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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Reds FMe flew Advance in Korea; Living Costs Continue to Climb Truman Asks Mobilization Steps; fFDITOR'S NOTF: Whrn opinions are eoresd In the folnmnr thy are those of Western Newspaper Union's new analyMu and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Eisenhower FOOD SUPPLY: More Than Enough As prices continued to climb, the government began a campaign ol telling the American people there is more than enough food in this country and that hoarding is selfish and unnecessary. President Truman stressed that point in a recent speech and the department de-partment of agriculture repeated it with a statement that the nation's food supply is so plentiful that price increases are unwarranted. The department's report stated flatly that with high production prospects pros-pects and large storage stocks, supplies sup-plies of food for civilians in this country are expected to continue at the same high level as in past years. "There has apparently been some speculative buying and price increases in-creases in food in recent weeks substantially sub-stantially similar to those occurring in 1039, which receded as soon as consumers realized that food supplies sup-plies are adequate," the report said. But the increases in prices, despite de-spite the report, caused a number of repercussions on the home front. An immediate investigation into supply, demand and cost was indicated in-dicated by some government sources. American housewives added add-ed their voice to the turmoil. More than one retailer found his displays ignored and demands for price controls con-trols and even rationing were being heard in some quarters. The government reported commodities com-modities on which stocks were high included dairy products, eggs, poultry poul-try and potatoes. Fruits and vegetables veg-etables were termed ample. Total meat output in 1950 probably will be slightly larger than last year, rr ' r r ,r 'tar , . LA r I KOREA: Reds Advance For four weeks Americans had picked up their morning newspapers and read about the Communist advances ad-vances in Korea. Now, as the fifth week of the conflict began, the Reds ' continued to make advances, but not with the ease of the early weeks of the invasion. The military picture in Korea was not bright by any means, but at the same time, it was not so hopeless hope-less as it seemed a few days ago. The Communists had advanced Into Yongdong. about 20 miles south of fallen Taejon, on the central front. Along the western coast, the Commies advanced south to Mokpo on the southern tip of Korea. On the northern front that touches the east coast, Yongdok, captured by American Ameri-can forces, was retaken by Red troops. North Korean troops had captured two-thirds of South Korea and were continuing steady pressure upon American and South Korean troops. The line was1 slowly being pushed back toward the main American supply port of Pusan. According to U. S. military experts, ex-perts, however, the picture had its Gen. Dwlght Eisenhower, president of Columbia University Univer-sity and a national defense consultant con-sultant of President Truman, wears a quizzical expression as he is interviewed by newsmen. He does not see today's Korean fighting as necessarily the start of World War III, but insisted "we've got to win". He added, "If our forces in Korea are defeated de-feated the entire world will be thrown into another great war." the report said. Many believe any campaign the government might launch for voluntary vol-untary rationing Is doomed to failure. fail-ure. AUTOMOBILES: Production Drop A spokesman for the automobile Industry has predicted a sharp dip in the industry's production within the next five months. Evidently many Americans have already figured the same way, because be-cause dealers throughout the country coun-try report a great jump in orders for new automobiles. In many localities lo-calities waiting lists have already been formed. The automobile industry does not need a big volume of war orders to curtail its civilian car and truck production. All that is needed is the diversion of large amounts of steel to arms output. Building automobiles auto-mobiles also takes a lot of critical materials besides steel. It requires copper, zinc, aluminum, lead and other such materials vital to aircraft air-craft and other war weapons. As a result, estimates of this year's probable car and truck output out-put were being revised downward. Before the Korean outbreak, industry indus-try sources agreed 1950 vehicle output out-put would approximate 7,000,000 units, even with numerous shutdowns shut-downs for new model change-overs. Now most informed sources don't want to guess how many vehicles will be added in the rest of the year to the 4,255,373 built since January 1. Landing brighter side, rney pointeu tu uic number of reinforcements that have reached Korea, the telling blows of the U. S. air force on supply lines and tanks, and the success of the new 3V2-inch bazooka against Red tanks. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander com-mander of United Nations forces In Korea, made the statement that the Communists have lost their chance for victory. A new view of the conflict has been taken by the Pentagon. At first the Korean affair was looked upon as a minor fight which this country could take care of in six months. That estimate has been revised re-vised sharply upward. There is no lack of optimism over the eventual result, but there is a clearly defined desire to discourage any thought of a swift victory. In fact, some military authorities report re-port it may be next spring before an offensive can be launched and as many as 200,000 men may be used in it. A general summary of the situation situa-tion would seem to indicate the picture pic-ture has many unpleasant features, but is not entirely hopeless. LIVING COSTS: Continue to Climb To the average American, the man who has a definite income within which he must live, a new and serious worry has appeared. Prices have continued to climb since the beginning of the Korean war, not as fast as the first davs after the opening of the conflict, but a steady upward spiral that is beginning be-ginning to cause hardship for those with low incomes. The creeping advance widened out through the list of goods, clothing and food. Only a few items essential to America's standard of living remained re-mained at the level of the