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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Truman Faced With Momentous Tasks Abroad and at Home as Allied Drives Lead to Victory , Released by Western Newspaper Union. , ( !: IHTOIt'J NOTK: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Wtmern Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) : Cr.fVv ft, - - ,t , ; A 4 AGRICULTURE: og Support Having called for greater fall pig production to help relieve the tight meat situation, the government sought to reassure farmers of future returns by announcing a 50 cents increase in the present $12.50 floor or minimum price for all good and choice hogs up to 270 pounds. At the same time, the War Food administration ad-ministration said that neither support sup-port nor ceiling prices would be trimmed before September, 1946. Though the government's action on floor prices was not expected to affect current operations because be-cause of the relatively small supply of hogs in face of the record demand, de-mand, it was considered reassuring in the prospect of greatly increasing in-creasing marketing in the winter, when the pressure on prices might be strong. With private sources estimating that spring pig farrowing was up 12 per cent, the WFA called on farmers to increase the fall crop by 18 per cent. Chiefly because of lower hog production throughout the first part of 1945, total meat output is expected to drop some 10 per cent below last year. Bumper Crop Benefiting from' excellent weather conditions, the nation's 1945 winter wheat crop is expected to approximate approxi-mate an all-time 862,515,000 bushels, about 37,000,000 bushels over the previous 1931 top, the U. S. department depart-ment of agriculture reported. After fall moisture was generally sufficient to get the crop off to a good start, good snowfall provided protection during the winter to hold acreage losses to the lowest level in 25 years. In most sections, the ground was in condition to absorb a large percentage of the moisture from the melted snow and rains, the USDA reported. With the expected abandonment lowest since 1919, indicated yield of 17.4 bushels would be one bushel above last year. As of April 1, estimated, stocks of wheat on farms totalled 239,083,000 bushels, third largest since 1927. Stocks approximated approxi-mated 22 per cent of the 1944 harvest, har-vest, USDA said. MINERS: Another Raise Maintaining his reputation as one of organized labor's shrewdest and hardest bargainers, bushy-browed John L. Lewis won new wage concessions con-cessions for his United Mine Workers Work-ers averaging $1.07 a day, but the agreement remained subject to government gov-ernment review in the interests of the anti-inflation program. Expected to run into close scrutiny of the War Labor board, which has hewed to the "Little Steel" formula limiting wage .in- Bearing meager household possessions on heads and in arms, Jap civilians civili-ans on Okinawa return to lowlands after flight inland before invasion forces. NEW LEADER: Historic Task Dying even as American military leaders saw an early end to the European Eu-ropean war, with the intricate problems prob-lems of peace lying ahead, President Presi-dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt left to successor Harry S. Truman one of the most momentous jobs ever confronting a statesman. Oddly enough, Mr. Roosevelt himself him-self entered the office 13 years before be-fore under highly est concern would seem to be not the establishment of emergency measures meas-ures to tide the nation over the reconversion re-conversion period but rather the development de-velopment of a program to achieve Mr. Roosevelt's own goal of 60,000,-000 60,000,-000 jobs. In recently explaining his political philosophy, President Truman said that, like his native state of Missouri, Mis-souri, he was a little bit left of center, cen-ter, but that the cooperative effort of all elements of American life was necessary for the shaping of a prosperous pros-perous economy. Though comparatively unknown before assuming direction of the senate war investigating committee, President Truman soon earned the respect of both his colleagues and the country for his forthright and courageous leadership of the group in constructively criticizing the rearmament re-armament program with a view of increasing- its over-all efficiency. critical circumstances, circum-stances, with the nation's business and agriculture in stagnation and its finances on the verge of collapse. Still comparatively new to the American Ameri-can people, Mr. Roosevelt won their Mr. Roosevelt immediate confidence confi-dence during the first 100 days of his administration with measures designed to reestablish reestab-lish the tottering economy of the country. Then, Mr. Roosevelt made perhaps per-haps his most famous statement of all: "The only thing we have to fear is fear." World Problems , Greatest immediate task facing President Truman is the San Francisco Fran-cisco peace conference, scheduled to go on despite the death of Mr. Roosevelt, who worked for its successful suc-cessful culmination to achieve his dream of an international cooperative coopera-tive organization to prevent future disastrous wars. Though the groundwork for the San Francisco parley had been laid at the Dumbarton Oaks conferences, at Washington, D. C, new problems had arisen since to command the full resources of American statesmanship. states-manship. Over and above the proposal pro-posal of granting Russia three votes on the permanent security council to match Britain's six, there remained the touchy proposition of allowing representation to a Polish government govern-ment not dominated by any large power and acceptable to all. Along with the San