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Show ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS Happenings lhat Affect Ihe Dinner Din-ner Pails, Dividend Checks and Tax Bills of Every Individual. : National and International prob-lilll prob-lilll il.iefid.-ufjl j trvm loo&l j Welfare. ! it would be difficult to exag-' exag-' ;.-i a Lc the grave importance of Russia's attack on Finland. It came as a fearful shock to the European neutrals which have j been attempting to move heaven I and earth to keep the war from : spreading. The repercussions i were felt strongly in the United ; States. Paul Malion, speaking of the reaction of our own officials, said ot the Finnish invas.on, mat ' "there is not a mind on high which does not privately . believe th s is Sarajevo" in other words, that the fuse has been lit which may blast a localized war into a general European war. One thing is apparent, in view of most reporters and that is dtat Russia's action was an example ex-ample of totalitarian power politics poli-tics at their worst and most orutal. Russia's argument that ,.he Finns started tne trouble ana hr'ealened her territory is discounted dis-counted exactly 100 per cent m most quarters it isn't reasonable -or a nation of 3,000,000 people 0 threaten one of 150,000,000. The logical explanation, say the buservers, is that Russia saw an opportunity to gain at minimum cost a long-desired territory. It s virtually impossible for England Eng-land and France to give aid to the Finns. Germany, whether she tikes it or not, claims to be solidly solid-ly behind the Soviet desire to dominate the Scandinavian na- 1 ons. And the other Scandinavian countries are in no position to ive mditary aid to their neighbor. neigh-bor. Pibme fear now is that the invasion in-vasion of Finland was simply die first step in ' a grim plan which Stalin has long naa in m.nd and which has been held n abeyance until other major powers were so engrossed with other matters that they couldn't eiiectiveiy oppose his ambitions. Experts foresee the possibility of iuss:a siowiy and steadily mov-ig mov-ig lorward until all the small ai.an nat ons are either absorb-. absorb-. or made puppets of the Krem--i a technique which the Nazis pursued with great success m I central Europe when they placed the Swastika over Czechoslovakia Austria and much of Poland. And then they envision a combination combina-tion of Russia and Germany (whose ideologies are obviously coming nearer to jibing all the time) to dominate the entire hemisphere. So much for prophecy. When it comes to facts, it does seem that Russia's latest adventure has served to clarify the European situation. Germany and Russia apparently really are allies and are working close together in questions of policy, even though their troops have not fought side by side. The small nations are de-fmately de-fmately lined up now on the side of the democracies. And Italy has just about severed the Rome-Berlin axis. The Italian press denounced de-nounced Russia's Finnish invasion inva-sion and uniformed fascists held public meetings, which were not disturbed by the police, n protest. Best guess is that Mussolini hates Stalin more than he loves Hitler, and that if he is at last unsuccessful un-successful in his desperate attempt at-tempt to keep out of the war, he will throw in his lot with the democracies. de-mocracies. Interesting phase of Russian-German Russian-German cooperation is what has has happened to the Communist party in the U. S. To put it mildly, mild-ly, it has been split wide open well known sympathizers have resigned from its councils, unable to stomach what they regard as Stalin's cynical discardance of Lenin's principles. And the public generally seems to view Russia with almost the same profound distaste with which it regards Nazi Germany. Gone is the day when the world at large looked toward the Soviet as a potential ally -of the democratic powers. There is much activity on the domestic political front. The hopefuls are busy as bird dogs as time marches on and the convention con-vention dates come nearer. On the Republican side of the fence, the Dewey-for-President movement is getting underway; is well organized and being aggressively ag-gressively pushed. But the political politi-cal experts don't give tne yoati-prosecutor yoati-prosecutor much of a chance. It -s thought that men high in the party, such as potent Herbert Hoover, feel that he hasn't yet had enough experience. a.u his views on big policies aren't well enough known. He has a lar better chance for the . Vice-Presidential Vice-Presidential nomination. At tae moment, the odds seem to favor the nomination of some man long experienced in public office. A considerable group backs minority minori-ty leader McNary, regardless of the fact that he comes from such a politically insignificant state as Oregon a tough obstacle to overcome. On the Democratic side, handsome hand-some Paul McNutt, ex-governor of Indiana, ex-high Commissioner Commission-er of the Philippines, is well out for the nomination. His friends claim he has the support of everyone from the President down. But again, the political experts ex-perts generally consider McNutt drive as much ado about very little. Many of his backers claims of high political endorsement have been vehemently denied by the supposed endorsers. And it is said that Jim Farley's opinion of McNutt is below zero. Farley, a man who makes and keeps legions leg-ions of friends, commands the Democratic machine. It is difficult diffi-cult to see how any man he opposed op-posed could possibly get the nec-' essary nominating votes. |
