THE WEEK IN REVIEW
THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE long-developing showdown between the spokesmen for big and little business over the crucial problem of reconversion to civilian production broke into the open this week when...
...In a sweeping order which caused a" major sensation in Russia, the Supreme Soviet abolished "free love," made divorces far more difficult to obtain, granted financial aid for large families, and moved generally to strengthen family life in Russia...
...Accepts 'Draff' The nation's political spotlight is focused on Chicago again as the Democratic Party moves in for its national convention...
...In the event of a separation, a mutual agreement would be made to safeguard defense, commerce, and communications...
...Roosevelt to insist on the renomination of Vice President Henry A. Wallace...
...Truman admitted that new military needs are constantly arising and must be met, but, he added, "unless we begin now an orderly resumption of civilian production and use surpluses of materials and manpower as war needs are met, we must expect that many thousands of employes will face at least temporary unemployment and hardship...
...Just as the GOP "drafted" New York's Gov...
...Rome Wages...
...In a letter signed by Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff, to the Commander-in-Chief, the military hierarchy asserted that the Nelson program would necessitate "revision in strategic plans which could prolong the war...
...An American order increasing wages paid to civilians employed by Allied armies in Rome was rescinded last week by Britain's Gen...
...Congress has already made i^ quite plain that it wants small business to be encouraged and that it doesn't want further concentration of big business...
...The Missouri Senator charged that the Army and Navy had been joined in their opposition "by selfish business groups that want to see their competitors kept idle until they finish their war contracts...
...Termane Tavares de Sa, Brazilian educator and special adviser to Nelson A. Rockefeller, coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in Washington, last week denounced the "rowdy and drunken" conduct of Government officials representing the United States in Brazil...
...The action of the joint Chiefs of Staff in condemning the Nelson program went temporarily unchallenged from the head of WPB because he was abed convalescing from pneumonia...
...Gandhi's plan to meet Moslem objections to plans for independence from British rule is reported to have been presented to Mohamed Ali Jin-nah, president of the All-India Moslem League, through Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, former president of the All-India Congress...
...Smiths...
...Jinnah wrote the latter that he would place the Gandhi proposal before the working committee of the Moslem League if Gandhi would make the offer directly...
...He charged that relations between the United States and Latin-American countries "have been deteriorating for months...
...Wallace was silent in his broadcast talk about China's serious military plight, and he said nothing about the hostility between the Chungking Government of Chiang Kai-shek and Soviet Russia...
...Emphasizing the need for more care in addressing mail to overseas service men, the Office of War Information revealed recently that there are 16,000 sailors alone by the name of Smith...
...i Gandhi Plan...
...Nelson's associates, however, expressed confidence that the blast by the military chiefs would not shake his intention to proceed with the reconversion plan as announced...
...Army and Navy authorities claim to oppose an early start on reconversion because the full productive capacity of the nation is required for the manufacture of war goods...
...It appeared certain on the eve of the Democratic convention that the "revolt" of Southern Tories has been quelled...
...Organized labor feels that further delay in reconversion is bound to result in demoralization and in large-scale unemployment when war orders slacken and then cease...
...Hannegan's theory was confirmed at mid-week when the President wrote him that he would prefer to retire but would agree to run if "I am so ordered by the commander-in-chief of them all—the sovereign people of the United States...
...Political correspondents were urged by friends of Willkie to write dope stories hinting that Willkie might take a walk because the GOP plank on foreign policy was "vague and evasive...
...United in one camp are the nation's top military officials, major corporate groups, and the $l-a-year spokesmen for big business who occupy key positions in Washington...
...Dewey for the Presidency...
...Murray asserted that a small group of industrialists within WPB "haven't the right or the power to determine reconversion policies...
...Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones, who is boss of Texas and the number one reactionary leader in Democratic Party ranks, predicted the "overwhelming renomination" of President Roosevelt...
...Names And Notes In The News Pacific Era...
...Meanwhile, Republican leaders shook off some of their convention doldrums when they read the report of a Gallup Poll showing that Gov...
...ij In the Republican camp, interest centered on Wendell L. Willkie's insistence on playing "hard to get...
...Dewey holds a slight lead over President Roosevelt in the pivotal state of New York...
...Jones and other ranking Tories in the Democratic Party appeared to be appeased by the apparent disinclination of Mr...
...Truman, chairman of the Senate War Investigating Committee, also called for an immediate start on the civilian goods program and accused the Army and Navy of opposing such action in order to "create a surplus of manpower" which would force unemployed workers into "occupations or areas in which there is still a manpower shortage...
...A head start for small business is the most common sense method of reconversion...
...Sen...
...The National Opinion Research Center reported last week that seven out of 10 Americans think that if the people of Germany had their way, they might surrender sooner if they were convinced the Allies would help them get their peacetime industries going again after the war...
