Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS heavy retirement of farm debt near end latin america hikes famine aid russ want atom veto vet 0 EDITORS NOTE when opinions fit to erp expressed r essed io in these col columns they re r those hos e of western newspaper union news analysts and not necessarily of this ibis newspaper FARM DEBT decline slows smaller declines in mortgage reduction within the last year and an increase in the number of states ahding a b hwing 9 wing larger indebtedness sug nest est that the period of heavy retirement of farm debt since 1923 may be ended the department of agriculture reported despite signs of increasing indebtedness however the record for the war years shows an overall cut of 1 billion dollars in debt in sharp contrast to the 43 per cent rise during the 1915 19 period slowing of debt reduction was reflected in the per cent drop in repayments last year in comparison with 1944 at the same time 20 states showed increases in indebtedness in contrast to 8 the preceding year higher acreage values as of march 1945 over the 1935 39 period ia orandged d from per cent for to 26 per cent for massachusetts k c ATOM CONTROL russ proposal hanging on to the veto prerogative of the major powers of the united nations dussias Rus sias counter apropo sal to the U S plan for control of atomic energy hit the U S provision requiring the surrender of the privilege in atomic supervision in jealously guarding its veto power even in atomic affairs russia continued to insist upon the means of offsetting any voting combinations against it reflecting Mos cows concern over such a development X andrei A gromyko ponders issue at V U N session the london daily worker stated there is within U N and its becu city itty council an anglo american bloc against the soviet union with the veto power removed the U S and britain with their satellites would be able to carry the day against the USSR soviet delegate andrei A gromyko skirted the real issues in insisting upon retention of the veto power in an atomic control commission plan he repeated russian press talk by declaring that removal of the veto prerogative constituted efforts to undermine the principle of unity of the big five on all international questions aside from the thorny issue of the veto the russian counterproposal counter proposal resembled the U S control plan in major respects the reds suggested conclusion of an il 11 agreement to prohibit use of s vf A atomic tomic weapons forbid production and maintenance of such armament and force destruction of all stocks of A bombs within three months of adoption of control measures by participating nations the russ plan would also establish two committees one tor for studying the control of atomic development tor for peaceful use and the other for guarding against production of atomic weapons early reaction to the U S plan found britain pleading its co opera tion for atomic control without flatly endorsing the american proposal and nd china brazil and mexico supporting the U S proposition percentage PERC E CHANGE IN AVERAGE AVER AGE VALUE PER ACRE OF FARM REAL ESTATE FROM FRO A AVERAGE W 88 abt iter TO MARCH 1946 M OH 92 www ys n baft ty 11 y sl 1 l g W i 39 na A 1 34 i 9 rr 33 y B W 93 44 4 as 81 59 1 aa jj s 70 i 8 tk 88 easl ask INT r y e 8 cs 4 aw 1 INCREASE 1 EASE wm 1 i B 90 and nd over 91 sr MOO M 89 58 P MR 70 79 59 69 EM 50 59 U V t S AVERAGE AV ein INCREASE CR CASE 71 PERCENT t M 40 49 A ca aund andu undu 40 I 1 FAMINE AID south america helps winding up a mile food survey in south america former president herbert hoover reported that as a result of increasing their exports and cutting down on their own imports our good neighbors will increase the available supply of foodstuffs for a hungry world by tons in reporting on his south american swing as chairman of president Tr famine committee hoover warmly praised the relief efforts of juan ferons argentine government despite a partial crop failure argentina will supply 90 per cent of south american grain shipments during the next four months with exports expected to rise to tons monthly following emergency measures As aids to overseas relief colombia venezuela chile peru and uruguay agreed to slash their cereal and fats imports to a minimum during the next few critical months hoover said mexico ecuador chile peru and uruguay will hike their shipments of beans rice meat fats and sugar in all the latin americans agreed to increase exports approximately tons and decreased their own imports aid in asking congress to appropriate the remaining million dollars of the 2 23 billions it authorized for the united nations relief and rehab ili tation administration president truman disclosed that the U S accounted for per cent of 0 the tonnage already distributed by the and per cent of its value pointing out the need for additional relief mr truman declared that many of the countries receiving aid have only a few weeks stocks of food remaining in some countries minimum