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Mshingfoh
MmmouND
|S_J & drew pearson
NO PLAN FOR ARMY
WASHINGTON - After the last
war, we let our best officers leave
the army, were content to make the
army a refuge for hundreds of mis
fits who couldn’t adjust themselves
in other walks of life, and settled
down to complete complacency re
garding the armed forces.
Usually history repeals itself.
After this war, however, there is
a little less complacency regarding
the future thanks to Russia.
But there is almost as much do
nothingness regarding the internal
organization of the army.
President Truman has now de
manded that wo have a big peace
time conscript army. But aside from
Secretary of War Patterson’s
healthy board for probing caste, no
steps have been taken to reorgan
ize the army’s long out-dated sys
tem of promotions, its methods of
selecting officers, and, perhaps
most important of all, its system
of eliminating misfits.
A thorough re-organization of
the army might make it more
enticing to good men and there
by eliminate conscription. Even
Sen. Chan Gurney of South
Dakota, most ardent conscrip
tion enthusiast, will admit that
a volunteer army is more effi
cient than one composed of men
who are forced to serve.
COULD USE HORSE MEAT
An important debate has been tak
ing place among food experts in
side the administration regarding
the use of horse meat for feeding
Europe.
Horse meat is a type of food
which Americans know little about.
Within Europe it is standard diet
and certain countries, especially
France and Belgium, have repeat
edly informed the United States that
they would like to buy more horse
meat here. If two and a half billion
pounds of horse meat could be sold
to Europe which is the amount
available in the U. S. A.—it would
take care of most of Europe’s feed
ing problems and eliminate any
need for U. S. A. rationing.
Such a program has been
urged by UNRRA officials and
also by some experts In the
army and navy. However, the
plan has run up against sev
eral snags, chiefly that of U. S.
meat packers.
The big packers don’t want the
American public to get the idea that
horse meat is processed in their
plants. They fear that the suspicion
would linger in the consumer’s
mind. However, Harry Reed, who
does most of the moat procurement
for UNRRA in the department of
agriculture, leans toward the big
meat packers and they never have
wanted small state packers to get
into the inter-state business.
HORSE MEAT FEEDS ZOOS
Another source of opposition is ex
pected to come from the many horse
lovers throughout the country who
probably would claim that the
United States was being denuded
of horses. »
Officials point out, however, that
several hundred horses are slaugh
tered weekly all over the United
States to feed the zoos of the nation.
Furthermore, the United States to
day has a larger surplus of horses
than ever before in history. Agricul
ture department estimates are that
three million surplus horses are
now on the ranges and farms of the
country. The grain which they alone
consume would go a long way to
ward feeding Europe.
Officials estimate that these
three million surplus horses
would supply a total of two and
a half billion pounds of meat,
also give fats for soap, together
with hides to case the scarcity
of leather.
NOTE—While prices of almost ev
erything tended upward during the
war, the price of horses did not.
Government buyers purchasing
draft animals for UNRRA report
that the country has thousands of
four to six-year-old horses which
have never been harnessed. Farm
ers haven't had time to break them
in, would like to sell them if prices
were right.
• • *
BUMPTIOUS GENERAL VAUGHN
Twelve years ago, famous Filipino
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo sent Presi
dent Roosevelt a 9M*-foot carved
table of Philippine hardwood de
signed to serve as a cabinet table.
The other morning, however, Brig.
Gen. Harry Vaughn, White House
military aide, hurrying through the
White House lobby, bumped his
knee on a buffalo. Promptly the
four carved buffalo heads came off,
• • •
CAPITAL CHAFF
Secretary of Labor Schwellenbach
is secretly considering resigning
from the cabinet, in order to again
run for the senate.
Bernard Baruch is hopping mad
at the state department for releas
ing its report on atomic energy be
fore he, Baruch, could make his
own investigation. Baruch has ad
mitted privately that the state de
partment report is an excellent one.
However, it’s not known as the
"Baruch report’’—which is impor
tant to Bernie.
I. WEEKLY NEWS ANALYS’S
Increase Conservation, as Wheat
Supplies Shrink; Conservatives
Top Free Japanese Elections
n»l<»a«»fi by We«tern Newspaper Union
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of
Western Newspaper Union’s news analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Hmhl S 'JB tJflpgr. I 1
XW XrWf % 'vm ■ y- ", . '-^4
Casting their ballots in Tokyo, these two women were among the
unexpectedly large number of their sex who voted in first free election
in Japan in decade.
