, WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS -
Rail Strike Sets Back Nation;
Shape Big Navy for
Auto Prices Mount With Costs
,—Released by Western Newspaper nntnr.
(FDITOK’S NOTE; When opinions are expressed In these niim..
(Western Newspaper Union’s news analyst, and not necessarily'tW^newspSper.)
Despite undernourishment, these daughters of Chinese farmer in
famine-ridden Hunan province pull implement in rice paddy. Japs
killed their water buffalo and manpower has been depleted by war.
HAIL STRIKE:
Cripples Nation
The greatest railroad strike in
history laid a heavy hand on the na
tion from one end to the other, curb
ing traffic and stranding thousands,
imperilling the food supply and fur
ther disrupting industry and the
staggering reconversion program.
Though the government mobilized
plane, water and truck traffic, and
emergency crews ran some of the
trains, the walkout of 225,000 mem
bers of the Brotherhoods of Loco
motive Engineers and Railway
Trainmen over pay demands re
duced normal traffic to a trickle.
Freight shipments were reduced to
minimum of essential commodties
and only priority passengers were
provided facilities.
The stranding of thousands of
travelers throughout the nation af
forded the first dramatic effect of
the walkout. While many passen
gers frantically sought hotel accom
modations and others curled up on
benches in railroad terminals, many
railroads permitted travelers to re
main in cars on sidings.
In the midst of the paralysis, gov
ernment conciliators strove might
ily to end the walkout after the
brotherhood leaders had rejected
President Truman’s compromise of
fer of 18 Va cents an hour and sug
gestion for further discussion of
work rules changes. In turning down
the presidential proposal, union
chieftains said that it was even less
favorable than a fact-finding board’s
recommendations providing for a 16
cents an hour raise plus certain ad
justments in work rules resulting in
increased compensation.
The dramatic rail walkout over
shadowed developments in the soft
©coal dispute in
which the govern
ment strove to
reach an agree
ment with the Unit
ed Mine Worker
Chieftain John L.
Lewis for continued
operation of the
Following the
Secretary precedent set in
Krug 1943 when the U. S.
seized the mines to
avert a prolonged stoppage, Secre
tary of the Interior Krug entered
into negotiations with Lewis for a
contract, consulting with the oper
ators over terms to be offered. It
was understood that the owners
were assured of price increases to
cover higher production costs re
sulting from concessions when prop
erties were returned to them under*
the new contract.
The dispute over a health and
welfare fund found the government
favoring such a proposal under joint
management rather than sole union
control as originally demanded by
Lewis.
FOREIGN POLICY:
Bi-P artisan Backing
Minority leader of the senate for
eign relations committee and chair
man of the Republican senatorial
conference, Senator Vandenberg
(Rep., Mich.) pledged his support
of Secretary of State Byrnes’
campaign to win the peace by push
ing for recognition of U. S. princi
ples in treaty making.
While admitting the failure of the
Paris conference of foreign minis
ters, Vandenberg, who attended as
an adviser to the U. S. delegation,
LIFE INSURANCE:
More than $8,000,000 was paid out
each day of 1945 by life insur
ance companies in the United States
and Canada, according to a survey
of the National Underwriter.
Payments in the U. S. and Can
ada in 1945 were $3,116,979,219, an
increase of $200,258,530 over 1944,
with death benefits of $1,462,271,941,
the largest ever paid in one year
and 46.9 per cent of total pay
ments.
declared the proceedings had solidi
fied American determination to
write a peace “for keeps” based on
justice and not vengeance. Though
based upon the moralities of the
Atlantic and San Francisco char
ters, the new foreign policy also
recognized the practical necessities
of postwar rehabilitation, he said.
Besides calling for the establish
ment of permanent governments to
assure resumption of normal activi
ties, Vandenberg said the U. S.
aimed to settle the Germanic prob
lem affecting all of continental Eu
rope. While advocating maximum
protection against future aggression,
he condemned repressive demili
tarization.
Touching upon the age-old prob
lem of national minorities, Vanden
berg declared that the new U. S.
policy also favored their incorpora
tion into their native countries or oth
er suitable recognition to prevent
them from becoming sources of con
flict or expansion.