rations may not even be met lor for people who have been living on the borderline of starvation with 7 million of 27 million people in hunan province alone facing starvation famine conditions are worse in china the president said because of poor crops in the hunan rice bowl men women and children are eating grass roots dry bark and even clay the situation is further aggravated by the lack of adequate transportation facilities to distribute available supplies TRAFFIC fatalities up during 1945 americans Amt Arnt ricans lost their lives in traffic accidents the equivalent of wiping out the entire population of a city the size of miami beach fla or kingston N Y a traffic survey revealed this figure is larger than the death toll of the atom bombing of nagasaki in which civilians were reported to have lost their heir lives RUBBER boost price taking cognizance of the heavy world demand for natural rubber and increased costs of postwar operations erat ions the U S agreed to a cent pound boost in the price of the commodity in negotiations with the international rubber monopoly embracing britain the netherlands and france with the U S able to produce synthetic rubber for most of its needs at approximately 16 cents a pound from its tremendous capacity of tons annually the agreement to pay the monopoly 23 cents a pound represented a move to maintain foreign revenue for U S trade natural rubber from far eastern sources will provide the bulk of U S supplies with this country continuing production of tons of synthetic annually synthetic plants with a capacity of tons will be kept in a standby condition under the U S agreement with the british dutch and french the monopoly will continue to make allocations of rubber to various users though this country will be able to buy rubber directly from malaya the british will peg prices there by paying 23 cents per pound for the commodity JEWEL THEFT lit in indies the theft of of crown jewels and heirlooms heir looms of the royal hesse family of germany was topped by the stealing of of gold currency and gems by a british dutch and japanese ring in the east indies special british police were called in to crack the case after a british captain and dutchman learned of the whereabouts of the treasure from a japanese officials eurasian mistress and divided the loot between them originally the jap had hauled 10 steel trunks and 5 crates of gold currency and gems to his mistress dwelling after VJ V J day and told her to take her pick of the loot after she had chosen jewels valued at six million dollars the jap then turned the remainder of the cache estimated at twenty two millions to his superior when the woman began bragging of her sudden wealth to friends exclaiming 1 I am richer than a queen and I 1 am going to sleep in a golden bed a dutch civilian gained her confidence and learned of the loot lie ile tipped off a british captain who commandeered the treasure and split it with him made aware amare of the missing fortune special british police entered the case and seized the pair meanwhile allied officials redoubled efforts to nail the missing japs with the remainder of the treasure which had been confiscated from dutch civilians during the nipponese occupation of the east indle indies CONGRESS report on reds two democratic congressmen joined two republicans in hitting at russian politics in eastern europe and sharply criticizing U S diplomacy in a report filed with the house foreign affairs committee summarizing their findings of an overseas tour last fall listing their observations representatives senta tives ryder dem conn gordon dem ill bolt bolton 0 n rep ohio and rep minn declared e soviet secret police and agents have conducted a reign of terror in poland in support of the russian backed provisional government 0 U S confessions con sessions to russia have weakened the hand of communists friendly to the U S on the all powerful politburo ruling the soviet U S inability to claim credit for vast lend lease shipments ship ments have enabled soviet officials to accredit the supplies to russian production and strengthen their own political position SUGAR output drops the worlds sugar production for 1945 46 now being marketed is estimated at million short tons raw value by the department of agricultures agri cultures office of foreign agricultural relations this is three quarters of a million tons less than the previous season 35 million tons less than in 1943 44 and 73 million tons below the 1935 39 prewar average of the department indicated in its survey decreased output in certain producing areas particularly in europe more than offset a million ton increase in the western hemisphere the worlds cane sugar crop for 1945 46 is placed at million short tons about the same as in 1944 45 but 19 million tons smaller than in 1943 44 and 25 million tons smaller than prewar the worlds output of beet sugar estimated at 71 million short tons is about thousand tons smaller than in 1944 45 16 million tons smaller