FOOD:
It heat Stocks Shrink
With heavy domestic and export
demands being made on the nation’s
shrinking wheat supply, the govern
ment mapped additional conserva
tion measures for grain but reject
ed a British proposal for bread ra
tioning by the two countries.
Current figures point up the pinch
developing in wheat. Against an esti
mated supply of 332 million bush
els, U. S. commitments for export
before July 1 total 125 million bush
els, the present domestic rate of
consumption will take another 125
million bushels, at least 35 million
bushels will be used for feed and
13 million bushels may be used for
spring seed.
Use of 298 million bushels of wheat
by July 1 thus would leave the U. S.
with a visible supply of 35 million
bushels at the beginning of the new
crop year. In arriving at. the cur
rent figure of 332 million bushels,
agronomists added the department
of agriculture’s estimate of 203 mil
lion bushels on farms on April 1 with
projections that elevator holdings
matched last year’s high mark of
129 million bushels.
In turning down Britain’s bid for
mutual bread rationing, Secretary
of Agriculture Anderson declared
that the extensive widespread pro
duction of grain in the U. S. would
make control difficult. Small nations
like Britain depending chiefly upon
imports for their wheat can exer
cise more efficient check on their
supplies, he said.
Relax Building Order
Farmers and workers engaged
in output of essential products
were made eligible for building
material priorities through gov
ernment relaxation of emergency
| housing regulations. It was also
determined to provide priority
assistance for the repair or alter
ation of existing dwellings either
to maintain them or restore them
to a habitable state. Builders
who undertook construction of
non-vet residences before March
26 may apply for priorities to
complete their work.
j JAPAN:
Big Vote
Following the general postwar
trend, Japanese voters swung to the
right in the first free elections in
Nippon in a decade, with the na
tion’s conservative parties winning
sufficient representation in the 466-
member parliament to assure* a
temperate tone of legislation.
Between 60 and 68 per cent of
the 40 million eligible voters turned
out for the balloting, with the wom
en appearing in unexpectedly large
numbers. With nearly half the bal
lots in the Tokyo district cast by
women, 66-year-old Mrs. Shigeyo
Takeuchi and American-educated
Mrs. Shizue Kato piled up big
leads.
Though running far behind the
conservative parties, the Commu
nists showed surprising strength to
win a number of seats. Lacking the
veteran, smoothly oiled machines
of the conservative forces, the
Reds succeeded in commanding
prominent last-minute notice with
public demonstrations against Pre
mier Shidehara and the existing re
gime. The Reds accused Shidehara
of being reactionary and blamed
him for the food shortage.
•
Motor Power Passes Famed Horse Cavalry
Making way for the new, the historic cavalry will be merged with
the comparatively new armored force into a single “armored cavalry’’
arm in recognition of new developments during World War 11, Sec. of
War Robert P. Patterson revealed.
Personnel for the new “armored cavalry” will not be drawn solely
from the cavalry but also from other branches and in the same manner
as it was drawn for the armored forces.
While it was planned virtually to eliminate the horse from the army,
it is contemplated that a small detachment of skilled mounted troops
will be maintained to give instruction and train small units for use in
rough terrain, and that pack animals will be retained for specialized
work
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. PERRY. GEORGIA
DRAFT:
Com promise
Heeding President Truman’s in
sistence upon extension of the se
lective service act, congress moved
toward continuing the draft for at
least nine months but sought to re
duce conscription calls by raising
army and navy pay to attract vol
unteers.
Congressional partiality toward
the compromise measure followed
stubborn efforts of Republicans to
suspend the draft for nine months
and step up recruitments to meet j
requirements by raising service pay. j
While the compromise bill incorpor- j
ated provisions for making enlist- I
ment more attractive, inclusion of '
draft powers assured a flow of men
if volunteering fell below needs.
Under increased pay schedules
considered by the solons, privates
and apprentice seamen would re
ceive $75 monthly instead of $5O; pri
vate first class and seamen second
class $Bl instead of $54; corporal
and seamen first class $92 instead
of $66; sergeant or petty officer first
class $ll5 instead of $96; staff ser
geant or petty officer second class
$ll5 instead of $96; technical ser
geant or petty officer first class $135
instead of $ll4, and first sergeant,
master sergeant or chief petty offi
cer $165 instead of $l3B.