NAVY:
Taking No Chances
Calling for a navy adequate to
meet any emergency of the future,
the house appropriations committee
recommended congressional ap
proval of naval expenditures of over
4% billion dollars during the next
fiscal year ending June 30, 1947, for
fleet maintenance.
To be manned by 500,000 enlisted
men and 58,000 officers, the postwar
navy would include 4 battleships, 8
heavy cruisers, 21 light cruisers, 3
big aircraft carriers, 9 carriers, 10
escort carriers, 126 destroyers, 30
destroyer escorts and 80 subma
rines.
In addition, 2 battleships would be
held in reserve along with 5 heavy
cruisers, 5 light cruisers, 3 carriers,
1 light carrier, 22 destroyers and 4
destroyer escorts. A total of 632
other warships would be placed on
the inactive list.
Besides regular personnel, the
navy plans creation of an organized
reserve of 55,000 men and 3,000
officers. Backing up the regular
marine enlistment of 100,000 men
and 7,000 officers would be a re
serve of 60,000.
Recognizing the need for keeping
abreast of latest scientific advances
in postwar years, the committee
provided 250 million dollars for com
bined research and developments in
the 1947 fiscal period.
NEW CARS:
Boost Prices
Reflecting administration policy
of seeking to assure manufacturers
of fair profit returns by granting
increased prices to offset higher
production costs, OPA authorized a
boost of from 4 to 8 per cent in ceil
ings on new automobiles.
Principal factor determining OPA
action was the $5 per ton increase
in the cost of steel, allowed by the
government to cover the Indus
try’s 1814 cent an hour wage boost.
Higher costs of other materials and
parts figured in the OPA grant, how
ever, with Packard and Studebaker
afforded relief for wage adjust
ments.
With OPA hinting of additional
price boosts to come, the latest in
creases averaged about $75 per car,
and ranged from $42 for Chevrolets
to $167 for Lincolns. Because re
tailers’ margins already have been
trimmed 414 per cent under prewar
levels, the public will pay the latest
price hike in full.
Production Lags
Even with the prompt ending of
the coal strike ahd the absence of
other difficulties such as labor trou
bles and shortages of supplies, the
automobile industry will not be able
to produce more than 60 per cent of
the 1941 output of new cars during
the entire period of 1946. Trade cir
cles said.
A survey of the steel situation In
dicates that with full capacity pro
duction from now on, not enough
cold rolled steel can be turned out
for more than 2,500,000 cars.
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GEORGIA
FAMINE RELIEF:
V. S. Share
Government expectations of ship
ping 400 million bushels of grain to
needy areas during the year ending
June 30 prompted the U. S.’s deputy
member of the combined Allied food
board to tell congress that “this
country need not feel ashamed of
the job that has been done” in aiding
the distressed.
Indirectly slapping at foreign crit
ics of the U. S. relief effort, D. A.
Fitzgerald pointed up the extent of
America’s overseas contribution by
revealing that this country will have
a reserve of only eight-tenths of a
bushel of wheat per person at the
end of this crop season compared
with Canada’s three bushels, Ar
gentina’s two, and Australia’s one
and one-half.
In addition to shipments under the
relief program, the U. S. has fur
nished 72 per cent of the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
funds and 83 per cent of the wheat
UNRRA has purchased, Fitzgerald
said.
While the grain trade expected an
extension of the government’s bonus
payment for delivery of wheat, de
partment of agriculture officials de
clared there was no thought of car
rying over the premium except in
cases of farmers unable to make
immediate shipment because of
crowded elevators.
BIG BUSINESS:
Ford Balance Sheet
The Ford Motor company fell
from the ranks of billion dollar con
cerns in 1945 but still possessed over
800 million dollars in assets, a study
of the firm’s annual balance sheet
filed with the Massachusetts tax
commissioner showed.
In the absence of yearly Ford dis
closures of sales and earnings, the
Massachusetts report constitutes
the only indication of the company’s
financial position. The Ford family
holds the major bulk of the 3,452,900
shares of capital stock of $5 par
value.
A breakdown of the Ford assets
of $815,515,214 as of December 31,
1945, showed a cash account of $421,
712,270, including notes, receivables,
patent rights and trademarks; ma
chinery and equipment valued at
$168,267,325; real estate, $115,160,-
512; inventory, $101,926,042, and re
serves, $22,720,090. Though under
the one billion dollar mark of 1944,
total assets increased approximate
ly 125 million over 1939.
