-
POLITICS:
In the background since congress
reconvened, presidential politics
stole the show again when the Dem-
ocratic national committee selected
Chicago as ts convention site. Re-
publicans, who scheduled their
meeting later in the hope that Dem-
ocrats would set a convention date,
were outfoxed. This resulted in
minor dissension among G. O. P.
leaders, who debated whether to set
a date immediately or keep stalling.
Since third-termites dominated the
Democratic meeting, observers
guessed there would be a strong
fight to renominate Presi-
dent Roosevelt in the city
where lie was first chos-
en in 1432.
As Chicago became a
political focal point, so
did Illinois. There were
signs that both President
Roosevelt and Vice Pres-
ident Garner would be
entered in the April 9
preference primary,
while in New York the
G. O. P. backers of young
Tom Dewey challenged
Ohio's Sen. Bob Taft and
other Republican hopefuls to a con-
test in the same primary.
UN-AMERICANISM:
Ended was the in
Michigan's Rep.
charged that Mar
was w
episode
Martin Dies, it had only served to
strengthen him and the cause of his
‘ism’ committee. Next day FBI
rounded up 12 persons charged with
recruiting Americans for service
with the Communist forces in Spain.
CONGRESS:
The house continued lopping mil.
lions from President Roosevelt's
budget, and the senate continued re-
storing them. The senate voted
down a $1,000,000 cut in Civil Aero-
nautics authority funds, bringing the
independent offices bill back to §1,-
139,693,528. But it was still 55 mil-
ing a good start on the
460 millions congress
hopes to save by way of
avoiding new defense
taxes. Meanwhile the
house slashed away at
the state - justice -com-
merce department ap-
propriations bill.
LABOR:
John Lewis’ C. 1. O,,
which has been striking
at the New Deal lately
turned a partial about-
face by defending the
national labor relations act against
A. F. of L.-inspired changes. Before
the house NLRB committee, C.1.0.'s
hilip Murray read a
Lewis charged
corporations are ai
stater
FICh “re:
Deal,
private
he admin
als
» 1abo
EUROPE:
Rumors
quiet, and
making a sha
vaunted ar
opposed of
shape—one
peace:
Peace Drive.
3 persis
for
ommittee
(1) no repa
of Sudetenl:
ridor; (4) an
neutrally mar
of Czech, Polish and Slovak states.
If the Reich's denials were sin-
cere, observers wondered why Herr
Hitler tried so hard to minimize
his relations with Moscow, arch-foe
of the democracies. No military
pact exists, said the Reich, nor wil
Germany help Ru fight the
Finns. Peace gossip only increased
when Berlin called home its
to Finland and Russia. Would Ger-
many try to settle this war? If so,
was it a prelude to peace in the
west?
War Drive. Overnight the Balkan
states mobilized their armies to full
strength, members of the Little
tente backing Rumar
territorial demands Hungary
Italy was seen joining them. Across
TREND
How the wind is blowing . . .
BONDS—At Chicago, Barcus,
Kindred & Company surveyed the
municipal bond field and found
1939 had brought a drop of $364,-
454,000 (or 24 per cent) under
1929 in total bonds issued. Among
reasons: (1) Pay-as-you-go financ-
ing; (2) diminishing birth rate,
which requires fewer schools.
RATION—Britain announced
that meat would be rationed ef-
fective March 11. Already ra-
tioned are butter, sugar, ham and
bacon.
RISKS—Because Europe's war
has steered clear of Pan-Ameri-
can waters, marine underwriters
have lowered war risk insurance
rates in that area.
WHEAT-—-Twice as many (320,
000) farmers have taken out fed-
eral all-risk crop insurance on
wheat for 1940, compared with
last year.
SKIRTS—-The U. S. census bu-
reau figures short skirts have
snipped one million bales off the
cotton farmers’ annual market.
envoys
NEW TROUBLE SPOT
But will the allies attack first?
troops on the Russian frontier, Iran
and Afghanistan doing likew
explanation was that Russia
a drive into this British sphere-of-
influence (see map). Another ex-
planation was that the allies planned
a deliberate attack on Russian oil
wells in the Caucasus region, there-
by drawing Soviet troops from the
beleaguered Finnish front and cut-
ting off Nazi petroleum sources.
Observers asked themselves wheth-
er this was the reason French au-
thorities had raided the Russian
commercial office in Paris, delib-
erately inviting Soviet reprisals.
Also, was it the reason Turkey,
British-French ally, unceremoniousl
seized the German-owned ship yard
in the Bosporus?
The Wars
In the West. France reported the
ago, and Nazi
In the North. Finnish troops re-
pulsed one Soviet attack after an-
other, most activity being confined
to the area around Lake Ladoga.
Finnish military observers estimat-
ed that reckless use of manpower
had cost the Reds 20,000 dead and
wounded in a single week.
