Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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« THE NEWBERRY SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Price Reductions Clip inflation: Rent Control Law Gives Authority To State Governors, Legislatures ‘EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these colnmns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) PRICE DROP: Hits Inflation American consumers were ask ing themselves: What does it mean? Why were prices being slashed, the dollar stretching a little further? Was it simply that inflation was being clipped, or was it true, as some have said, that the country is in the midst of a mild recession? THOSE QUESTIONS were well- founded. For, in the latest economic development, .prices of automo biles, accessories, radios, refriger ators and ranges had been re duced. Continued reductions in such basic commodities as lead, zinc, . copper and steel indicated there might be further cuts in manufac tured goods in the wind. One automobile manufacturer announced cuts ranging from $198 to $333 in the price of his cars. The mid-season catalogue of the na tion’s biggest mail-order house an nounced “many price reductions in all lines." Even ice cream was down—off three cents a quart in Philadelphia. Radios showed the biggest drop. One nationally-known manufactur er announced price cuts of 20 to 50 per cent on nine home model sets. Auto batteries were lower in cost. A refrigerator manufacturer knocked off $20 from some of its models. Steel was down and scrap metal was at the lowest price in al most two years. WHATEVER ELSE entered into the picture, it was conceded that buyer resistance was one of the main items in the price reductions. The consumer had become more conscious of prices. There had been more hand-to-mouth buying. There was a tendency to “wait and see” whether prices would come down a bit. Businessmen and industrialists agreed that the “bloom is off the boom" — that a healthy readjust ment is underway. SPEED PILOT: A New Record? Joe De Bona, by his own admis sion was a “scared boy." And he had every reason to be. He had taken off from Burbank, Calif., in actor Jimmy Stewart’s nine-year old plane—a souped-up F-51—at 9:20:50 one morning, and exactly five hours later he was zooming into the airstrip at New York’s La Guardia Field. THE PLANE had a cracked cock pit canopy, dangerously low oil pressure, no oxygen, and gasoline for only seven more minutes of fly ing when De Bona whistled into the airport at 600 miles per hour. “I’ll never try a record flight again,” he said. “This was too nerve wracking.” Fred H. Wilkerson, official timer of the National Aeronautical asso ciation, said the NAA would have to decide whether De Bona set a new cross-country record. He said the plane carried no barograph, a locked instrument which shows elapsed time, and that the gasoline tanks were not sealed. THE OFFICIAL coast-to-coast record for a single reciprocating plane such as De Bona flew is six hours, seven minutes and five sec onds, set by Paul Mantz on Feb ruary 28, 1947, in a flight averaging 401.076 miles per hour. DEFENSE CHIEF: Has Big Job Louis Johnson of West Virginia had taken on one of the biggest jobs in the world, and had added to the magnitude of the task when he declared the armed services of the United States would be “united as one.” WELL, JOHNSON, in taking over as secretary of defense, was the man whose job it would be to unify the armed services, but his prede cessor, James V. Forrestal, retir ing to private life as a banker, hadn’t been able to do it. The fact was that jealousy be tween the services made it prac tically impossible to implement a congressional act unifying the army, navy and air corps. However, it was said Johnson would come closer to it than anyone else proba bly could. It was reported he was ready to adopt a “tough” policy to brass hats in all the services and that if unification were possible, he’d bring it about. FORRESTAL: Medal From Harry James V. Forrestal, retiring sec retary of defense, received a sur prise when he called at the White House to say goodbye to President Harry S. Truman. Mr. Truman pinned the Distinguished Service Medal on Forrestal’s coat. The citation read that Forrestal had “materially advanced the se curity of the nation.” Forrestal said it was “beyond me” bow he merited it New Senator One of the nation’s foremost educators, Dr. Frank P. Gra ham, has been appointed TI.S. senator from North Carolina to succeed the late Sen. J. Mel ville Broughton. Dr. Graham was president of the University of North Carolina. RENT BILL: Buck Was Passed The rent