Mother Love Wins Out
Feeling that she would be unable
to show her new-born baby to peo
ple because he was not “sweet and
pretty,” Mrs. Marjorie Ashe of Chi
cago, 111., left the infant behind and
vanished from Illinois Central hos
pital on the day she was to return
home. After her broken-hearted
husband, James, 27, took the gur
gling 10-day-old child home, Mrs.
Ashe was found wandering in a
dazed condition in the Union depot
in Burlington, lowa. Quick to for
give, her husband flew to bring her
back and after they embraced each
other and enjoyed a good cry, he
exclaimed: “Am 1 happy now! She’s
been sick, but she’s all right now.
And we both think we got the most
beautiful baby in the world!”
TEXAS HAIL:
Extensive Damage
A record number of insurance
claims piled up in Texas following
recent violent hail and wind storms
which swept through the state for
10 days and caused millions of dol
lars of damage to buildings and field
crops.
With the National Board of Un
derwriters setting up a special of
fice in San Antonio to handle the
mounting claims, insurance loss in
that city was set at about $2,500,000.
Hail-stones hitting San Antonio
ranged in size from golf balls to
large stones, measuring 9 Jo 15
inches in circumference. Wind ve
locity was reported at 82 miles
per hour.
Lumber yards averred that there
was not enough stock on hand to
repair the damaged roofs already
reported. In Fredericksburg, roofs
were so badly battered that 1,000
homes were made untenable. Crop
damage in East Texas alone was
estimated at $1,000,000.
EMPLOY VETS:
More than a hundred thousand
World War II veterans have been
added to war department civilian
rolls throughout the nation and
overseas since V-J Day and the fig
ure is increasing at a rate of more
than 15,000 per month. Including
those hired before V-J Day, the to
tal number of World War II veter
ans is around 165,000, a majority
being former employees.
In the nine months since the end
of hostilities, the number of vet
erans of World War II and other
wars has jumped to 235,000.
Atomic War Could Force
Return to Primitive Life
By BAUKHAGE
Notes Analyst and Commentator.
Mid-June welcomes a gathering to
Washington which will deal with a
subject more im-
meeting too.
At the “institute” in Washington,
authorities will explain just what
effect atomic energy can have on
your life if you are one of those
who aren’t going to be destroyed by
it. I was going to say “ohe of the
lucky ones,” but you won’t be lucky,
if atomic warfare starts, even if you
are among those whose lives are
spared.
We have all heard a lot of dire
prophecies about what the atom
bomb can do, if it once gets on the
loose. Also, what wonders atomic
energy can perform in building a
better world, if it is confined to
peaceful and productive activity.
But by far the most impressive
footnote on the subject came to me
in the repeated words of a scientist
speaking not scientifically, or for
quotation, but very intimately of
his own private thoughts, and his
own personal plans.
He has lectured a great deal on
the subject of atomic energy, and
is one of those intimately concerned
with its development. Suddenly, one
day he realized that he had better
make sojme personal plans to pre
pare for the future in this atomic
age of which he had spoken so
much. His work is near one of the
several prime targets of any enemy
bombs that would be dropped.
No Refuge
From A-Bomb
So he began to consider. Should
he try to get transferred to some
smaller institution, located in a lit
tle town? That, he considered,
would not help much. He has a
farm, but he is not a farmer. Should
he move onto the farm immediately,
learn as much as he could about
farming, and plan to live there
where he would be comparatively
safe? The farm is far from any
large city, tucked in the hills.
Then he started planning. He
would have to learn a lot more
than farming. He would have
to learn to card wool, for in
stance; his wife would have to
learn to spin, to weave, to make
soap, to fabricate all the things
you buy in stores.
He would have to lay in tools,
and enough other supplies to last
him the rest of his lifetime.
Well, perhaps all that could be
done. Then he realized that even
at that, he wouldn’t be safe. He
would have to build barbed wire en
tanglements, and obtain machine
guns and other weapons with which
to defend himself . . . for with the
refugees who escaped, starving,
from the cities, the few who had
food would be at the mercy of the
hungry mobs.
If I had heard those statements
from a lecture platform, or read
them in a magazine, I might have
passed them by as sensationalism.
