Just trial promised –
Jewish judge appoints Jew to defend Nazi
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By Frederick C. Othman, United Press staff writer
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Washington –
A medium-sized U.S. merchant vessel was sunk by an enemy submarine late in January in the Arabian Sea, the Navy announced today. All members of the crew were rescued and survivors landed at Boston.
London, England –
Radio Moscow announced today that the Supreme Council of the Soviet has awarded the Order of Suvorov to U.S. Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall.
House ‘freshmen’ confer with Hull
Washington (UP) –
Republican freshmen of the House, unimpressed by Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s outline of U.S. foreign policy, today appeared ready to project into the 1944 political campaign what they described as the administration’s “do-nothing” attitude on international affairs.
They generally agreed that “more action” was necessary and that it would be well to press for a clearer definition of this nation’s relationships with other world powers.
Mr. Hull met with the 24 first-term GOP members yesterday, but later announced that he was not authorized to reveal what had been discussed.
Not convinced
The House members, however, emphasized they were not convinced that U.S. policy is all that it should be and few had comments favorable to Mr. Hull.
One Congressman described Mr. Hull as concerned about many phases of world affairs and relations among the Allies. He quoted the secretary as saying that Great Britain and Russia are no longer on speaking terms because of the Polish border dispute.
There was no confirmation of his observations at the State Department.
Policy called ‘silence’
Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT) observed that:
Silence is still the settled policy of our State Department.
The Congressman who gave his version of Mr. Hull’s talk said the Secretary told in detail how he had taken to Moscow a blueprint of a plan for post-war treatment of Germany even though he had been advised by the Soviet Ambassador here that the Moscow conference must be confined to ways of defeating the Germans.
He quoted Mr. Hull as saying that he did not try to bring up the plan at the formal discussions, but finally gave a mimeographed copy to British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and Soviet Foreign Vice Commissar Maxim Litvinov with a request that they look it over.
On ‘right track’
Mr. Hull reportedly said that Eden and Litvinov, when asked four days later how they liked it, both thought it was on the “right track” but that neither has said another word about it since.
The same Congressional source said Mr. Hull told the conference that the Polish border dispute was holding up many important international negotiations. It was then that he allegedly said Britain and Russia are no longer on speaking terms.
Farm story told
Asked about the United States’ policy on the Polish border dispute, Mr. Hull was quoted as saying that Britain and Russia were like two farmers arguing over the dividing line between their respective farms, and that the U.S. would play the role of the clear-headed third farmer and keep out of the argument, although try to bring about a peaceful settlement.
The Congressman quoted Mr. Hull as describing the Polish border dispute as “microscopic” and that in truth border controversies would be settled after, not during, the war.
Vice President gets caught in red tape of his making and serves self mickey Finn
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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Murray sets forth contradictory reports
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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Increases allowed because of taxes
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Senate approves measure unanimously
Washington (UP) –
The so-called “G.I. Bill of Rights” – a veterans’ omnibus bill setting up a $3-billion education and unemployment compensation program for veterans of World War II – will go to the House of Representatives today under unanimous Senate approval.
The measure, sponsored by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, was approved in the Senate yesterday after less than an hour of discussion and without a dissenting vote.
A similar bill has been under consideration in the House Veterans Committee for several weeks and Legion legislative representatives said they would urge speedy action in that chamber.
The major provisions of the bill include:
Authorization for $500 million worth of new hospital facilities.
Educational allowances of up to $300 a year tuition fees, plus $50 a month subsistence allowance for a single veteran and $75 a month for a married veteran.
Unemployment compensation for as long as 52 weeks ranging from $15 a week for a single veteran up to $25 a week for a married veteran who has two children.
Loans up to $1,000, interest-free for the first year and at 3% thereafter, to aid veterans in buying homes, farms or business enterprises.
Several cases cited by New Yorker
New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey, a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, charged last night that apparently “newspapers are being denied the right to print all the news” and laid part of the blame to “administration policy.”
Mr. Dewey told the annual meeting of the New York Press Photographers Association:
Unfortunately there have been increasing signs of late that our newspapers are being denied the right to print all the news.
Vital news withheld
Important matters have repeatedly been withheld for months until they leaked out and became the subject of such widespread gossip that they could no longer be suppressed.
He mentioned several alleged instances of news suppression.
He asserted:
Only now do we learn, because it leaked out, of the shooting down of 23 transport planes and the killing of 410 American paratroopers in Sicily, eight months ago. Even after a presidential broadcast, we still know precisely nothing of what really happened at the much-heralded conference in Tehran.
Pravda’s attacks cited
We only know of the disquieting evidence of disunity which have since occurred in the Pravda attacks on the British and the Vatican, followed by the startling repercussions, brought out by the President’s announcement of the three-way division of the Italian fleet.
He said that it was understood that certain news of a military nature should be withheld but that:
The events of which I speak have not been suppressed to keep information from the enemy so much as to keep them from our own people.
Mr. Dewey praised the U.S. press in cooperating with voluntary censorship, but added that:
The stakes in this war are too high for it to be fought in the dark. The issues are too momentous. It is time we had light as we fight for freedom.
In some Republican circles, the idea got around, earlier in the year, that it would be a smart thing to divide up the ballot for the November election.
No definite plan was made public, but it was indicated the proposal would be submitted to the special legislative session which Governor Martin plans to call to enact soldier vote legislation.
There were varying notions of how the ballot ought to be divided. Some favored putting only candidates for President and Vice President on a separate ballot; others preferring to include the offices of U.S. Senator and Congressman on the presidential ballot. The other ballot would be for state and local offices.
The idea is not new. Governor Bricker induced the Ohio Legislature to enact such a law before the 1940 election and he, a Republican, was safely reelected although President Roosevelt carried the state by a substantial majority.
The plan has been proposed at several sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature but always rejected by leaders of both parties.
Now the Republican Executive Committee, under the chairmanship of Senator M. Harvey Taylor of Harrisburg, one of the leaders who has helped scuttle the plan in previous sessions, has decided to oppose a split ballot.
This action is not based on any idealistic reason. Senator Taylor explained it himself when he said:
We are confident that Pennsylvania will go overwhelmingly Republican.
Political leaders, both Republican and Democratic, are against this plan because straight ballot voting enables them to load up an election ticket with run-of-mine candidates, easily bossed, who can ride into office on the coattails of the head of the ticket.
But such politicians are short-sighted, especially the Republicans. If the ballot had been split in the 1936 and 1940 elections, Republicans might have fared better. And if it had been split in the 1938 election, when the electorate voted against Governor Earle, the Democrats might not have lost so many Congressmen.
But aside from the practical political issue, which is relatively insignificant, the split ballot is in the public interest. Election laws would be even more in the public interest if straight-ticket voting were eliminated altogether.
By encouraging votes for candidates, each on his individual merit, instead of parties, voter discretion would be greatly enhanced, a better class of candidates would be developed and public officials would become more responsive to the wishes of the electorate.
The Republicans, in scotching this idea, have missed a practical political bet and have rejected a plan which ultimately would lead to more satisfactory political organizations.
Civilians take back seat
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Million fewer plots to be planted in 1944
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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Birmingham, Alabama (UP) –
Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, making a bid for the support of Alabama Republicans in his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, last night proposed an investigation of the “entire governmental structure” of this country and the immediate liquidation of all agencies not performing “an essential function.”
Mr. Bricker charged that the “New Deal’s ineptitude in administering even the ordinary affairs of government” had resulted in a “labyrinth” of agencies and bureaus, making coordination:
…hopeless and impossible to attain in the face of duplication, confusion, inefficiency and the totally unwarranted waste of manpower and money.