control question was red hot. Congress knew it. The people knew it. But something had to be done before controls expired March 31. Congress had to do something. It did. It passed the buck. A rent control bill was drafted by the 81st congress, but it laid in the laps of state governors and legislatures the real power and re sponsibility for rent controls. EVERYTHING congress wrote into the present bill can be nullified by a governor or a legislature, if they see fit. The bill continues rent controls for 15 months, or to June 30, 1950. It sets up a “home rule” process for decontrol of states, cities, or other local areas. Legislatures could remove controls throughout a state, or in parts of a state. A city government, or ruling body of other communities, could pass a resolution calling for de-control and, if the state governor approved it, then the federal government would be forced to abolish controls in that community. The bill requires the housing ex pediter to fix rents-so as to insure landlords a “fair net operating in come ... as far as practicable.” However, it restores old O P A powers for the rent expediter to control evictions. This, some con gressmen said, would prevent any mass evictions by landlords. UNDER THE MEASURE, the housing expediter is authorized to sue a landlord for three times the amount of any charge made again. ; a tenant above the legal rent ceil ing. Under old law, the tenant had that power, but seldom used it. The new act does not authorize further 15 per cent “voluntary" in creases in rents, and recontrols any dwellings decontrolled under such voluntary leases, at the rent figure contained in such leases. Veterans’ priority for first chance to rent or buy a new property are continued in the bill. STOCK MARKET: Curbs Are Relaxe'd The federal reserve board had taken an action that should make the “ribbon clerks" very happy. “Ribbon clerks” is a name ap plied by stock market operators to amateurs who seek to engage in the fascinating business of trying to make several bucks grow where only one grew originally. THE FEDERAL reserve board ruling was that the down payment on purchase of stocks would be re duced from 75 per cent to 50 per cent. The board had been pressured for several months by the New York stock exchange, its president, Emil Schramm, and securities dealers generally. They had complained that the previous restrictions had thrown markets into the doldrums and that trading had remained at an unusually low level for months. THIS WAS CONSIDERED as strong indication the board be lieved inflation had ceased to dominate the economic situation. Earlier, the board had relaxed restrictions on installment-buying credit, giving a longer term for in stallments on purchases of auto mobiles, furniture, refrigerators, washing machines. Open Season In Kentucky, a wife may swear out legally a search warrant against her husband, according to an opinion given by Assistant At torney General Squire N. Williams. Whether this extends to hubby’s pockets was not mentioned in tho ruling. Williams declared, in an opinion given Harry R. Burke, a Prestons- burg attorney, that he knew of no state statute preventing women taking such action*. TRUMAN: Still Adamant President Harry Truman was nothing if not stubborn. Rebuffed by the senate armed services committee on his appoint ment of Mon C. Wallgren to head up the national security resources board, Mr. Truman has served no tice the fight is not over. DESPITE THE FACT that senate policy and tradition seldom has taken such a matter to the floor after committee disapproval, it was understood that Mr. Truman was planning to have the issue taken from the committee and fought out on the floor of the sen ate. Such procedure has been fol lowed, but only rarely, as senate history shows. The committee, in declining to approve the Wallgren appointment, stated its position was taken only because of its conviction that Mr. Wallgren was not fitted, either by experience or ability, to hold down the vital key post in the national defense setup. Truman associates said that if other means fail, they expect the President to urge Millard Tydings, Maryland Democrat, chairman of the committee blackballing Wall gren, to take the lead in a fight to relieve the committee of considera tion of the nomination. SEN. WARREN G. MAGNUSON, (D., Wash.) said he thought thdre was a possibility that some mem ber of the committee majority might be persuaded to let the nom ination go before the senate, al though with an unfavorable report. The committee voted 7 to 6 to reject Wallgren’s appointment. President Truman’s fight for his old fishing crony and