But the statements weren’t in a
magazine, or spoken from a plat
form. They were said over the
luncheon table in the quiet corner
of a club. The speaker wasn’t
trying to “sell” his ideas to any
body. He wasn’t trying to persuade
anybody to do anything, or to get
publicity. He was thinking out loud
about what he considered an acute
personal problem.
In the end it left him baffled.
There is no defense.
The only hope is to make the
United Nations work.
I heard this story, and was moved
by it. I was already pretty well
stirred up, because I had just
learned of v/hat deep concern this
question is to more than three thous
and people who wrote me, asking
for a pamphlet I had mentioned in
one of my broadcasts.
That is an interesting story, too,
that I want to pass on.
One day, I received a little pam
phlet among the several bushels of
handout material which is the grist
of the publicity mills dumped on
press and radio desks all over the
country every day.
BARBS . • • by Baukhage
As long as America has the heart
to attend spelling bees and county
“sings,” we can’t be quite as badly
off as some of our neighbors seem
to think.
* ♦ •
I never attended enough spelling
bees myself. But a radio commen
tator has an advantage—his audi
ence can’t tell whether he can spell
the words he uses or not.
1 This pamphlet caught my eye
and held It. It was a reprint
from Look magazine entitled
“Your Last Chance.” You may
have seen it. It moved me
so much that 1 just couldn’t help
talking about it on the air, and
offering to pay for the first 500
pamphlets requested, providing
a stamp was enclosed.
I limited the requests to people
in the following categories: insur
ance men, salesmen, real estate
men, teachers, clergymen, mechan
ics, utilities workers, scientists and
merchants.
I did this, first, because I wanted
to limit the number of applicants,
and second, because the article con
tained specific instructions as to
what the people in the groups named
could do to help prevent a cataclys
mic war. I blandly overlooked the
fact that somebody had to address
envelopes, insert the pamphlets,
mail them out.
Public Interested
In Prevention
Requests began to arrive, so 1
called up the National Committee on
Atomic Information which is near
the Washington office of the West
ern Newspaper Union; ordered the
pamphlets; and had the nerve to
ask the committee to mail them out.
I didn’t know it then, but it costs
the committee, which is, of course,
a non-profit organization and skimps
along on a handful of small cash,
donations, four cents for the pam
phlet, a cent and a half for the
stamp, two cents to address the en
velope, another cent to insert, seal
and maill Eight and a half cents,
altogether. My generous gesture
toward preserving civilization had
turned out to be rather lame.
But that was only the beginning.
An avalanche began to descend on
me. At last count the requests
reached over three thousand. The
committee didn’t know what to do.
The letters came from such an in
telligent and earnest set of peopla
who were so anxious to do some
thing that the committee hated ta
disappoint them.
Twice, I begged the public to hold
off, but the committee is still filling
the requests while its funds hold
out, or more donations come in.
Which is what happens when you
get an atom by the tail.
« • •
Questions Popularity
Of Rail Nationalization
Just after the bulletin carrte in
over the nev/s ticker in my office
announcing that the government in
tended to take over the railroads,
a railroad man happened to call
me up about another matter.
I congratulated him on his new
job with Uncle Sam. He wasn’t
very enthusiastic. He speculated
on whether or not the men would
go back to work if the government
ordered them to do so. The miners,
you recall, refused to obey govern
ment orders when the government
took over the soft coal mines dur
ing the war,
“Everybody ought to go on strike
in the country,” he said. “If it gets
bad enough, it may get better.”
We mentioned the possibility (
of permanent government own
ership of the railroads. My
friend reminisced a little on the
days when he was an employee
of Uncle Sam once before, in
World War I, when the govern
ment did (to its sorrow) take
over the railways.
He said what happened then was
that a man would come up to the
ticket window and demand a draw
ing room. Sorry, there were no
more drawing rooms. Well, do you
know who you’re working for, and
who I am? I’m Senator Claghorn,
and you’ll (something-something)—
well, get the passenger out of that
drawing room, and put me in it!
My friend said he didn’t think the
people would like it if the govern
ment took over. Of course, we don’t
like the black-berth-market now, ei
ther. Time and again, every Pull
man seat or berth will be reserved
by the blackmarketeers. They hold
them up to the last minute, and if
they can’t sell at a premium, they
cancel, just before the train leaves,
half empty. The Chesapeake and
Ohio ran an advertisement recently,
begging the public to refuse to pay
the premium, and help get a regu
lation through which will provide
for cancellation of reservations with
in a reasonable time.