In addition, commissioned offi
cers would receive substantial pay
raises, with top ranking generals
and admirals being hiked from $666
to $732.
UN:
Double-Trouble
Already pressed with the Russian
demand for dropping the Iranian
question entirely, the United Na
tions’ security council was confront
ed with the equally ticklish Polish
proposal that the international organ
ization recommend severance of
diplomatic relations with Spain.
Poland’s Russian - backed com
plaint to the security council that
the Franco regime constituted a
threat to world peace came at a
time when both the U. S. and Britain
preferred to move slowly against
the Spanish government despite
their repugnance of it. Supported by
France, the two English-speaking
Allies desire the development of an
orderly opposition movement in
Spain to prevent the outbreak of an
other civil war if Franco is dis
lodged.
In protesting to the security coun
cil against Spain, Poland cited the
UN general assembly’s action of
last February, condemning the
Franco regime as having been estab
lished with axis aid and lacking quali
fication for membership in the
international organization.
Meanwhile, the security council
sweated over Russia’s formal de
mand that the Iranian question be
considered closed and neither of
the two disputants be obliged to
report back May 6 on the fulfillment
of the Soviet pledge to withdraw
from the little country without exer
cising pressure for petroleum and
oil concessions.
With Iran opposed to the Russian
demand, diplomatic circles felt
that Moscow’s action was inspired
by its desire to avert a security
council probe of the recent oil
agreement reached between the two
countries, in which the Reds ob
tained a !jl P e r cent stock control
of a joint Russo-Iranian company
for exploiting petroleum deposits in
northern Iran.
POLES:
Shun Homeland
Apprehensive over Russian domi
nation of their homeland, the major
ity of members of the British
backed Polish army in exile are un
willing to accept an offer of repatri
ation, a sounding sentiment among
troops in Italy revealed.
The apathy of many toward re
turning to their native soil arises
from their imprisonment in Russia
after the Red occupation of eastern
Poland in 1939. Prior to being re
leased upon the formation of the
Polish liberation forces after the
German attack on Russia, some
served two years of sentences rang
ing up to 15 years.
With Russian insistence upon
their return to their homeland con
stituting a thorny diplomatic issue,
many of the Poles interviewed ex
pressed a desire to settle in Canada
or Chicago, 111., where a million
Americans of Polish descent reside,
CO-OPS:
Called Beneficial
Declaring there was substantial
evidence to show that the co-opera
tive movement has proven an ef
! fective instrument for combating
{ monopolistic control, the house se
lect committee on small business
reported that co-ops were a healthy
addition to the American economy
and did not endanger other forms
of business operation.
Discussing agricultural co-ops, the
committee said they were originally
organized to help farmers offset dis
advantageous bargaining conditions
which still exist. Though tax-exempt
farm co-ops possess an edge over
competitive business in that stock
dividends and reserves are not sub
ject to levy, the actual amounts in
volved are relatively small, the com
| mittee said.
In considering the imposition of a
receipts tax on co-ops, the commit
tee asserted such a levy would prob
ably raise constitutional issues and
adversely affect schools, churches,
scientific organizations and many
social clubs with a comparable ad
| vantage of tax emption.
COAL STRIKE:
John L. Eloquent
Most eloquent of the nation’s la
j bor leaders, burly John L. Lewis
sounded off in Shakespearean tones
in pressing his efforts for coal oper
ators’ consideration of his demands
for a health and welfare fund and
safety program in a new contract
for the United Mine Workers.
Insisting on prior discussion of
these proposals in the face of the
companies’ determined opposition,
John L. chortled: “For four weeks
JOHN L. LEWIS
I we have sat with you; we attended
when you fixed the hour; we depart
ed when weariness affected your
pleasure. . . . When we emphasized
the importance of life, you pleaded
the priority of profits; when we
spoke of little children in unkempt
surroundings, you said—look to
the state! ... You scorn the toils,
the abstinence and the perils of the
miner; we withhold approval of
your luxurious mode of life and the
nights spent in merriment. ...” '
Undaunted by John L.’s heart
wrenching sally, the coal operators
blandly replied that Lewis was at
tempting to stall negotiations and
create a national crisis that would
lead to consideration of his de
mands.
