THE WEEK IN REVIEW
THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE END of the first phase of the "security conferences" at Dumbarton Oaks and the bitter dispute over a plan by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., to despoil...
...Francis Biddle reported last week that for the 14th consecutive year, immigration fell below the 100,000 mark and was substantially less than the legal quota in the fiscal year 1944...
...Edwin Johnson, Colorado Democrat, who charged that the Morgenthau plan to reduce Germany to a weak agricultural state stripped of all industry is causing "a frightful loss of life" by strengthening German military morale...
...Burton K. Wheeler, Montana Democrat, predicted there would be a "hell of a fight" if the Administration tried to win approval of world policing machinery before it revealed to the people the terms of the peace settlement to be policed...
...Dewey continued to embrace whole chunks of the New Deal program...
...Green Light For Business Control of the vast Federal regulatory machine which is known as the War Production Board passed formally and completely last week from Donald M. Nelson, former vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Company, to his former aide, 36-year-old Julius A. Krug...
...The disclosure that Secretary Morgenthau has concocted a scheme to destroy Germany's economy and that this scheme has won great favor in the White House provoked bitter debate...
...Krug released a seven-point plan for industrial reconversion without "spoon feeding of economy...
...now they are fighting like demons...
...Atty...
...A number of states now require time off on Election Day for workers who want to go to the polls, but Kaiser explained that that was not enough...
...Johnson's 7-Point Plan Johnson offered a seven-point program for dealing with Germany...
...Thomas E. Dewey of New York as they swing into the home stretch...
...The Crossley Poll, for instance, reflected the results of other surveys when it reported 52.2 per cent of the popular vote for the President and 47.8 per cent for Dewey...
...Back from his special mission to China, Nelson submitted his resignation as WPB chairman to President Roosevelt...
...Morgenthau Plan Blasted The national spotlight played this week, too, on the vital question of how to deal with a conquered Germany...
...H. Styles Bridges, New Hampshire Republican, summoned President Roosevelt to broadcast to the world a statement of American peace aims based on democracy...
...The German peopie would be permitted to "adopt and maintain the government of their own choosing except that [such government] shall not limit or abridge by law or otherwise the exercise of the freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press...
...Meanwhile, as one Administration official was assuring business that restrictions would be removed when the war in Europe ends, another major spokesman for the White House, James F. Byrnes, director of war mobilization, announced that the freezing of workers' wages would be continued unchanged...
...Virtually every major poll shews that President Roosevelt is leading Gov...
...The workers must have time for both registration and voting," he said, adding that if he had his way, all eligible Americans would be required to vote or be fined if they failed...
...Prior to the announcement of the Morgenthau plan, the Germans were surrendering in droves...
...His plan would guarantee the 1932 (pre-Hitler) German borders and territory except East Prussia "which shall be set aside fox other disposal...
...The terms of the Atlantic Charter, he charged, have been "scattered to the winds" through harsh peace settlements now being reached in Europe...
...Vice President Henry A. Wallace, stumping the nation for Roosevelt reelection, asserted at Atlantic City last week that labor can be the "determining factor in the Presidential campaign...
...Asked if they thought "Negroes have the same chance as white people to make a good living in this country," 55 per cent of the Americans polled actually replied "yes...
...The conclusion of the first phase of the conferences at Dumbarton Oaks brought a renewal of debate on the course of American foreign policy...
...The end of the first, or Russian, phase of the Dumbarton Oaks conferences brought a statement from the participants that "a large measure of agreement" on plans for a world organization had been reached...
...The Johnson program provides, too, that "Germany shall be completely disarmed and forever remain disarmed except that necessary sidearms be issued to local police officers...
...The latter promptly accepted and announced that he would soon appoint Nelson to a "high post of major importance" in paving the way for "postwar economic cooperation with other nations...
...See The Last Column, Page 12...
...The Russian delegation headed for home, but the British and American missions stayed on to begin a new series of conferences—this time with Chinese spokesmen...
...Roosevelt himself told his press conference that newspaper reports of a split in the Cabinet on the disposition of postwar Germany were essentially untrue in basic facts...
...Officials of the Oklahoma Farmers Union reported last week after Dewey's departure that he had expressed support for the Farm Security Administration and "in a general way—for the triple-A program...
...Soldier Gifts...
...One of the most effective attacks came from Sen...
...Also, "not to exceed 50,000 Germans accused by the Allies of being war criminals shall be turned over to the Allies for trial and punishment...
...Germany's conduct would be observed, under the Johnson plan, by allowing the governments of Russia, Britain, and the United States to maintain in the Reich "not to exceed 100 intelligence officers as observers to report on all matters of interest to their respective governments...
...It has cost and will continue to cost us a frightful loss of life...
...Gov...
...Military training and the production of military material in Germany shall be prohibited...