than in 1943 44 and 49 million tons smaller than prewar this is the worlds smallest production of beet sugar since 1923 LABOR top wages of all the workers employed in 32 major industrial classifications those working tor for transportation equipment industries made the highest average weekly earnings in both january and july 1945 employees in transportation equipment industries excluding automobile to manufacturing averaged a week in january 1945 and a week in july 1945 lowest weekly earnings in the 32 industries studied went to hotel employees during both sample months with weekly earnings averaging 2371 in january and 2440 in july these figures do not include the tips which supplement earnings highest average hourly earnings during the sample months were made by workers in private building construction who averaged about an hour in january and in july lowest hourly earnings about 53 cents an hour in january and 54 cents an hour in july 1945 were of hotel employees employment on rise both agricultural and industrial employment have been on the increase and director robert C goodwin of the U S employment service predicted a continuing period of expanded opportunity statistics show that the employment problem in agriculture remains tight with hired help far below the prewar average and number of family workers above last year all told farm labor totaled early this month with the increase over a year ago reflected in reduction of working hours even with the drop in working time however farm operators were putting in hours per day while hired hands averaged RED ARMY tighten discipline completing the swing from a democratic to the traditional authoritarian type of army russia ordered the tightening up of discipline in military ranks and the cultivation of respect and pride in the profession of arms first steps in the russian program to develop a more efficient and closer knit military machine were the re establishment of rank cultivation of old military traditions and the reward of merit this sig a radical departure from the old bolshevik principle of equality of men in the service with its attendant lack of discipline the latest latent orders issued from the kremlin serve to still further tighten up regulations to t 0 promote a smoother working military machine prompt and precise execution of orders are now required soldiers must bear difficulties without protest and be ready to shed their blood the men must knuckle down to serious consideration of military technique and troops must respect their superiors and observe all the rules of military etiquette such as saluting PALESTINE hot spot great britain stood right in the middle of the fevered struggle glein in palestine over large scale jewish immigration to the holy land so bitterly contested by the predominant arab population following the pacification of the arabs by foreign minister bevins blunt rejection of the proposed immigration of jews to palestine the moderate jewish resistance movement joined with extremist groups in a reign of terror blowing up bridges and rail yards firing at british troops and kidnapping officers the violent outbreaks of the jewish elements were seen as pressure moves designed to bring about a modification of the british stand though the proposal to admit jews to palestine did not meet with complete approval of jewish leaders when first presented they settled for it and may fight for acceptance cep tance of a similar compromise U S corporations show losses government corporations stand to lose over four billion dollars in according to a presidential report submitted to congress compiled under a recent law requiring qu iring annual statements on financial operations of government corporations po rations the report covering the period sho chos s 1945 1943 1946 1947 in millions income expenses loss 1527 adjustments 81 23 net loss 1608 net new borrowing of the 34 corporations po rations will amount to 28 billion dollars over and above keti retirement rement of debt the presidential report said outstanding obligations almost entirely held by the treasury department win will amount to bulion billion dollars on june 30 1947 for the fiscal year 1947 the net loss for all government corporations is now estimated at million dollars or million dollars more than in the current fiscal year subsidies and losses account for million dollars or the great bulk of this net loss costs of converting temporary war housing covered by appropriations represent an additional million dol lars ars agriculture prospects of poultry flock reduction in may and june to levels more nearly in keeping with available feed have been improved by culling approximately 28 million productive nonproductive non and low producing birds tn in may alone the department of agriculture said producers were urged early last montla mont to cull at least 55 million non prodoc tive and low producing birds from their flocks in may and june in the famine program released by western newspaper union |