Nevertheless, increasing rhythm
of Soviet attacks was wearing the
Finns down, a situsticn that dis-
turbed the allies increasingly. Fol-
lowing a meeting of the British-
French war council, it was an-
nounced concrete aid would be
rushed at once. Prime Minister
Chamberlain told the house of com-
mons as much, while France kept
relaying Italian warplanes which
Germany refused to let cross the
Reich.
How Italy is cooperating with the
Finns was revealed in Rome by Fin-
nish Minister Eero Jaernefeit, who
reported 5,000 Italian volunteers
have been turned down because no
visas were available. But hundreds
have been granted, too.
«. Appointed: Pennsylvania's ex-
Gov, George H, Earle as U. 8S. min-
ister to Bulgaria; Florida's David
Gray as minister to Eire,
4 Threatened: Irish Premier Ea-
mon de Valera’s government, be-
cause he still fights the outlawed
Irish Republican army, two of
whose terrorists were executed by
¥ritain. I. R. A.’s aim: Seizure of
Ulster, :
@_ Enthroned: Supreme Court Jus.
tice Frank Murphy, President
Roosevelt's fifth appointee.
4 Defeated: Earl Browder, Com.
munist leader convicted of passport
fraud, who ran a poor third in a
New York congressional by-election.
dq Filed: Tax liens for $2,644,054
against Howard C. Hopson, head of
the giant Associated Gas & Electric
octopus, and several of his relatives.
WOMEN
in the news . . .
At Paris, the duchess of Wind-
sor was credited with inventing
a new knitted ‘trench mitten”
with zipper
attachment
to free a
soldier's
trigger
finger.
In the froz-
en Klondike
campaigned
Mrs. Nor-
man Black,
one of Cana-
da's two
women parliament members,
seeking votes in the forthcoming
special election,
At Baltimore, Mrs. Robert A.
Taft announced she would hit the
campaign stump trail for her sen-
ator husband, who hopes to win
the G. O. P. presidential nomina-
tion.
At New York, Merry Fahrney,
patent medicine heiress, shed her
fourth hushand.
THE DUCHESS
NEUTRALITY:
Aid to Finland
Early this month ‘a Gallup poll
showed the majority of U. 8S. citi-
zens (58 per cent) favor a non-
military loan to Finland. Same day
as the survey was released, the sen-
ate began consideration of a bill to
double the Export-Import :
capital, permitfing an additional
$20,000,000 non-military loan to the
Finns (they already have $10,000,-
000).
bank's
The same Gallup poll showed 61
per cent of the nation op
to Finland for purchasing
plies. after the survey
Pre
poses a loan
war sup-
{The senate did adopt 65 to 3 a re solu
and
gistration of any
h Finland may try
Prompting
factor was Secretary of State ( ardell Hull's
that Russia had
ion asking the sec exchange
ecrfors
revelation violated two
n agreement wilh
Permitting
the U. S.: (1
terference with U.S. affairs; (2
Communist in
failing io
citizens’ rights in Russia,
Still, a congressional effort to break rela
tions with the Soviet failed
nerican ot
‘
LSA
One Way Out
As Tokyo's war in Chi
its thirty-first month, northern forces
reported they had entered distant
Ningsia province for the, first time.
In the south, armies were locked in
bitter battle near Wingsun, Kwangsi
province. Two more 8iscouraging
signs for Japan were (1) a naval
spokesman’s warning that Chinese
planes may begin raiding
Japan, and (2) the report that 300
Jap troops were killed when Chinese
artillery sank a transport on the
Yangtze river.
Mostly, however, Tokyo's troubles
were with the western powers. Im-
mediate source of trouble was a
combined U. S.-French protest
against Jap bombings of the Kun-
ming-Hanoi railway in southwestern
China. Both protests were reject-
ed, and the Japanese parliament
found itself seriously considering
two drastic steps to avoid future
protests. First, it was suggested
Japan should junk the nine-power
treaty guaranteeing Chinese territo-
rial integrity. Second, Foreign Min-
ister Hachiro Arita admitted Japan
is asking U. S.
China, probably as a threat to make
the U. S. renew its expired trade
treaty.
AGRICULTURE:
Cotton for Stamps
na entered
SOON
surplus foods through the stamp
plan, Secretary of Agriculture Hen-
ry Wallace announced this system
will be adopted to help solve his
No. 1 farm problem, cotton. Ex-
ain stopped taking U. 8S. surpluses
ing $1 worth of cotton goods at
retail stores will be given $1 worth
of cotton stamps free.
Other farm news:
@, The weather bureau announced
frost damage to truck crops in
southern states from January's un-
expected cold snap had been over-
estimated, although losses were
heavy all the way from Florida to
Texas,
€ U. S. farmers watched with in.
terest and mixed emotions as the
house ways and means committee
approved a bill renewing the ad-
ministration's authority to negotiate
reciprocal trade agreements, Offi.
cially the American farm bureau ap-
proved: National Grange dissented.
