Show weekly neuses coit congress aress IS speeds eeds V u 3 S 01 defense okay army anny bill plan big ships by joseppi W 1 ba Z nog ae EDITORS NOTE when opinions fons lie are espre expressed ss ed in these columns they are those of the news analyst and not cot necessarily ol of the newspaper I 1 Def defense ellse on january 1 1936 japan scrapped her 5 5 3 naval treaty with the U S and britain subsequently an arms race started on both land and sea precipitated each time der fuehrer or il II duce made an aggressive gres sive step in the U S even loudmouthed loud mouthed congressmen were I 1 loathe to think of defense in terms of actual invasion until self right bous germany swiped czecho sio and memel two weeks later congress got down to talking cases passing an unprecedented army appropriations bill in jig time after war talk like this in the senate oklahoman Okla homas thomas every nation must be ready every moment to defend itself king the only possible danger is from japan and japan is beating her head against a stone wall in china even if ger 7 V k I 1 k k 4 SENATOR LUNDEEN ile he favored hitler hiller technique many should defeat england I 1 the slightest idea that would endanger us In dianas indians minton germany might obtain bermuda or part of canada minnesotan Min lundeen lundean cn then let the united states seize bermuda and britaina Brit ains west indian possessions to force payment of her war debts andrew jackson set a precedent in collecting a debt from france by threatening to seize french territory in this hemisphere In dianas minton that would be adopting the technique of hitler having boosted army funds over the current years a appropriation p congress had next to consider navy news from the white house admitting japans secret naval program was v as one reason president roosevelt approved two ton super super battleships to cost each bigger than any yet conceived and capable of squeezing through the panama canal with two feet to spare on either cither side one good reason by showing that the U S is able to to out cut arm any other nation japan might be forced back into a lim limitation citation treaty present U S strength includes 15 capital ships one nearing obsolescence soles cence ranging from to tons six more are arc authorized britain has 15 capital ships in the same category plus the 42 ton hood and nine other boats underway last japanese report in 1036 showed 10 capital ships none over tons and three under construction vague rumors since then indicate about five new super dread of excessive tonnage treaty or not both britain and the U S feel obligated to maintain a 5 5 3 ratio even though the worlds third largest sea power sets the pace agriculture though the house approved an agriculture appropriations bill of which is for soil conservation benefit payments the measure was far more sign significant in for two exclusions 1 parity not included in the presidents original budget but tossed in anyway was a grant for parity payments but no financing was provided and the house seemed economy bent rather than resort to unpopular processing taxes the house voted against parity winning disfavor of the potent farm bloc and a victory for the president who insists extra budgetary needs must with definite taxation agriculture leaders hoped the senate would restore parity even so an embarrassing situation apparently lay ahead with no money glum dirt farmers saw only one way to pay off the government loans on which they have pledged bushels of wheat the way to default making the U S tile the worlds largest wheat owner 2 cotton another rejected amendment called for to develop domestic markets and subsidize foreign exports this obviously I 1 i referred to the plan president roosevelt broached a few hours earlier to spend b between now and august I 1 by paying producers a bale on bales for releasing their govern ment held loan cotton for sale on the world market though the 1939 crop will otherwise swell govern ment held surpluses to bales congressional economy apparently won said virginias rep clifton woodrum we might as well repeal the budget and the accounting act and let pandemonium and chaos reign Alcan meanwhile while far in the future southern cotton farmers saw relief in the revolutionary cotton developed at texas A M colleges experimental college said to produce an overlarge over large oil rich seed without detracting from the grade of the lint the new product made farmers wonder if cotton be raised exclusively for oil whose price is fairly constant transportation among other things U S railroads blame high taxes bad business and unfair competition from other media for their present plight labor blames the railroads themselves most people blame a mixture of geographical economic and political factors in which every blodys hands are partially soiled when railroading reached a crisis last autumn and congressional aid became imperative a nock flock of panaceas arose ranging from the hastings postal izing plan to the substantial bills of Alon tanas burton K wheeler and Cali fornias clarence F lea both management and labor pressed their particular cases and after two months of haggling the issue seemed little nearer a solution the latest voice is that of joseph B eastman interstate commerce g 12 c ape Y 4 W Z U ac IV commissioner EASTMAN A guiding hand commissioner who told the house interstate commerce com committee mattec that the government must at least assume leadership and apply some form of compulsion whether mr E astmann East ast mans will be the guiding hand remains to be seen but his comments were vere at least clarifying after attacking the apparent reluctance t to 0 consolidate or ordinate coordinate co as wasteful practices and after refusing to recognize any benefits from greater freedom to increase rates the member outlined a few high points for rail recovery 1 the government should give concessions in taxation and relief in connection with grade crossing elimination and reconstruction of bridges over navigable waters 2 elimination of rate concessions to the government would save about a year 3 all ali important forms of transportation por tation should receive equal arid and impartial regulation preferably under direction while the house sped passage of a bill to facilitate voluntary rail reorganizations mr eastman pointed out that creation of a new nev rc reorganization court would delay rather than facilitate matters his alternative give charge of reorganization duties people douglas fairbanks ex movie star has been ordered to return refunded by the U S on income tax payments in 1027 28 29 |