LEAGUE OF NATIONS:
Old Gives W ay
As the League of Nations was offi
cially bowing out in the shimmering
marble palace in Geneva, Switzer
land, French Delegate Paul-Bon
cour sounded a warning to the
youthful United Nations that unless
they agreed upon disarmament the
peace machinery established in
UN might come to naught.
Pointing up the collapse of the
old League following the refusal of
governments to abandon military
forces as a potential instrument of
policy, Paul-Boncour said that while
UN contemplated an internation
al organization of two million
troops, a major power could raise
four million unless disarmament
were adopted.
The scene of intensive wran
gling throughout its existence, the
League breathed hard to the end,
the Argentine delegation walking
out upon its failure to obtain one
of the last vice presidencies. Fol
lowing consultations with other
delegations and its own government,
however, the Argentines returned.
WORLD CATTLE:
Preliminary reports for 1946 indi
cate that cattle numbers have de
creased in North America and Eu
rope, and increased in the Soviet
Union since the beginning of 1945,
the department of agriculture said.
The drop in North American cat
tle numbers is placed at two mil
lion, and the European decrease at
six million. The increase in the So
viet Union is estimated at three
and seven-tenths million. Little net
change in the cattle population is
reported elsewhere in the world.
UN Gets Public Airing;
CIO at War With Reds
By BAUKHAGE
Neivs Analyst and Commentator.
IVNU Service, 1616 Eye Street, N.W.,
Washington, D. C.
HUNTER COLLEGE, The Bronx,
N. Y.—Fifteen minutes ago the ses
sion of the security council of the
United Nations adjourned and the
attractive room which it is hard to
believe was ever the gymnasium of
Hunter college in the northern lati
tudes of New York City, is almost
empty.
Since 11 o’clock the council mem
bers have been at their places at
the curving table on the platform
and every seat in the “audience”
has been filled. The first 40 persons
to line up at the gates are given
seats. Tickets are issued only to
those with some plausible reason to
hold them. Some of the “visitors”
remain and the marine guards are
still on duty while other attendants
clear away the various impediments
before each place from the Russian
ambassador’s at one end to the
Polish delegate’s at the other.
After each day’s performance the
actors and the audience in this play
are soon far from the brown and
rose room of Hunter college, but
for a long time, there are scores of
busy men and women.
They are the people whose busi
ness it is to report this drama and
build up opinion
enough
away, pulling off Baukhage
head-sets, pack
ing up cameras and tripods—and
then perhaps pausing for refresh
ments in the “press lounge” espe
cially installed in the basement of
the gymnasium where their quar
ters are located.
UN Recognizes
Popular Interest
I have covered many interna
tional gatherings from the peace con
ference of Paris after World War I
and none has given as much pro
portional attention to providing the
necessary facilities for bringing the
proceedings to the citizens of the
world as this gathering at Hunter
college.
Of course the council is relatively
small and the army of reporters
seems large in comparison to its
scant 11 members, the secretary
and assistant secretary general and
the various advisors. The fact that
the principals are so few increases
the informality and the feeling of
intimacy which seems to exist be
tween the organization and the
group of men and women who ob
serve, record and report its doings.
Along the wall, opposite the coun
cil table at gallery level are a row
of glass windows, the booths of the
American radio networks, the BBC,
and some separate stations. In a
glassed-in-corner behind and to the
left of the table are radio engineers
and the equipment which records
all the spoken words of the mem
bers. At any moment a speaker
may be cut in and heard by lis
teners on any of the networks. At
special points of vantage there are
places for taking movie and still
photographs. Whenever some dra
matic moment arrives you can see
the Klieg lights slowly rise (and the
busiest delegate is likely to straight
en his tie, take off or put on his
glasses) while the moving picture
cameras grind.
Most of the speaking by the dele
gates, except when formal stat
ments are read, is done from
notes or completely ad lib and since
all of the members speak either
English or French the pauses for
interpreting are short—-either into
French or English except when Am
bassador Gromyko speaks in Rus
sian. These words must be inter
preted into both French and Eng
lish and Gromyko doesn’t hesitate
to stop the interpreter and give his
own English translation if he doesn’t
like the interpreter’s choice of
words. He could speak in Eng
lish himself if he wanted to but
probably wants the Russian for the
record for home consumption.