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service, National Press Bldg.,
Washington, D, C.
WASHINGTON.—About half of the
Republican representatives and sen-
ators in congress, most of the Re-
publican governors and scores of
lesser lights are back home as these
lines are printed. They have been
away on speech-making trips. They
used Abe Lincoln's birthday as the
rallying point. They concentrated
on February 12 just as their arch
rivals concentrate annually on An-
drew Jackson's birthday for bally-
hoo and money raising.
Honest Abe received many, many
fine tributes. His services to his
and bad.
deserved.
The tributes were justly
But I could not help won-
of these s just how
Lincoln would feel about some of the
things that were said, some of the
national policies that were advocat-
ed, some of the solutions that
offered for 3
eeches,
Potomac river. The m
80 arranged that Honest
through daylig! i
Republican Presidential Nominee
Aspirants Have Field Day
¥
New H
racket-bus
Thomas E. Dewey, Gov
nor of Ohio, Republi
icker
Leader Martin of the house of rep-
Herbert Hoover.
or read them must
the same conclusion
that I reached. The
day's oratory, with
the possible excep-
tion of Mr. Hoover's
speech, was as de-
void of good sub-
stantial facts as a
frog is of feathers.
There was outburst
after outburst of
bitter criticism, ref-
erence after refer-
ence to New Deal
failures, repetition Hoover
upon repetition of charges of waste
and assertions of danger to our
national welfare. All of these things
were said, with the usual pounding
of the table and slapping of hips.
But the Republican orators either
forgot their facts or neglected to use
them in the excitement of the oc-
casion.
What I am seeking to say is that
no campaign is worth much in any
political battle unless the attacking
ple facts that individuals under-
stand. Generalities mean nothing any
more. President Roosevelt has been
tory, and the folks have been dig-
statements to ask about them. Such
presentation of attack or defense
dence on the part of the voters.
I referred above to Mz. Hoover's
it as an illustration of what I mean
Mr. Hoover
He
tional debt. He went further.
REPUBLICAN FIELD-DAY
Republican politicians who used
Lincoln's Birthday as an occa.
sion to fill the air with speech-
making, failed to stick to the
real facts says William Bruckart.
Attempting to streamline Hon-
est Abe as a national figure, as
the Democrats have done to An-
drew Jackson, they failed to prove
that the G. O, P. is sticking to
Lincoln's philosophy.
figured out that the annual interest
on this debt is about $1,100,000,000 a
year. And thus, according to the
calculations, each man, woman and
child in the United States is paying
almost $8.50 per year in interest.
Going further, if there is a family
of five, that family’s share of the
interest on the national debt is
roughly $42.50 a year, or a little
more than three dollars a month.
Now, most of the speeches con-
tained a few plain and simple facts
like that. Most of them hit around
the mark. But not a single one of
the speeches laid down a real bar-
rage of facts. They »d misera-
] » facts to the affairs
So, even
¢ did
advice, 1 am going
to offer some: if they really want to
restore this nation to its native,
Con
ervative way of doing th
they
of the
though
voter.
piican orators
will tell the factual story
its theories
sa
And the vi
for facts
asx 3
and
ters ought
instead of general
! In these
Honest Abe
conclusic
believe
agree.
Taft Challenges President's
Handling of Budget
Senator
to specific
likely w
Tf
i Inteoly
Aail 1alely
The Senator
oxi away agai
channel appeared reac
Like the rest of the candi-
dates on the Republ side, he
no longer using the am i
vailable.
These references to the necessity
for the use of
the ional Labor
been discredited
iittee whi
looking
Thus
by a specia 11s ch
is investigating
activities
the ex
member
own writings,
tween its own
better
diculous policies the narrow-minded
upon an
Why? These were facts.
Another illustration: the admin-
istration is determined to gain con-
gressional approval for another
three-year extension of its right to
negotiate trade treaties. Now, there
is no doubt that the trade treaties
help in some places and hurt very
much in others. But I sat in the
house ways and means commitiee
room one day listening to adminis-
tration testimony in support of its
request for the three-year extension.
The witnesses, all government offi-
cials that day, had the facts. It is
true that they used those facts to
show what they wanted to demon-
strate. They were careful that the
sordid side of the story was not told.
They failed also to break down the
facts to individual application, but
was understandable. It was effec
tive and opposgition was difficult be-
cause the opposition was not
equipped with a complete record.
On the story thus built up, it is
likely the extension will be voted.
the Republican national committee
for some months. It has flopped
completely in the most obvious of
its jobs, presentation oi factual in-
formation to the country about what
the New Deal has been doing. Day
after day, delivery boys bring cop-
jes of speeches to Ri 1 office, and
day after day, 1 vainly for
facts. I do not mean to say there
are no facts at all; I do insist, how-
ever, that there are heaps of opin-
fon that convinces none whereas the
facts underlying those opinions
would have important weight.
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