THE WEEK IN REVIEW
THE WEEK IN REVIEW PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S hold over Congress has been growing steadily weaker for many months. Last week, as he toured Mediterranean battle areas, his power and leadership in the...
...Bailey has hit the nail on the head when he says we could form our own Democratic Party and hold the balance of power in the electoral college...
...Harry Hopkins seems to be the chief cook and bottle washer of the Party and I don't like his cooking...
...He charged that delay was caused by "fear (on the part of the Administration) of what Short and Kimmel might" say "in their own defense...
...Unimpressed by the Administration's frequent, almost daily cries of "Wolf...
...The Recurring Cry Of Wolf!' The Senate's overwhelming vote against the Administration came almost immediately after "Assistant President" Byrnes had taken to the air in a national broadcast to denounce the demand of the railroad workers in these words : "No group has a right to hold a political pistol at the head of Congress or of any administrative agency and say that they will strike...
...The new law deprives McNutt of all authority over Selective Service and constitutes a major political setback for the ambitious Hoosier...
...Although supporters of subsidies have insisted repeatedly that there is overwhelming support for such a program among the people, the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Denver announced that a poll showed that about half the people do not know that farmers are now getting subsidies, or what the term "farm subsidy" means...
...Gen...
...The Nazareth, Penna., draft board last week drafted a 37 year old grandfather...
...Senators who are usually the President's most loyal supporters, including Majority Leader Alben Barkley, deserted Vinson and Byrnes to pass the resolution submitted by Sen...
...A total of 2,000,000 new men will have to be inducted by that date if the Army and Navy are to meet their announced combined goal of 11,300,000, he said...
...Names And Notes In The News Impeachment...
...He said that the license was good only up to six months after the war and that after that time the manufacturers here may find themselves out of business...
...Wilson's Significant Speech A significant address by Charles E. Wilson, vice president of the War Production Board and former president of the General Electric Corporation, at the national convention of the National Association of Manufacturers created a major stir in political and business circles last week.- Said this outstanding industrialist in a speech worth pondering: "I do not want to be an alarmist . . .but I tell you frankly that I am deeply alarmed today over the possibility that a right-wing reaction may draw some sections of capital so far away from our traditions as to imperil the entire structure of American life as we know it...
...Strike...
...Bennett Champ Clark, Missouri Democrat, charged that the resolution was an attempt to place the responsibility for delay on Congress...
...He called for bold, courageous action to prevent these forces and individuals, that he did not otherwise identify, from srainine- control of the United States New Draft Act In Operation Legislation designed to delay the drafting of pre-Pearl Harbor fathers and to strip Paul V. McNutt, chairman of the War Manpower Commission, of all authority over the administration of Selective Service was signed into law last week by President Roosevelt...
...Draftee...
...America's acute liquor shortage, now undergoing investigation by a special Congressional committee, drew a proposal from Sen...
...Both Fred M. Vinson, Director of Economic Stabilization, and James F. Byrnes, War Mobilization Director, had bitterly opposed the wage increase as a direct assault on the Little Steel Formula and a major retreat in the battle against inflation...
...The five Senators who rallied to the support of the Roosevelt-Vinson-Byrnes view were Josiah H. Bailey, North Carolina...
...He was reported to have agreed also to have ordered local draft boards to classify pre-Pearl Harbor fathers into age groups and to take fathers in the 18 to 22 age group first...
...Joseph Guffey, Pennsylvania Democrat, denounced the coalition as an "unholy alliance," and was promptly subjected to a blistering attack by Southern Senators in his own party...
...The South is sick and tired of being kicked around in the Democratic Party," Sen...
...So bitter did feelings run that Guffey's resignation as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was demanded, and it appeared more than likely this week that Guffey would have to step otft in the interest of a surface harmony...
...The long smouldering hostility between Northern and Southern Democrats erupted into an ugly row a fortnight ago when the Southern Tories ganged up with Republicans to defeat the bill which would have provided a national ballot for soldiers and sailors in the 1944 elections...
...Arthur H. Vandenberg and Homer Ferguson, Michigan Republicans...
...Congress voted last week to extend by six months the statute of limitations on charges against Maj...
...Last week, as he toured Mediterranean battle areas, his power and leadership in the Capitol appeared to have struck bottom...
...Slim Margin...
...The manpower chief had reportedly implored the President to veto the bill on the grounds that it would "sabotage" the overall manpower program...
...Douglas MacArthur as GOP candidate for President, brought answers from both cabinet heads that there is nothing to bar the nomination of MacArthur or any other officer in the service from accepting such nomination...
...Harry Truman, Missouri Democrat...
...Mentioned as possible successors are Sens...
...Ellison D. ("Cotton Ed") Smith in which the South Carolinian asserted that "now is the time for it to do some purging," and then proceeded to second a suggestion by Sen...
...Arthur H. Vandenberg, Michigan Republican and ardent advocate of the nomination of Gen...
