Show weekly news analysis congress to probe state delaru department nent diglow diplomacy acy after HU hurley aley s blast EDITORS NOTE opinions are re expressed in these columns they ire re those of western newspaper union news analysts sad and not necessarily of this newspaper U S DIPLOMACY duplicity charged long under fire for its implementation of american foreign policy in the wake of U S victories on the battlefield battlelle ld the state department was scheduled for congressional investigation vesti gation following ex amb patrick curleys Hur leys charge that some of its personnel had worked counter to his efforts to promote the unification fi of china in loosing his bombshell on capitol hill hurley declared that certain professional diplomats were in inviting future conflict by siding with the chinese communist party and the imperialistic bloc of nations in keeping china divided against itself and unable to resist encroachment while he worked for a democratic china which could act as s stabilizing influence in the orient hurley charged some state department officials told the chinese communists that his activities did not reflect the policy of the U S and they should not enter into a unified government unless retaining military control agreement to investigate the state department followed the demand of senator wherry re rep P 1 neb for an inquiry to determine whether there was any variance b between e U S foreign policy and th the e potsdam declaration and whether the foreign service was interfering with domestic affairs in south america influencing other countries toward communist government or clashing with the army and navy over occupation policy meanwhile gen george C marshall ex chief of staff prepared to embark upon his duties as special envoy to china in the midst of chiang kai redoubling of efforts to unify the country and open the way for vigorous postwar economic expansion in announcing his program to modernize the country chiang declared the no I 1 goal would be the improvement of transportation por tation to facilitate an exchange of materials between the various regions LABOR INDUSTRY meet lags started with high hopes the labor industry conference called in washington D C slowly ground toward its conclusion with indications that no important new machinery would be constructed for the speedy settlement of employee management disputes in seeking orderly procedure in drawing up an original contract the conferees recommended collective bargaining first then conciliation and finally voluntary arbitration in cases of grievances under existing contracts the delegates resolved that pacts should incorporate provisions for settlements without resort to strikes lockouts or other interruptions to production As the conference faltered toward its end with neither side apparently disposed to surrender any of its bargaining advantages labor indus try representatives approved a proposal to meet for consultation whenever they saw fit the national safety council has summarized findings on the causes of ladder accidents as follows accident factors no of cases climbing or descending descend ine improperly 47 failure to secure ladder at bottom or top 46 using defective ladders 16 using the wrong type of ladder IS 15 placing ladder io in an unsafe i position Z ll 11 working unsafely on ladders ill 11 other w 4 although handicapped by an almost complete lack of tools these german prisoners of war in camp at bowey fowey england still managed to turn out this varied collection of toys to help fill santas bag for little britons the amateur t men included a former berlin judge a doc at vt tor from hamburg and U university students IRS pt A LABOR on defensive heretofore on the offensive with its demands for higher wages to maintain high wartime pay the CIO was suddenly thrown back on the defensive with the ford motor com banys proposal that the united automobile workers pay a 5 a day fine for workers involved in unauthorized au zed strikes ford asked tor for this protection against production losses as officials continued negotiations with the whose leaders have maintained that the industry can afford 30 per cent pay boosts without raising prices because of large reserves and promises of substantial profits from huge postwar output while immediately challenged the effectiveness of a fine in curbing wildcat walkouts wal kouts ford officials insisted that the union could exert sufficient pressure on its locals to prevent unauthorized strikes slowdowns slow downs and controlled production meanwhile general motors reversing a previous stand agreed to consult with government officials concerning resumption of negotiations with the after the union gave ground in its demands tor for a 30 per cent wage increase with the company holding out for a modification of terms the declared that it would seek no wage increase necessitating a rise in prices with the work stoppages in G M plants threatening to paralyze practically all of the automobile industry because of its dependence upon G M tor for parts a further menace to was posed in the united steel workers vote tor for a strike if leaders deemed one necessary to enforce demands for a 2 a day wage raise OPA refusal to grant steel manufacturers rs price increases until the conclusion of the years operations permits closer study of their profit also has hardened company resistance si to the demands to the unions assertion that the industry could well pay the increase out of alleged hidden profits management has replied that government findings have classified the so called hidden profits as reasonable business reserves assuring future expansion POSTWAR TRADE discuss imports with america destined to become the worlds no 1 money lender the amount paid back will largely depend upon the count rys future import volume edward E brown prominent midwest banker and a U S delegate to the bretton woods international monetary conference told the investment bankers convention in chicago declaring that the U S suffered from the delusion that an export balance was always preferable in international trade brown said that while the country was a debtor nation it was advisable that we sell more goods abroad than we bought to accumulate exchange tor for repaying loans under impending conditions however ow ever failure of the U S to buy more than it will sell will complicate other nations servicing of their debts to us the convention also heard redvers ople opie counsellor and economic advisor to the british embassy in washington D C aver that brit ains goal of increasing its foreign trade by 50 per cent in the postwar period depended upon a general trade revival throughout the world britaina Brit ains present financial embar rass ments opie said result from the tact fact that as a major exporting nation consumption of materials tor for war purposes and shipping ties left the country with little to ship abroad in repayment PEARL HARBOR v kept top secret because of a desire to keep secret the U S breaking bre akini of of the japanese code codd the intercepted messages revealing jap political and military moves were only to nine top officials maj gen sherman miles former head of army intelligence telli gence