| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS ua U S acts to move consumer goods to market british press drive to boost postwar exports EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they a re ra those of western News newspaper U union rion news analysts and not feces arlly harily of this newspaper inventories waft w a it hoarding a th Hitting at the withholding of merchandise chan disc from the market in anticipation of higher prices civilian production administration drew up stringent inventory controls on manufacturers of electrical appliances and other scarce goods at the same time CPA disclosed that exports may be limited it if shippers move out a flood of goods at high prices to badly depleted foreign markets restoration of OPA price control would make such a step unnecessary it was said under CPA regulations inventories of finished goods would be restricted strict ed to 30 days included are refrigerators furniture washing machines electric ranges sewing machines vacuum cleaners camas asphalt and tarred roofing in ha as st t screen cloth and galvanized ware production material and parts also must be held to minimum needs to prevent heavy buying against possible future price increases 1 PRICE CONTROL union pressure while house and senate conferees were striving to work out a compromise OPA bill satisfactory to the president both the and CIO exerted strong pressure 1 for reasonable pricing of consumer goods addressing t the h e brotherhood of maintenance 0 1 way employees in detroit mich william green president william green pledged his organizations support in the battle to save OPA and backed up the unions threat to seek higher wages in the event adequate legislation is not shaped meanwhile local leaders of the CIO united automobile workers ral t band fand their member t 11 om map ip for a buyers strike throughout the country ordered by chieftain walter reuther As the drive was to get underway dun bradstreet figures showed that the weekly index of 31 food commodities walter reuther had soared to only 12 per cent below the peak of 1919 since expiration of OPA controls prices had rocketed 19 per cent it was said ARGENTINA friendly dispute although remaining a fast friend t mt great britain argentina promised to take it its dispute with london over possession of the strategic falkland islands off the southern tip of south america to the united nations next fall for settlement long held by the british in the face of argentine protests the falk lands lie astride the straits of magellan and cape horn leading from the atlantic to the pacific oceans while britain as a major sea power has held on to possession of the falklands Falk lands because of bf their command of an important water route argentina considers them essential to its national security aside from their strategic value the falklands Falk lands are of little importance being a cluster of barren gloomy islands V american troops go into action in troubled port of trieste to break up clashes between italian and yugoslav factions demonstrating for control of city bitter fighting between both elements continued despite big four effort to preserve peace by nationalizing internationalizing inter area for 10 years one GI has bas been killed and another wounded while trying to maintain order MINE FOREMEN witt win pact paving the way for recognition ot of unionization of foremen in coal mines pending court approval the federal government signed a contract with john L lewis clerical technical and supervisory workers covering employees at four bituminous tu pits of jones laughlin steel company in pennsylvania in reaching an agreement with lewis as operator of the mines under seizure orders order s the government stipulate i that the th e contract could be voided in the event that a federal court of appeals issued an injunction against the action coal operators long have deferred recognition of a foremans for emens union asserting that supervisory personnel were a part of management handling production in the companies interest under the pact negotiated by the U S and lewis foremen were given wage wa ge increases totaling a day plus overtime after 40 hours the terms were made retroactive to last may 22 BRITISH TRADE ott on rebound known for their genius for commerce the british are making brisk efforts to revive and expand their postwar trade which economists agree must surpass prewar levels it if britain is to reduce its wartime export debt and preserve a high standard of living in one of the first f steps toward rebuilding its trade britain concluded bilateral monetary agreements with the countries of western europe and czechoslovakia tor for payment of goods reaching behind dussias Rus sias iron curtain in the balkans the british have been negotiating for an exchange of goods with romania bulgaria and hungary always a large exporter to south america britain has sent a special business mission to the continent to drum up trade and clear the status of british investments whereas british exports to argentina totaled 80 million dollars before the war london hopes to increase shipments to million dollars by next year railroad financing while railroad financing totaled during the first five months of 1916 1946 was used for refunding old debts and only represented new capital for improvement and expansion pan sion except for 1945 when the carriers raised the financing during the first five I 1 months 0 of 1946 was the largest 1 for any similar period since 1940 11 POLAND protests election vice premier stanislaw who returned to poland after the war to represent the moderates in the soviet sponsored provisional government hid had his first open tiff with the new regime over the conduct of the recent elections which moscow hailed as a smashing victory for the left because of the stringent censorship of the polish press aired his grievances to foreign correspondents exhibiting a thousand parti partially alfY burned and destroyed ballots which he said had been salvaged from sewers he charged that numerous such ballots marked against the government backed proposal for a single legislature lesi slature had been counted out reports from local committees in 12 cities including in warsaw showed per cent of the people against the proposition which the government declared carried while the election commissioner denied the charges he admitted that in some places ballots were removed from polling places to other stations for counting and some provinces had barred members from ks moderate peasant party from voting commissions GOOD NEIGHBORS buy stamps when argentina issued a special stamp to honor franklin D roosevelt on the anniversary of his death she probably