...Clark demanded that impeachment proceedings be brought against Secretary of War Stimson and Secretary of Navy Knox unless formal charges be filed against Short and Kimmel at once...
...An inquiry directed to the Secretary of War and Secretary of Navy by Sen...
...Cartels...
...American newspapers who can work themselves into an apoplectic frenzy over a strike among workers paid little or no attention last week to Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson's assertion that the Timken Detroit Axel Co...
...John Bankhead, Alabama Democrat, predicted prompt passage of the repealer in its present form...
...on the prospect of inflation, the Senate appeared ready to concur in the House-approved measure to end food subsidies Jan...
...1 call on the Southern states to organize a Democratic Party and let us try to get one decent President...
...A day before the bill became law, Maj...
...The possibility that the split in Democratic ranks might harden into a permanent break was strengthened by a speech given by Sen...
...1. There was still a prospect that some compromise substitute would be worked out, but Sen...
...had gone on "strike" against the government to gain "utterly unreasonable" profits...
...I have been here with six Presidents, and I enjoyed being a Senator until this miserable thing came along—I mean this miserable Party...
...The poll showed, moreover, that less than a half of the people favor payment of subsidies to freeze prices...
...Walter C. Short and Rear Admiral Husband E. Kim-mel, who were in command at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack...
...Lewis B. Hershey, director of the draft, told a closed meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers that a million pre-Pearl Harbor fathers would be ordered into service by June 30, 1944...
...I believe Sen...
...Wallace charged that the manufacture of atabrine-—synthetic substitute for quinine in the treatment of malaria —is licensed in the United States by a cartel partner of I. G. Farben, giant German chemical trust...
...By the overwhelming margin of 75 to 5 the Senate voted to repudiate the position taken by the President's top economic stabilizers on wage increases for railroad workers by adopting the Truman Resolution which approves an eight cents an hour pay raise for 1,100,000 non-operating employes of the railroads...
...Schism In Democratic Hanks President Roosevelt's troubles, as he headed home from conferences and inspections abroad, were not confined to the growing Congressional revolt against his domestic policies—policies which he made little or no effort to defend himself, leaving the battle to assistants while he engaged in global planning...
...Hershey indicated that preferential status will be given to fathers employed in war production and war-supporting activities...
...Democrats in the House of Representatives have a numerical majority of only one seat, as a result of resignations, deaths, and by-elections...
...The government must say to any such group, 'Lay that pistol down.' " The Senate's decisive repudiation of this part of Byrnes' plea will be matched, Washington observers predicted, by emphatic rejection of other Byrnes demands in behalf of the Administration...
...Wilson warned that there are powerful anti-democratic forces at work in America, and asserted that "there are too many men who are ready to spread the poisons of falsehood and hate at every turn...
...I want to nominate Harry Byrd for President right now," cried the bitterly reactionary Smith...
...Liquor...
...Joseph O'Mahoney, Wyoming, and Carl Hatch, New Mexico...
...The joint resolution extending the time past the two year period in which court martials must be brought resulted in bitter debate in the Senate...
...Asserting that the threat of inflation has created "a crisis on the home front which may deprive us of the very things for which we are fighting—a stable, peaceful, prosperous world," Byrnes urged continuation of food subsidies, adoption of a greater program of taxes and savings, and defeat of measures to increase the price of milk and oil...
...Bailey of North Carolina that Southern Democrats form their own political party...
...The draftee, Peter Harhart, has three daughters and one granddaughter...
...The power to condemn millions of people to suffering because they cannot buy health at monopoly prices must be eliminated," he said...
...The President, as leader of the Democratic Party, faced a bitter split in the ranks of his political organization —a split'which would tax his political skill to the utmost...
...Harry F. Byrd, Virginia, and Allen J. Ellender, Louisiana, all Democrats, and Sens...
...Youths coming of age, expiring occupational deferments, and men reclassified out of 4-F will provide only 1,000,000 of the required total, leaving the other half to come from the father group...
...Realistic Washington observers were quick to point out that as far as drafting of fathers was concerned, the new law did little but reaffirm the national purpose to take pre-Pearl Harbor fathers last...
...In an address at the University of North Carolina last week Vice President Henry A. Wallace declared that the coming peace must smash for all time international cartels on vital medicines and other elements necessary to fight disease...
...Meanwhile, London heard warnings that its liquor supply would be depleted in two years, while prospects in Canada pointed to a resumption of liquor manufacturing...
...This above all is a time when the industrial leaders of America owe it to their country and to themselves to exercise temperate judgment, to practice the arts of compromise, to avoid the temptation of sacrificing enduring values for temporary gains, and to withhold encouragement from dangerous men who preach disunity...
...Smith declared...
...Ruling...
...Kilgore, West Virginia Democrat, that liquor be rationed from distiller to consumer...
Vol. 7 • December 1943 • No. 51