told the congressional committee investigating pearl harbor along with president roosevelt others possessing knowledge of the decoded messages included secretary of war stimson secretary of state hull lt gen L T gerow head of the war plans division secretary of the navy knox admiral stark stark chief of naval operations col R S bratton of the army intelligence staff gen george C marshall chief of staff and miles though maj gen walter short and rear adm husband kimmel were not apprized of the breaking of the code miles said they were kept informed of the course of events however with officials anticipating an attack in the far east short and kimmel were advised to take only such action as they deemed necessary at pearl harbor and and guard against sabotage I 1 when asked what significance was attached to a decoded J jap ap message of sept 24 1941 asking espionage agents in hawaii to advise tokyo ot of the disposition of the american fleet in pearl harbor miles replied taken alone it looks exactly like what we know now it was a plan for bombing pearl harbor but unless we look on it with hindsight it was only one of a great number of jap messages seeking information on our warships it was perfectly normal for them to be doing alg so SCHOOL LIGHTING best pays in a detailed report to civic leaders on lighting and seeing conditions the miami fla kiwanis club declared the progress of pupils in a properly lighted room in tuscul bla ala showed two thirds less failure over a test period of two years at lebanon pa a 28 per cent improvement was shown and at cambridge mass the failure ratio in the fifth grade was one to three in favor of better lighting loses oses half of house I 1 when the town of silver lake minn decided to widen center street the village council attempted to induce mrs clara 44 to move her five room resi dence extending 16 feet fee into info the area required for the expansion not only d did i d mrs refuse a proposition for the town to move the building back and pay her mayor frank bandes said but she also ignored a court order to relocate the structure leading to the judges permission for the village to tn remove that part a of the property blocking the improvement after a crew of carpenters virtually sawed the building in hall half mrs was left with only one bedroom indart the living room oom completely shorn and the kitchen dining room and an upstairs bedroom bisected because she had no other place to live mrs who is crippled by arthritis returned returns d to make her home in the one remaining bedroom after a brief stay with her brother in law find novel uses for radio surplus laboratory technicians who are working with the reconstruction finance corporation in developing methods of disposing of three to five billion dollars worth of new and used radio and electronics equipment no longer needed by the armed forces have found that antenna tube sections can be cut into small sizes and converted into toy whistles tor for exuberant youngsters toy whistles are only one of a number of adaptations that have been worked out by and industry technicians in an effort to develop peacetime markets for the vast quantities of radio and electronics equipment and components that are deemed of no further use to the military services other conversion possibilities include small flag bag pole holders for use in decorating homes on holiday occasions adapted from antenna mounting brackets curtain or portieres eres rods from ground rods and aids for such fanciful occupations as hunting buried treasures from hand carried mine detectors besides the many items that will perform peacetime tasks entirely unrelated to their wartime uses u ses much of the equipment such as the mobile communications units walkie talkies tallies field telephone sets and tank and plane interphone inter phone systems lems will be available for civilian or commercial iner cial usage with little or no change fire and police departments railroads taxicab companies transit organizations amateur radio operators farmers housewives and many other groups and individuals w will 11 be provided with ready peacetime uses for the communications materials that figured so prominently in the victories in the european and pacific theaters WAR CRIMES pleads innocence first major axis personage to be brought to trial for war crimes gen tomoyuki Tomo yui erl while tiger of malaya and andy commander in the philipp e ly denied charges of countenance ing rape pillage and murder and then rested his case As the allied military tribunal pondered the case considered appeal to the U U S 5 supreme court in case of conviction on grounds of illegality of the proceedings ce previously the philippine supreme court had refused a similar protest with the demand the defendant be freed for trial before civil authorities in taking the gen yamas D stand to deny charges against him the squat browned jap general declared he ordered none of the atrocities related by scores of witnesses or contained jn hearsay evidence admitted by the court to the accusation that he had planned the extermination mi nation of the filipinos declared that common sense indicated the impracticability of wiping out nearly 18 million people by slaughter the case against was complicated by the apparent divis divi s slon sion of command in japanese ground naval and air forces in the philippines while as ground commander said he had ordered the withdrawal of his troops from manila for warfare in the mountains nipponese naval detachments remained within the capital for the fighting which heavily damaged the city and exposed civilians to danger meanwhile the trial of 20 top nazis proceeded apace in with the united states prosecutors drawing from voluminous evidence to prove the charges ot of german conspiracy for aggressive warfare citing a statement of diplomatist franz von that southeastern europe was germanys germanas Germ anys hinterland and must be brought within the political framework of the reich U S prosecutor sidney alderman quoted documents to show that hitler had delegated von to develop a program of nazi enfil infiltrate ra ys into the austrian government take it over after the aborted putsch of 1934 GERMANY review rule with french obstruction to allied plans for a central administration for germany resulting in the economic breakup of the reich and difficulties tor for a restoration of normalcy the U S was asked to study the advisability of revising the potsdam declaration pledging this country to its present course in urging a reexamination examination re of U S occupation policies byron price former director of the office of censorship who undertook a special mission to europe tor for president truman declared that the ger man people were nursing old it new hatreds with increasing biting bitti ness as their sufferings increased and disposing themselves to whatever new leadership desperation may produce with german agriculture and industry seriously impaired during the closing stages of the war price said the U S must also decide whether to deliver foodstuffs to the country to prevent starvation and epidemics this winter and in this manner help remove some causes for unrest released by western newspaper union |