never realized the tremendous interest it would arouse or the demand that there would be for it an active supporter of the philatelic division of the pan american union argentina sent up a few thousand copies for distribution in fact she sent twice as many as is customary but in a few days that amount was exhausted the usual number has now been oversold by per cent and requests continue to pour in the present supply has run so low that a third allotment of the stamps has been requested commemorating the a anniversary eniver of the pan american union in 1940 14 member governments issued special stamps the 10 million stamp collectors in the united states supported enthusiastically the suggestion that a special philatelic section be created in the pan american union five years later its sales show an increase of approximately 60 per cent argentina colombia the dominican republic guatemala and panama have been active participants in the philatelic program which has been established but negotiations to bring in the other republics of the western hemisphere are still in progress POLITICS beat wheeler political observers studied the campaign in the democratic senatorial primary in montana for a clue to the cause of defeat of the veteran burton K wheeler with a variety of reasons appearing to contribute to his downfall since the rugged veteran led the non interventionist cause before pearl harbor the japanese attack on the U S and the swing of american sentiment toward effective world operation cooperation co were seen to have acted strongly against him but because of the closeness of his defeat the CIO PAC fight against him the opposition of the powerful railroad brotherhoods brothe and the diversion of the main strength of the democratic organization to his opponent leif erickson could have weaned enough votes away from him to spell defeat winding up 24 years of senatorial service wheeler said the people of montana have been very good to me those who voted in the democratic primary have relieved me of a great responsibility it i y and a lot of work probably I 1 have lost many supporters because I 1 did not go along blindly with a democratic administration in the last few years but I 1 could not sacrifice my principles 11 return talmadge georgias gubernatorial election shared the national spotlight with senatorial race with fiery red gene talmadge making his bid for a fourth term on a platform of white supremacy pre macy despite the fact that his no 1 opponent james V carmichael rolled up an impressive popular vote talmadge took an early lead in the decisive unit voting in which winners are determined by the number of counties they carry against a background of a U S supreme court decision opening democratic primaries in the south to negroes and another court ruling forbidding segregation on interstate buses malmad talmadge ge conducted a vigorous white supremacy campaign with georgias state administration under retiring gov ellis arnall making no effort to curb the colored vote more than negroes flocked to the polls separate booths being set tp lp ansome election stat stations ioni JUSTICE free spy suspect the jury had just returned a verdict of not guilty on five charges of spying against 30 year old nicolai redin russian naval lieutenant elated by the finding the stocky defendant rose to his feet crossed to the jury box and shook hands with the seven men and five women ladies and gentlemen of the jury he said in heavily accented tones 1 I want to thank you for the fair trial I 1 have received here in america then shaking hands with judge lloyd black he declared the friendship between our two countries has existed and will exist ledins acquittal followed judge blacks censure of the prosecution for building up the international aspects of the case with their implications of U S and russian differences feren ces arrested in portland ore last march as he was about to board a ship tor for russia he was charged with obtaining and attempting to transmit secret plans of the new ton destroyer tender yellowstone US U S growing twenty seven million new babies will be born during the 1940 50 decade and the number of families will increase by more than in the period according to a study of an advertising and sales counsellor by 1950 it is expected that the U S will have a population of it was said along with the present housing shortage the additional dit ional demand for new dwellings assures continuing heavy activity in the construction field construction on rise expenditures for new private construction st during the first half of 1946 reached over 3 billion dollars the highest half year mark for more than a decade the department of labor reports thus in the first half of 1946 private construction was about 3 times as large as in the same period last year and 50 per cent greater than in 1940 even after allowance is made for the higher level of construction costs in 1946 than in 1940 for the first month since the peak war construction year of 1942 construction st expenditures in june exceeded a billion dollars and construction st employment exceeded two million workers A million of these workers were taken on within the past nine months or since VJ V J day nine tenths of them were added this year nearly half in may and june alone the advance is likely to continue throughout the greater part of the year in most categories of work wi with tb the notable exception of public nonresidential building STATES reward reavard vets with enactment of bonus legislation for world war 11 vei veterans erans in three more states this year six states now have made provisions for bonuses totaling close to two other states are considering si such payments voters in illinois rhode island and new york must first approve recently enacted bonus legislation before it becomes effective however massachusetts began paying a veteran bonus last year following such action by new hampshire in 1943 and vermont in 1942 oil LIM ta in compliance with the AAA act of 1938 providing for marketing quotas of wheat only when supply exceeds demand department of agriculture announced there would be no marketing quotas or acreage allotments during the 48 production season the action was taken after consideration of the heavy world and domestic demand and the low level of stocks existing 0 0 0 because of uncertainty in the feed situation commercial hatcheries reduced production substantially last month output being the smallest for june since 1937 figures also showed that tire the total of young chickens of this years hatching were on farms as ot of july 1 15 per cent less than a year ago but still 1 per cent above the average released by we western stern newspaper union |
