling and lack of planning also were cited by the grain officials wherever the truth may lie ile and it probably is somewhere midway between the government and grain exchange viewpoints it should be recognized that a force skin akin to a minor economic law Is operating in this particular controversy I 1 normal government reaction whenever grain prices shoot above what is considered a safe level Is to lay the blame on the grain exchanges charging them with manipulating ting prices through speculation that has occurred 0 often enough in U S history to bear out the theory grata grain dealers of course invariably blame the situation on ell over exporting from that standpoint at least an investigation at this time should shed some new light on c n the longstanding controversy it n might even provide some real information on why prices are so high |