...Names And Notes In The News Votes...
...The Johnson program also provides that property seized by the Nazis from "the inhabitants of Germany since 1932 shall be restored and full indemnities and reparations shall be made...
...Cutbacks...
...In a speech to the National Press Club, Byrnes said that wage freezing, as well as price control and rationing, would be retained until the fall of Japan...
...See editorial, "Streamlining Power Politics," on Page 12...
...He revealed that he had instructed Leo T. Crowley, chief of the Foreign Economic Administration, to accelerate economic studies concerning Germany so that she "does not become a menace again to succeeding generations...
...The National Opinion Research Center reported an astonishing response to its nationwide poll last week...
...The announcement of this poorly conceived plan has played directly into the bloody purposes of Hitler and Goebbels...
...Wendell L. Willkie, ailing in a New York hospital, continued last week to attack both major parties...
...Krug observed his formal elevation to the leadership of WPB by announcing that he was prepared to give business the green light for reconversion to peacetime production as soon as the war in Europe ends...
...Willkie gave his own GOP the nod, however, when, after terming both platforms "tragically inadequate," he said the Republican plank was "distinctly better than the Democratic...
...A decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that the Allies now declare the peace terms to be imposed upon Germany...
...Faint Praise From Soviets In an individual statement, Stettinius expressed "satisfaction with what has been accomplished...
...Army Air Force officials estimated last week that the aircraft industry's working force would be reduced by nearly 300,000 workers by next July...
...So widespread was the criticism of the Morgenthau plan that the Roosevelt Administration began to pull in its horns and let the word get out that it had by no means decided to go along with Morgenthau's incredibly harsh proposals...
...Kaiser, the nation's best-known shipbuilder and industrialist, last week urged Federal procurement agencies—the Army, Navy, and Maritime Commission—to order all plants engaged in war production to give workers time off to register and to vote...
...In a new article in Collier's, the Wall Street lawyer asserted that the platform of both the Republican and Democratic Parties fail to meet the Negro problem realistically...
...This faint praise confirmed newspaper reports that the Russians had displayed marked suspicion of Anglo-American aims during the conference and had insisted repeatedly that whatever scheme for world organization is established, Soviet Russia must be free to decide issues in which she has a paramount interest without interference from any other nation or any society of nations...
...A survey by the Railway Labor Executives' Association disclosed that at least 22 states authorize workers to take time off to vote...
...The time has come for something more realistic and specific than a blunt demand for unconditional surrender, coupled as it now is in the minds of all with the Morgenthau -plan...
...Criticism of the Morgenthau scheme came from many sources, including individuals and newspapers which are generally warm supporters of the Administration...
...In a statement obviously designed to calm the fears of big business, Krug declared that "no action should be taken that might hamper private enterprise or ingenuity, either by restricting members of an industry to historical patterns of business or by preventing entry of newcomers...
...Only 28,551 alien immigrants were admitted for permanent residence while 113,641 came on a temporary basis...
...Politics...
...All of us who are concerned with the importance of getting out the vote are gravely troubled by the fact that many millions of Americans engaged in war production may be deprived of the voting privilege...
...The Postoffice Department disclosed last week that it will be called upon to handle nearly 90,000,000 Christmas packages going to American fighting forces overseas...
...Immigration...
...Undersecretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., chairman of the conference, Sir Alexander Cadogan, the British chairman, and Soviet Ambassador Andrei A. Gromyko issued a joint announcement that "these conversations have been useful" and have sketched the preliminary specifications for the global "machinery required to maintain peace and security...
...After six weeks of secret conversations behind the locked doors of the ancient Washington mansion which is known as Dumbarton Oaks, the British, American, and Russian delegates emerged last week to announce the end of their deliberations...
...Poll...
...The end of the war in Europe will be marked, he said, by the elimination of 350 of the existing 500 WPB orders, and the virtually complete return of production control to private initiative...
...THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE END of the first phase of the "security conferences" at Dumbarton Oaks and the bitter dispute over a plan by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., to despoil Germany after the war last week projected the critical issues of American foreign policy into the home-front spotlight again...
...Wage Controls To Stay "Except for military requirements, which must be protected at any cost, until victory over Japan is secured, it is expected that essential needs will by and large be met without government control, either restrictive or supporting...
...There were 42 per cent in the negative and three per cent undecided...
...Byrnes expressed regret that the President's "hold-the-line-or-der" had not been written into law...
...We shall eliminate rules, regulations, and orders whenever and wherever possible—on the theory that the fewer the restrictions the quicker will be reconversion and reemployment...
...In his personal comment, Gromyko, the Soviet spokesman, was far more cautious, contenting himself with the observation that "the conversations have undoubtedly been useful" and expressing "appreciation of the friendly atmosphere" of the conference...
Vol. 8 • October 1944 • No. 41
