Show washington snapshots A confidential report based on a secret investigation of living stand ards in one of the foreign ism countries has been laid on the desk of a top rung administration ite it will be made soon when it is released for public consumption it will take the wind from the sails of anyone with the notion that the dictators have cr created a magic economic utopia that challenges the american way of free enterprise and representative democracy to begin with the investigator is said to have found the much ballyhooed ballyhoo ed living standard of the dictator nation about on a par with american slums salaries were found to be about half the average in america and about 70 percent of the population was found to be on the government payrolls supported by unprecedented taxes imposed on the other 30 per cent As for prices of foodstuffs th the e report rt is said to contain this comparison based on the current rate of exchange in the utopia U S ism steak per ib butter per lb ib eggs per doz gasoline per gal 17 c coffee per lb ib 23 c in other words the worker in the dictator nation receiving only half or even less than half the wages wa es of an american worker pays many more times as much for his food clothing rent and other necessities are proportionate ily ly as high incidentally the investigator found many foods hard bard to get often inferior substitutes are sold such foods as butter and coffee are rationed to the citizens he found wait and see A new kind of game is being played in the capital but there are limitations on who can play it is limited to members of congress and the game for want of a better name can be called wait and see one team is composed of members who want to amend some of the laws enacted by the last congress to make them thein workable the wagner act is one for example the other team is c composed mostly y of hold overs from the last congress gre ss who wrote the legislation in question A member of the latter team sums up the apparent point of the game thus we are waiting to see what the other side is going to propose if they come out with a good ball maybe we can pick it up and run for a touchdown with it transcontinental highway A proposal advanced last year for the construction of a super transcontinental highway has been revived and expanded ube the idea is being incorporated in the plans for national defense spending and will call for not one but four super highways two will be transcontinental tin and two will run INT north orth south incidentally to avoid qui bling over just what states counties and cities the roads will touch many of the congressmen have agreed among themselves to leave the matter entirely in the hands of the bureau of public roads ladies hats heres a tip to the male hater of ladies hats if any organized drive formed for modified hat styles is being plotted there is a likely recruit from the feminine ranks and no less a personage than a lady member of congress she appeared on the house floor last week we wearing aring dark glasses she explained she had been stabbed in the eye by a feather atop the hat of a lady companion at a capital tea party U S employees almost simultaneously it was announced to correspondents in washington as n ton last week that T the h e government payroll has hit another all time peak with employed in washington 0 offices agencies bureaus and commissions as compared with the peak during the world war these figures dont include inc lucie field employed emp loyes which add more than more |