Show NEWS W I 1 S ref REVIEW VIE W london meet dissolves inflation bill defeated the lethargic uninspired ending ot of the big four foreign ministers conference in london was cent ot of nothing so much as the rather dreary business of tossing out the christmas tree after the holidays there was a small amount ot of nostalgia and regret expressed over the abrupt finish of the unsuccessful discussions cus cuss lons but there was also a thinly veiled feeling that perhaps after all it was a good thing the affair was over As seen dimly through clouds of futility and frustration what the windup wind up of the german and austrian peace treaty talks amounted to was this the western powers had failed utterly to reach any kind of agreement with russia on the fate of germany and the failure leaves europe more firmly divided than at any time since the war ended although the delegates were unable to agree on any single issue on their agenda the point upon which the conference balloon burst was the problem of german reparations to too tho inevitable question what now diplomatic authorities were answering with a prediction th that at the united states great britain and france would begin negotiations soon among themselves concerning the unification of western germany russia would be out of it and there ther e was no prospect of another four power meeting in 1948 or in any other year CONGRESS straw man alan of the two pressing reasons why president truman called congress into special session in november one had been disposed of but the other kept hanging around like an evil spirit as the year drew to a i close the senate and house had voted strongly in favor of authorizing up to million dollars for emergency winter relief tor for france italy austria and china but no such accord was displayed in dealing with the problem of inflation at home rejecting president Tr 10 point proposal for fighting inflation by imposing wage and price controls and selective rationing house republicans offered an anti inflate inflation on bill based upon voluntary agreements for price reductions with a two thirds vote needed for passage the republican measure went down to defeat to the house split almost exactly along party lines over the bill not on one e democrat breaking ranks rais to vote in dav favor r of it the president has asked tor for bread and you have given him a stone said rep brent S spence pence dem ky in summing up the debate for the democrats rep A S mike dem okla dusted off another bromide when he charged the GOP majority with setting up a straw man to combat the menace of inflation that was the swan song for any aati anti inflation legislation during the special session although the senate was preparing to act on the house killed bill there appeared to be little likelihood that the republicans would be able to put through their proposals thrift plan meanwhile although congress had given its approval to the proposition that interim relief should be rushed to europe and china the emergency aid issue continued to send forth echoes this time the struggle arose over the actual bill to appropriate the million dollars previously approved by congress the house appropriations committee showing the same cutting ways it had exhibited earlier in the year toward budget requests knocked 88 million dollars off the original figure in preparing the bill for floor action thus the bill carried only mil lion hon for winter relief the appropriations committee headed b by y rep john taber rep N Y said the cut was represented by items which would have been used by france and italy for payment of interest on their foreign debts and tor for making payments on commer c lal cial accounts aroused at the republican display ill s of economy democrats la Is belled the committees committee action accio as an undercover attempt to hamstring the aid program they served notice that they would attempt to re store the cut TRAINING in driving it if a training course in automobile driving were made a requirement in the curriculum of every high school traffic deaths could be reduced by 5 to a year according to dr wayne hughes director of national safety councils council s college and school division A safety council survey made among cleveland high schools between 1939 and 1941 showed that effectual driver training reduced traffic accidents by 50 per cent the council said it is our firm belief that if every high school in the nation would put into effect such a course we would see miracles within five years dr hughes asserted officials pointed out that statistics for 1845 1940 proved that mile for mile the 1524 15 24 age group was a third more dangerous behind the wheel than any other comparable compa rabla segment of the population that group accounted for 33 8 per cent of the nations fatalities in 1948 1946 at present only 10 per cent of the 25 high schools in the U S have what the council regards as adequate u ate driver training courses and only a part of th the a schools conducting such courses have actual automobiles mo biles in hi operation |