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Show SCANNING THE WEEK'S NEWS of Main Street and the World Truman Relieves Gen. MscArihur From All Commands in the Far East ! MACARTHUR RELIEVED To millions of small-towners across the nation to wnorn Gen. Douglas MacArthur has become something of a legend, his removal from all of his commands by President Truman was a shock not easily understood. The action pointed up the seriousness serious-ness of the break between the general, the White House, and UN statesmen states-men which had raged for weeks over the conduct of the Korean war. According to grim, stubborn MacArthur, he was fighting Europe's war with arms in Asia while Europe's diplomats continued to fight com- munism with words. In his blunt, barbed way, he wrote Joseph W. Martin, Jr., house majority leader: "It seems strangely difficult dif-ficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest." con-quest." That statement struck at the administration's admini-stration's very basis of how to defeat communism. com-munism. It threw European diplomats into a tizzy. It brought demands in congress that a special bipartisan committee be Grim-Faced MacArthur sent to Tokyo to hear the general's foreign policy views. It brought rumors of the For him the war ends. , , , , . , ,, crackdown on MacArthur which the people peo-ple on Main Street could not believe would ever happen. The action has produced a shock that may have serious consequences. conse-quences. In the next few weeks congress may possibly be involved in bitter debate as the general's cause is championed by the Republican party. But above all, it has caused confusion and uneasiness in the mind of the average Main Street citizen whose common sense tells him there is no end in sight for the Korean conflict. It does not answer the question in the minds of millions of people in the home towns: How are we going to get our sons and brothers and husbands free of the blood and filth of Korea? GRAPES OF WRATH The people In the big cities of the nation know little about the "Okies" so vividly described in John Steinbeck's novel of the depression, "The Grapes of Wrath." But to the people in the small towns and rural sections of the nation, they have long been a problem and a necessity. There are millions of them in the United States, working from the south toward the north as the crops ripen for harvest. And as the harvest nears they are welcomed and just as anxiously the community awaits their leaving. They are poor, often underfed and inadequately housed. They present a problem on the home town level that the Individual community com-munity is unable to solve. At last, much to the relief of millions of home towners, the federal government has stepped In and made a survey of their problems. The committee that made the survey has recommended legislation on migratory migra-tory farm labor that may solve wage problems, establish labor camps, extend social security, public health and education programs with the aid of states and local communities. Of all the problems that faced the home towns of the nation, that of the migratory worker was one of the most serious. Its solution will be welcomed. Julius Rosenberg ATOMIC SPIES In what was probably proba-bly one of the most dramatic and moving scenes in a federal court in the history of this country, Judge Irving Kaufman sentenced sen-tenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, husband hus-band and wife atomic spy team, to die for treason. Said handsome, 41-year-old Kaufman, one of the youngest judges on the federal bench: "I have searched my conscience to find some reason for mercy. It is not in my power to forgive you. Only the Lord can find mercy for what you have done." Never before in a civil court of the United States had native-born spies been sentenced to death. Morton Sobell, 34,. fellow conspirator, was sentenced to 30 years In prison. The fourth member of the conspiracy, Mrs. Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass, 29, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Thus ended another episode in the constant battle to keep the home towns of America free. Ethel Rosenberg KEEP 'EM ON THE FARM The old question of "how are you goin' to keep 'em down on the farm" showed up again in preliminary figures from the 1950 census of agriculture. The census bureau announced that the tentative count of the number num-ber of farms in the country came to 5,379,043, a "real" drop of at least 280,000 for the first five postwar years and at least 500,000 or about 8 per cent for the last decade. The bureau put forth three major reasons: (1) A trend toward combining small farms to form large ones. This was most pronounced west of the Mississippi. (2) A trend away from production of food for home use or sale. (3) Rural people taking jobs in nearby city industries and dropping production of food. THE LEVELING OFF Michael V. DiSalle, price director, said in his latest statement that his ceilings have brought "some stability" into view, but that higher taxes and tightening of money and credit supply are needed. The question in the minds of home town housewives was whether or rot the line will hold, or whether there will be another upward spiral in late summer as predicted by many economists. In defense of controls, DiSalle said: "We had to start price controls. con-trols. It was a psychological move to combat the factors that were driving us toward a serious inflation." i r x 1 . Labor Policy Committee At Truman's invitation labor returned to the Defense Board. U.M.T. DROPPED The house armed services committee dropped efforts to write a universal military training program that would have reached into the home of every family in the nation. The senate had previously approved establishment of a U.M.T. program in connection with pending draft legislation. The committee adopted an amendment by which congress agrees to consider recommendations to be made later by a five-man U.M.T. commission. Legislators who approved of U.M.T. said they believed universal military training will be enacted within a year. THE HIGH SCHOOL PROBLEM |