Francisco parley par-ley for creating an international peace organization, the new President Presi-dent also was confronted with handling han-dling the Bretton Woods financial agreements, designed to establish postwar economic stability by supporting sup-porting the monies of different countries coun-tries and advancing loans for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of foreign nations to help them become profitably productive. Rated Conservative With President Truman considered consid-ered a conservative Democrat de- In this respect, the so-called Truman Tru-man committee was quick to point out such material shortages as aluminum, alu-minum, rubber, zinc, lead and steel, and also revealed the nature of pressing manpower problems. Staff Chiefs at Helm An artillery captain himself at 33 during the last war, President Truman, Tru-man, like Mr. Roosevelt, is expected expect-ed to leave the conduct of the war largely to the American chiefs of staff, who have already marshalled the country's great' striking power for the knockout of both Germany and Japan. ' Reeling under the force of U. S. and British power thrusts from the west, and Russian pressure from the east, Germany's days appeared numbered, with Allied military leaders lead-ers mainly expecting guerrilla warfare war-fare after the collapse of integrated Nazi resistance. In conformity with long-rumored Nazi plans for a last suicidal stand in the Alpine fastnesses of southern Germany, the enemy continued to put up his strongest resistance south of the river Main, where the U. S. 7th army's advance was slowed. Farther to the east, however, the Russians drove beyond Vienna to threaten the Austrian gateway to Adolf Hitler's last mountain stronghold. strong-hold. PACIFIC: Tough Nuts Tough throughout the whole Pacific Pa-cific campaign, the Japs are proving prov-ing even tougher as the battle approaches ap-proaches their homeland, with their stubborn defense of Iwo Jima more than matched by their resistance on Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands against U. S. marine and army forces. Experts at making use of the rugged rug-ged Pacific island terrain, the Japs have set strong gun emplacements in the rolling countryside, with subterranean subter-ranean tunnels allowing their troops free passage from one position to another. In addition, the enemy has surprised U. S. forces with the use of deadly new weapons, with heavy concentrations of artillery on Okinawa Oki-nawa helping slow the Yanks' advance. ad-vance. If they have made good use of the terrain on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Japs are making equally good use of it on Luzon in the Philippines, Philip-pines, where they are holding out in the rugged fastnesses to the north in the hope of tying up large bodies of U. S. troops through the approaching approach-ing rainy season when operations will be necessarily slowed. pite his support of New Deal policies, speculation centered on the course he would adopt on domestic do-mestic policy, long marked by Roosevelt Roose-velt liberalism. Bearing the friendship friend-ship of both the CIO and AFL, President Truman was exnect- f S -4 t V - -- ,' ! x ' & t Samuel O'Neil of coal operators (left), Chairman Ezra Horn of negotiating committee com-mittee (center), and John L. Lewis at contract parleys. creases to 15 per cent above the January, 1941, level, the agreement calls for time and a half for inside day workers over seven hours and a rate of $1.50 for underground travel time; boosts of from $1.07 to $1.20 a day for outside employees, loaders and electricians; 4 cents an hour more for workers on the second sec-ond shift, and 6 cents for those on the third, and $75 pay instead of vacations. Having rim the gamut of WLB approval, the agreement still was subject to OPA consideration, in view of estimates that the wage concessions con-cessions would add about 25 cents a ton to the nation's fuel bill, or $150,-000,000 $150,-000,000 annually. RECONVERSION: Make Preparations With victory in Europe imminent, immi-nent, and with it a partial reconversion recon-version from wartime to peacetime output, War Production board took steps to permit industry to obtain new machine tools for manufacture of civilian goods. Biggest major item on WPB's program was the grant of priorities to the automobile industry for 50 million dollars of machine tools and related equipment for civilian manufacture. manu-facture. To take from three to seven months for making, the orders were placed last fall without priority rating, rat-ing, then dumped when early hopes of victory faded and the war went into 1945. In permitting the placement of orders or-ders for machine tools and related equipment for civilian manufacture, the WPB is developing a plan whereby such business would not interfere in-terfere with the output of vital material ma-terial needed for prosecution of the war. DISABLED WORKERS Physically impaired workers produce pro-duce as much as, or possibly a little more than, able-bodied workers, and they are dependable, regular in attendance at-tendance and careful in observance of safety regulations, medical officers of-ficers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Only serious physical defects were considered in selecting impaired workers for the study and the majority ma-jority have been placed in jobs by matching their defects with the physical demands of the job. ed to maintain a President sympathetic atti- Truman rude toward labor. With Roosevelt administrations having established such social security se-curity policies as unemployment insurance in-surance and old age pensions, and with the government pledged to support sup-port farm prices for two years after the war, President Truman's great- |