The Twentieth Century fund finds
that 80 per cent of the fur goods in
dustry is located in New York. Is
the rest of the country good-fur
nothing?
• ♦ ♦
There is no one so poor in self re
spect, no one so truly inferior, as he
who feels he must try to prove
someone else is inferior to him.
KKK, please note.
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
By VIRGINIA VALE
JINX FALKENBERG and her
husband, Tex McCrary, are
doing such an outstanding job
on their husband-and-wife radio
program that it’s too bad they’re
not on a coast-to-coast hookup.
Maybe NBC will so something
about it; now they’re just on the
New York station, WEAF. Re
cently they did their broadcast
from a plane that hovered over New
Jersey and Connecticut while they
talked. Jinx, who’s forsaken the
movies at least until the stork ar-
JINX FALKENBERG
rives, looked lovely in a coral-col
ored coat, with a twist of colored
stuff in her hair. McCrary’s news
paper experience, plus his work
during the war, add tremendously
to the value of their program, of
course.
If NBC doesn’t have Fred Allen
repeat the broadcast he and Talul
lah Bankhead did on May 5, there’ll
be a lot of disconsolate people wail
ing for months because they missed
it. It was hilarious. Those who did
hear it are still talking about it, and
repeating bits of dialogue for those
who didn’t. It was one of Fred Al
len’s best, which is saying plenty.
—*
Bob Hawk, CBS quipmaster, not
only pinch-hit for ailing Arthur
Godfrey on the latter’s morning
broadcasts, he’s also substituted for
Godfrey in the Broadway revue,
“Three to Make Ready” mark
ing his debut on the New York
stage.
—*
For his starring role In RKO’s
“Nocturne” George Raft will have
the benefit of advice from one of
Broadway’s most famous detec
tives, Barny Ruditsky. Producer
loan Harrison, a stickler for real
ism, wants Raft to be an authentic
replica of a real detective, not one
of those unbelievable creatures we
often see on the screen. Ruditsky
Worked on cases involving famous
gangsters for 20 years.
—*
The National Barn Dance orig
inates from McLeansboro, 111.,
Saturday, June 8, when the gang
joins the American Legion in a na
tional homecoming celebration for
National Comdr. John Stelle, which
will end with an old-fashioned bar
becue at midnight.
W-.
Bob Burns had to turn down an
invitation to head the Hoboes’ Asso
-1 ciation of America, but he does hold
a life membership card in the
association, having fulfilled the two
big requirements —hoboing in ev
ery state of the union and totaling
100,000 miles.
—m
Barbara Jo Allen, who created
the man-chasing “Vera Vague” and
then turned “Vera” into a dramatic
star on a recent CBS “This Is My
Best” broadcast, creates still an
other character in the picture,
“Earl Carroll’s Sketchbook,” now
in production. In the movie she por
trays a wise-cracking designer, but
one who has no designs on any man!
—*
Parks Johnson and Warren Hull
will return from vacation with a
new sponsor, broadcasting “Vox
Pop” at a new time they’ll re
place the CBS “Inner Sanctum.”
Meanwhile Parks is resting on his
Texas ranch, and Hull’s doing some
experimental television shows.
*
That Hollywood smallpox scare
sort of wrecked Alan Hale. His vac
cination not only took hold of his
left arm, it took a bit of the arm
with it, leaving quite a wound. Hale
was temporarily out of the “Chey
enne” cast.
*
ODDS AND ENDS—Producer Seymour
Nebenzal discovered, in searching for a
fat Chinaman to play a heavy in 44 The
Chase," that there’s a shortage of them,
so — he’s changed the script and is testing
obese Chinese women. . . . Reese Taylor,
of “ Young Dr. Malone," has been in radio
14 years, but he still suffers badly from
mike fright. ... Tex lleneke and the
Glenn Miller band have ten network wires
weekly now; they’re featured on “Matinee
at Meadowbrook” Saturdays, in addition
to night-time programs. . . . Dick Nelson
(“Life Can Re Beautiful”) has his epitaph
ready—“ Here Lies an Actor. It that un
usual?”