...Truman Blasts 'Selfish Groups' Two leading Senators who have watched the war production program at close range—Sens...
...If the verdict favors a sovereign Moslem state, border districts will be given the right to choose whether they will join Moslem India or Hindu India...
...Poll...
...Would 'Prolong The War' This is the general background, then, for the current row...
...Murray, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, made this comment: "If small plants cannot be used in the war effort, and materials and manpower are available, we must not keep them out of civilian production...
...Soviet Shift...
...THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE long-developing showdown between the spokesmen for big and little business over the crucial problem of reconversion to civilian production broke into the open this week when the joint Chiefs of Staff, whose views are shared by big business, publicly denounced the program formulated by Donald M. Nelson, chairman of the War Production Board, to permit limited manufacture of civilian goods...
...Sen...
...It is this proposal by Nelson which drew fire this week from the joint Chiefs of Staff...
...Robert E. Hanne-gan, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, emphasized the "draft" character of Mr...
...The new decree created honors for mothers—including the title of "mother heroine" for women rearing 10 or more children—revised family taxes to encourage births, strengthened laws against abortionists, liberalized aid for pregnant women, and ordered increased production of baby clothes...
...Sir Harold Alexander, Allied Commander in Italy...
...Thomas E. Dewey, so the Democrats are prepared to "draft" President Roosevelt for a fourth term...
...Sen...
...Fifteen per cent of the mail sent to servicemen is misdirected, the OWI declared...
...The proposed arrangement would provide plebiscites in areas where the Moslem population is an absolute majority...
...There is bound to be one great similarity between the Republican National Convention of a fortnight ago and the Democratic gathering—both will rely on "draftees" for their Presidential nominees...
...Roosevelt's approaching candidacy by announcing he felt the President would put aside "personal desire" and accept the call for a fourth term...
...In view of the major offensive operations under way on every front," the generals and admirals declared, "it is essential at this time that there be no relaxation in war production and that deficits in deliveries be made up at the earliest possible moment...
...Home after a seven-weeks journey by air through China and Siberian Russia, Vice President Henry A. Wallace predicted that the postwar period would be known as the "era of the Pacific" because of the vast commercial-industrial developments scheduled for eastern Asia...
...They asserted that the issuance of orders "which will affect our ability to produce war materials is not consistent with the all-out prosecution of the war...
...AFL Warns 4,000,000 Jobless Meanwhile, the research department of the American Federation of Labor completed a survey which showed that the United States will have an army of 4,000,000 unemployed by the end of this year unless Congress enacts legislation to protect workers from the developing production cutbacks...
...Big business interests oppose a modest beginning on reconversion now because they are over their heads in war contracts and do not want independent business enterprise to get a head start...
...Small business, on the other hand, favors a start now because it has been left out of much of the war program...
...The Vice President reported that there was a great expansion of industry and agriculture in Siberia and China as a result of U. S. Lend-Lease grants, and he was convinced that China and Russia would "take the necessary steps to ensure continuing peace and to promote cultural and economic exchanges among the nations of the Pacific to the benefit of all...
...Dispatches from Bombay this week disclosed that Mohandas K. Gandhi has proposed that India be divided into separate Hindu and Moslem states as a device for breaking the political deadlock over India's independence...
...Officials pointed out that the Allied forces are now paying civilians less than the German Army paid them and less than the scale fixed by the Fascist Labor Code...
...Arrayed in the other group ave small business enterprises, organized labor, the spokesmen for small, independent business, and leading members of Congress charged with investigating the war production program...
...Cutbacks"—the termination of war contracts—are already being ordered at the rate of about 20 a week, most of which are getting little or no publicity, the Federation survey showed...
...Harry Truman, Missouri Democrat, and James E. Murray, Montana Democrat—took sharp issue with the position of the military and naval bureaucracies...
...Blast...
...Several weeks ago, WPB Boss Nelson issued an order lifting restrictions on the use of aluminum and magnesium, which are now available in adequate supplies, and authorizing regional WPB offices to permit the production of heretofore prohibited civilian items provided the manpower and materials were available and there would be no interference with the war production program...
...F.D.R...
...If Germany is defeated before the close of 1944, the unemployment problem would become even more serious, and the number of idle workers would rise far above the 4,000,000 mark, the AFL report asserted...
...The Wall Street lawyer put on his Mona Lisa smile when newspaper men asked him whether he would support Gov...
...Trade with Russia and China will help keep the factories of America busy in the days that lie ahead," Wallace declared after describing China and Soviet Asia as "the great new frontier...
...The Moslem chief has long insisted that Hindus and Moslems cannot live harmoniously under a united India...
...A sample poll of civilian voters showed that a race between Dewey and Roosevelt today would give the former 52 per cent and the President 48 per cent...
Vol. 8 • July 1944 • No. 29