first frightening days of the Korean conflict. con-flict. The experts believe the American people are bringing the increases upon themselves. Consumers still crowded into stores to stock up on goods they remembered as scarce in the last war. Department store sales soared 24 percent above the same period of last year. The greatest great-est gain was 39 percent in Dallas, Texas. Sugar, coffee, cocoa, flour, lard and eggs were reported higher throughout the country. The price of meat climbed rapidly in some localities, lo-calities, although wholesale prices were reported to have fallen since the opening of the Korean conflict Observers pointed out that by hoarding, Americans are creating a demand. In turn retailers are taking tak-ing advantage of the demand and increasing prices for quick profit. It was the old story of quick profit and greed and the selfishness of a minor group of individuals causing hardship on the public generally. As compared to prices a week before the conflict began, tin was up 15 cents a pound, wheat up 184 cents a bushel, rubber up 1H4 cents a pound, eggs up 8 cents a dozen, lard up 4H cents a pound, and hogs up $4 a hundredweight. This trend, if continued, can mean price controls will become necessary. neces-sary. It may mean, also, rationing of food, clothing and vital industrial indus-trial materials. ft r iXi tf 'i M sasss-.-w- ...... : . . vX TRUMAN: Report to Congress President Truman in his message to congress on the Korean situation called for $10,000,000,000 down payment pay-ment on a vast mobilization drive to win the war and combat any Red aggression elsewhere in the world. He left no doubt in the minds of Americans, and the world in general, gen-eral, about the situation when he said: "The free world has made it clear, through the United Nations, that lawless aggression will be met with force. This is the significance of Korea and it is a significance whr.se importance cannot be overlooked. over-looked. "I shall not attempt to predict the course of events. But I am sure that those who have it in their power to unleash or withhold acts of armed aggression must realize that new recourse to aggression in the world today might well strain to the breaking break-ing point the fabric of world peace. "We will not flinch in the face of danger or difficulty." He recommended apti - inflation controls, a swift stepping up of war production, additional huge sums to arm non-Communist nations and a sharp boost in taxes. He authorized the calling of reservists re-servists and guardsmen, along with free use of the draft law to build up fighting units. Secretary of Defense Johnson was authorized to call units as needed. A summary of the steps asked of congress: Remove all statutory limits on size of the armed forces. Provide $10,000,000,000 additional military funds; details to be supplied sup-plied later. Authorize a priorities-and-alloca-tion system for materials for nonessential non-essential purposes; prevent inventory inven-tory hoarding; authorize seizure of materials needed for the fighting effort. ef-fort. Authorize government loans and loan guaranties to spur defense productions. pro-ductions. SECURITY: Call F. B. I. President Truman's statement asking all law-enforcement officers and amateur detectives to channel suspicious information regarding espionage, sabotage, and subversive activities to the F.B.I, has caused many Americans to wonder what is in store for the U. S. The statement presumably was prompted by the Korean war. Truman Tru-man stressed that all such inquiries "must be conducted in a comprehensive compre-hensive manner on a national basis, and all information carefully sifted out and correlated in order to avoid confusion". Truman made no mention of Communists Com-munists in his statement. Anyone with information should report in person to the nearest F. B. I. office, located in each of the nation's 51 major cities, or ask the telephone operator to connect them to the nearest office, an F.B.I, spokesman reported. The spokesman emphasized the informant's in-formant's identity would be kept confidential and he would not normally nor-mally be brought face to face with the accused. He said anonymous letters let-ters are not welcome. Unemployment With nearly everything going up these days, it is astonishing to find anything going down very fast. There is one thing, however: the number of payments to the unemployed. unem-ployed. According to the labor department, depart-ment, between January and June there was a 30 per cent drop in the number of people drawing unemployment unem-ployment insurance benefits under state laws. In a surprise move the First Cavalry Division of the U. S. Army made a beachhead landing land-ing near Pohang on the east coast of Korea. The landing was made without casualties or opposition. op-position. SENATOR TAFT: Pay as We Go Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio, who has preached economy and a balanced budget to the Democratic administration adminis-tration for years, caused a mild wave of shock among many legislators legis-lators when he proposed slapping taxes on everybody immediately to pay for the Korean war. The senator said the Russian threat is clamping a "semi-military" condition on the U.S. at a "permanent" extra cost of $10 to $20 a billion a year. "Since this is not a temporary condition but one that may continue indefinitely, we should tax the people peo-ple for the whole cost", said Taft. He observed the condition may last "perhaps 10 or 15 years". Many observers believe that pressure is building up on congress for quick and drastic tax boosts to carry the defense load. LEOPOLD III: Uneasy Return Leopold III. King of the Belgians, returned to his throne after an absence ab-sence of six years, but it was not a secure throne observers believed. The king surrendered to the Nazis in 1944 and was held prisoner by them during World War II. He is unpopular with a large group because be-cause he did not resist the Germans to the last ditch in the early years of the war. Many do not like his wife who is a commoner. POPULATION: Up 19 Million The 1950 population of the United States has been estimated at 150,-520.000, 150,-520.000, almost 19 million higher than the 1940 total, the Census bureau reports. The nation's population has just about doubled in 50 years and the 1940 to 1950 jump was the greatest for any 10-year period in history. The figures will not be official un-t un-t til checked and revised where necessary. |