senatorial colleague was not expected to be gin immediately. Instead, the Pres ident was said to be planning to let the matter rest for awhile so he can see what may be done to ward out-maneuvering some of Wallgren’s opponents. Polio "Fowled" Up? Shown here, a virologist har vests virus of newcastle dis ease from embryonated chick ens. Science thinks that there is a “bare possibility” that an anti-polio vaccine may be de veloped from the virus of new castle disease — an ailment which affects young fowls and usually is fatal to them. CONFERENCE: That's All, Folks The Cultural and Scientific Con ference for World Peace had ended without any specifically untoward incidents, barring a lot of booing and a borrowing by rightist ele- ents of the leftist techniques of icketing and heckling. A DELEGATION of seven Com munists representing Russia had attended, among them the great composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Many had argued the Reds should have been denied attendance, de ep! te Shostakovich’s presence among them. But calmer heads prevailed, and the Russians came. But, it appeared, they weren’t ready to go home when the parley was over. In fact, the 18 foreign delegates were all set to make a nation-wide speaking tour and then return home, “as soon as possible,” as they put it. HOWEVER, U.S. Attorney Gen eral Tom Clark notified immigra tion officials in New York to see to it that the delegates, Russians and all, leave the United States as soon as they could make arrange ments. The seven Russian delegates were notified that their visas did not allow them to tour the nation; but the state department indicated it would consider any application for an extension of their visas. THE SPONSORS of the “peace conference” said they did not know what the Russian delegates planned to do, but a spokesman said it was expected all four eastern European nations’ delegates would depart shortly. UNREST: Extant All Over Psychologists and psychiatrists might easily read into the incident a manifestation of the general un rest which is plaguing mankind just now. At any rate, because a Calcutta soccer team defeated a team from a nearby village, a mob of angry villagers attacked and stoned the train the next time it came through the community. Eleven persons, including two women, were injured. Ferguson Jittery YOU KNOW WHO . . . Yes, It’s England's Winston Churchill and his ever-present cigar as seen through a train window at Pennsyl vania station as “Winnie” was en route to Washington where he and Mrs. Churchill were dinner guests of the Trumans. REHEARSING FOR EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE^,. » . Mary Magda lene; Mary, Mother of Jesus, and Mary, mother of James, pray at the foot of the cross in an impressive scene from one of the tableaux to be presented at the Santa Catalina, Calif., Easter sunrise service. Resi dents of Avalon, only municipality in Santa Catalina are in keen compe tition for roles in the traditional pageant. A PIRATE AND INDIAN GET TOGETHER . . . Bing Crosby, part owner of the Pittsburg Pirates basebaU team, got a pre-season run down on the champion Cleveland Indians when Lou Boudreau, playing manager of the Indians, paid him a visit on the set at Paramount. Photo shows Bing in pirate costume, while Lou wears the headgear marking him as an Indian. It is with clever devices such as this that news photographers manage to give vent to the whimsical. SKUNK GETS NEW SCENT . . . This pet skunk belonging to Donna May Gray, 4, and Karen Ann Spoerl, 4, cousins, of Manitowoc, Wis., popped out of hibernation right on schedule, only to be treated to an odorization process by the two little girls. The little white-striped fellow is friendly enough, but the girls were taking no chances. They immediately went to work on him with an atomizer. HAILS PACT . . . Sen. Arthur Van- denberg, addressing the national conference of U. S. mayors, hailed the north Atlantic pact as the “greatest war deterrent ever de vised” and this nation’s most im portant foreign policy step. 98 MEN AND MARY . . . Pictured in her office, Miss Mary Shadow, 22-year-old member of the Tennes see house of representatives, is the only woman on that 99-member body. She entered politics as n result of a joke, but the thing snow balled and she was elected. FORMER RED * • . Louis F. Budenz, former member of the Communist hierarchy in the U. S„ takes the oath as witness in the trial of 11 Communist chiefs in New York* who are accused of planning to overthrow the govern ment. Budenz quit the Red party, joined the Catholic church. SAYS REDS MAY HAVE ATOM BOMB . . . Atomic scientist