Eventually when the permanent
meeting place is established the sys
tem employed at Nuernberg will be
used—earphones and simultaneous
translation. This slows down the
speakers but is much more rapid in
the long run making repetition of
BARBS • • • by Baukhage
Administration housing experts
want to hold up construction on non
essential stores, office buildings, fac
tories, roadhouses and amusement
projects until veterans homes are
taken care of. There’ll be screams
of anguish over that. Try to get any
body to admit that his shop, his
theatre or his doghouse is not essen
tial.
an entire speech unnecessary some
times twice or sometimes three
times, as at San Francisco. But
here at Hunter the business moves
with a briskness that adds to the in
formality.
♦ * *
May Leave Reds
On Political Limb
I never realized before that New
York was NOT an “early” town.
When transportation is normal I
can buy a New York newspaper in
Washington on my way to work.
On the other hand, in New York
at the same hour (7:30) I found
there were no newsstands open be
tween the club where I stayed on
57th street to the subway station,
nor in the subway where I got on, or
where I got off, 40 minutes later.
Of course the crowds were pour
ing southward in the subway at that
hour and they had been able to buy
their papers when they got on, but
in the normally busy area of the 50’s
the natives were not abroad in suf
ficient numbers at 7:30 to justify
the presence of news vendors.
On the streets at the end of my
run which is about 200th street
(Kingsbridge station in the Bronx)
the stands were open and most of
the people who bumped against me
as I reached for the staid Times
and the Republican Herald Trib
une, were buying the left-wing PM.
PM can’t be called Communist
since Editor IngersolTis not a Com
munist but while he was off to the
wars it hewed pretty close to the
party line. The Daily Worker,
however, is considered to express
the official “wishes” of the Com
munist party and, according to most
of the other newspapers these
“wishes” come direct from the
Kremlin —or maybe next door.
Heretofore the Communists have
supported the American Labor par
ty which is a New York party which
in general embraced Democratic,
New Deal, CIO supporters and had
the co-operation of the Communists.
Now the war is on between the CIO
and the Communists and ructions
are expected to arise in any cor
ner.
Nevertheless, when the Russian
delegate walked out of the United
Nations security council meeting, it
was said that until he walked back
the American Labor-CIO planning
board had decided to withhold sup
port of Senator Mead, Democratic
possibility in the race for the New
York state governorship. This move
was looked upon by conservative
papers like the SUN as if the Amer
ican Labor party were willing to
plan its political strategy according
to the attitude of Moscow toward
the United Nations. Since in the
council meeting when the Iran af
fair came up Secretary of State
Byrnes led the fight against the
Russian stand. The fact that he lat
er offered the resolution which la
beled the Russian reply as satisfac
tory and postponed the discussion
of Iran in which Ambassador
Gromyko had refused to take part
beyond the time that the Russians
themselves had demanded, the left
wingers went to bed satisfied.
However critics of the American
Labor party and the CIO still insist
that they are now on record as hav
ing tried to line up American votes
to please a foreign power. What
the repercussions of this little flur
ry will be remain to be seen. If this
is supposed to be an evidence of
left-wing displeasure over the Dem
ocratic administration’s foreign pol
icy and subsequent events have not
removed that displeasure, the ques
tion remains, where will the left
wingers go?
John Lewis, whose love for the
Democrats evaporated when he
couldn’t collect on his generous do
nation to the Roosevelt campaign
fund, is expected to become a hun
dred per cent Republican when it
comes to the next presidential elec
tion.
It would take a great stretch of
the imagination, however, to visu
alize either the communist append
age of CIO, of the non-Communist
CIO-PAC head, Sydney Hillman,
embracing the elephant. It has al
ready been demonstrated that the
Communists are becoming anything
but an asset to the Democratic par
ty and Hillman probably would be
glad to get rid of them.
Where the Communists will go is
a question. It is not likely that
they and such fellow travelers as
are willing to travel with them would
essay a third party. But politicians
hereabouts believe that they will be
able to shift their weight about in
such a manner as to upset more
than one state and congressional
political apple-cart.
The Kurds again making trouble
in the middle east mustn’t be con
fused with the kind Little Miss Muf
fet ate ... or drank. That kind of
curd is the thick part of the milk
as distinguished from the watery
part, and the Kurds with a “K” are
distinguishable from either by the
fact that they are “belligerent Mos
lem nomads."