David Bradley (left) told the U. S. mayors’ conference that Russia has the scientific secret of the atomic bomb and might be making these weapons. With Dr. Bradley are (left to right) David Lilienthal, chairman, atomic energy commission; Sen. Brien McMahon of Connecticut, chairman of Joint congressional atomic energy commission, and Ralph J. Watkins, director of plans and programs for national security resources board. ROSES MEAN SPRING . . . The International flower show in New York city heralded the advent of spring. Here, Mrs. Marshall Low- man, Jr., looks at the display of 350 roses used in the rose bridal eake. G . O. P. Sen. Homer Ferguson must be getting jittery over his election probe back in Michigan. At any rate something ha^ thrown Homer’s balance wheel out of gear. The other day, the Michigan sen ator, supposed to be a great prose cutor and investigator, let it be known to the press that two years ago he had informed Attorney Gen eral Tom Clark about) Judith Cop- Ion, the justice department analyst recently caught handing govern ment documents to a Russian dip lomat in New York. The implica tion was that Clark had sat on his hands for two years while Miss Cop- Ion got away with justice depart ment secrets. When Attorney General Clark heard of the Ferguson state ment, he was, to say the least, flabbergasted, and sent word to the senator that he would give him 15 minutes to take back his ^statement. Ferguson was quick to reply. He sat down and wrote Clark a humble longhand note taking back what he had said. The senator’s excuse was that he had been misquoted. He never had said he gave information about Judith Coplon- to Clark, nor did he state that he had demanded a probe of the matter, Ferguson wrote the attorney general. Next day the attorney general happened to be up on Capitol Hill calling on the chairman of the sen ate judiciary committee, Pat Mc- Carran of Nevada. “Here’s a letter that might in terest you,” remarked Senator Mc- Carran, handing him a'typewritten letter on the stationery of Senator Ferguson. In the letter, Ferguson said exact ly what the newspapers quoted him as saying the night before, and which he had denied to Clark. Two years ago, wrote the Michigan sen ator, he had given the information about Judith Coplon to Clark, and now he demanded an investigation. Furthermore, he put all this in black and white. The attorney general read the letter with amusement. “Well, here’s a letter he wrote me,” he remarked, pulling out the handwritten note in which Ferguson said he had been misquoted. McCarran, read the note, then ob served: “I thought there was some thing funny about Ferguson’s phoning me last night. H« wanted to know if I had re ceived this letter. Then he said: ‘Well, don’t give it out. It’s confidential’.” Silver Lobby Loves China In a secret report to the senate foreign relations committee last week. Secretary of State Acheson bluntly announced that the Commu nists are complete masters of China and it would be folly to send more U.S. arms to the defeated Na tionalists. Acheson revealed that nine- tenths of the equipment already furnished by the United States has been surrendered to the Communists in the past eight months. Today the Communists have the military power to march wherever they please in China—including south China whefte the Nationalists are still holding out, Acheson reported. Meanwhile, the Nationalists are negotiating frantically for a coali- ] tion government. Whether the Uni ted States will do business with the new government, Acheson said, will depend on the Communists’ atti tude. The secretary of state was called before the foreign relations com mittee to answer a petition, signed by 50 senators, demanding aid for the Nationalists. Significantly, the petition was sponsored by Sen. Pat McCarran of Nevada, the silver lob byist, whose plan is to bolster the Nationalist economy—with silver. Lobbying for Feace Senate G.O.P. leader. Arthur Vandenberg, backed colleague Owen Brewster of Maine in a corner, glanced furtively for eavesdroppers and whispered: “You’d better lay off that ECA fund to the Dutch that you've been raising such a fuss about. 1 just learned there’s a lobbyist mixed up in this.” Vandenberg probably referred to young Randolph Feltus, a regis- | tered lobbyist on capitol hill, who has been fighting ECA aid to the Netherlands on the ground that the money will be used to finance Dutch termed imperialism in Indonesia. “Listen, Arthur,” grinned Brew ster. “have you ever heard of legis- I lation on any subject in congress, of major or minor importance, that doesn’t, have a lobbyist for or against it?” Note: Feltus and many others have been talking to senators on the ground that a breakdown of the U.N. regarding Indonesia means a serious undermining of the peace machinery of the world. WRIGHT A . PATTERSON Curbing Inflation B ACK IN THE MID-1920’s we had an inflation tbat was followed by a bust and then a depression from which we were relieved only by World War II. That inflation was not the sky rocketing of commodity prices, but of industrial, Utility and other stocks. For two years, and more, the bulls had a merry time boosting stocks higher and higher into the air regardless of their earning ca pacity. The people were stock-buy ing crazy. They saw fortunes grow ing in everything that was offered. The brokers were demanding only narrow margins on an ever-upward market, and the banks w£re loaning “call” money at comparatively low-interest rates. The people saw an opportunity for quick riches in an easy gamble. Million* of them were playing the game. They built up paper fortunes and looked for more. The foundation on which that in flation was built were world condi tions for which World War I was re sponsible. Such conditions were sup plemented by the desire of the people to take a gamble, and the ease with which they could gratify that desire.»There was no law, the enforcement of which, would stop the wild craze, but there was one man who might have helped to curb the Vunaway stock inflation. . That man was President Coel- idge. In deference te the pres tige of his office, the federal re serve board wonld, at the President’s request, undoubtedly have raised the re-discount rate to such a high point that ii would have stopped much of the borrowing of money with which to gamble. Such a move, at that time, would have been extremetly unpopular with mil lions of the American people, those who believed they were growing rich through their deal ings in the stock market. It in possible the President did net wish to incur the resentment of those wealth-seeking millions. Such a move in 1926 or ’27 would have prevented some of the bust of- 1929, and undoubtedly softened the long depression that followed the bust. Curbing tbat stock inflation in 1926 or ’27 would not have been good partisan politics. Regardless of who its nominee might have been, the Republican party would have paid a heavy price for such an action by the president in the election of 1928. Today we are faced with an in flation in commodities rather tha^ in stocks. The primary cause of the present inflation is an over-supply of circulating, printing press cur rency; a “too much” to which more is being added at the rate of 30 million and over each month. To correct that condition would not be immediately popular, especially with some minorities. To peg the currency we now have by re-esta blishing a gold standard, would stop, temporarily, the days of easy money - flow; the continually-in creasing wage scales; the high price of foods and other products. It would be opposed by CIO and other minorities. Neither of the major political parties wish to inour the opposi tion of these minority groups. Both think more of partisan political effect than of the best interests of the nation as a whole. Such is partisan polities in action. Too much money creates a de mand for commodities beyond^ the present production capacity. That, means a seller’s market and an ever-declining purchasing power of our printing press currency. A smaller number of dollars, each with a fixed value, would soon change that seller’s market to a buyer’s market, with prices coming down. The consumer would be quickly effected, but because of the possible effect on wages, labor would not be favorable, and congress is afraid of losing the labor vote. Some members of the congress have talked about stabilizing the dollar at the present value. That could be done by re-establishing a gold standard, on the basis of $35 to $40 an ounce for gold. Talk alone does not accomplish a , result. It takes congressional action, but congress does not act. It prefers to go along with the continually-drop ping values of our printing pi ess money rather than risk the dis pleasure of the selfish minorities that are opposed to a change. • # • Three billion dollars is a lot of money. Enough to provide $60 for everyone, men and women, who cast a ballot in the last national. 1 election. It would provide $21.42 each for all the men, women and children in the United States. That three billion dollars represents the sum the government would save each year should congress enact in to law the recommendations of the non-partisan commission on organi zation of the Executive branch at our government ^