Favors rewriting international law
Proposed draft of Republican platform would prohibit robot planes
By C. P. Trussell
Chicago, Illinois –
A rewriting of international law to restore morality in the dealings of nations, to prohibit under extreme penalties such devices as robot planes, such practices as the execution of prisoners and other procedures repugnant to civilized society is proposed in the draft of the foreign policy plank submitted for the Republican platform, it was learned tonight.
In the same draft, it was disclosed authoritatively, the proposals for the establishment of post-war collaboration for maintenance of the peace leave room for the setting up of a Supreme United Nations Council, under which there could operate an assembly for dealing with international political problems and “regional tribunals” for the settlement of questions arising at various parts of the globe, the tribunals to function somewhat in the manner of large-scale circuit courts.
This, in addition to points of the plank disclosed previously, reportedly underwent discussion within the Platform Drafting Committee today as substantial agreement on a 16-point agricultural plank was reached after hours of consultation between the convention Committee on Agriculture and the Mackinac Island advisory group which made the party’s initial declarations last September.
At almost the same time, the Committee on Labor completed its trial draft of a plank which was expected to advocate the amendment of the National Labor Relations Act to “carry out both the spirit and purposes of the act” and specifically deprive the NLRB of authority arbitrarily to determine the kind of collective bargaining agent for workers employed in a plant and confer that authority upon the workers.
It was also expected that recommendation would be made for a reorganization of the Department of Labor “under a Secretary satisfactory to labor.”
Signs also appeared that the Republicans would attempt to get out front with specific plans and programs for the reconversion of industry to peacetime production.
Recommendations for a post-war readjustment of the tax structure to peacetime levels at the earliest practicable date were asserted to form a major phase of a plank submitted to the Platform Drafting Committee on Post-War Business, headed by Senator E. H. Moore of Oklahoma.
In this matter, the Moore Committee took direct issue with Henry Morgenthau Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, who recently contended that too-rapid approach to peacetime tax levels could not be expected.
Despite the spurts of action by plank-drafting committees and a four-day pre-convention start, no assurances were given by leaders tonight that the platform would be completed for presentation to the convention Tuesday as scheduled.
After an all-day session of the Drafting Committee, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the chairman, announced that it would work far into the night and reconvene again tomorrow morning.
After the formal appointment tomorrow of the Resolutions Committee, and its organization, a public hearing will be held to hear Van A. Bittner, assistant to Philip Murray, CIO president, in the United Steel Workers and a leader of the CIO Political Action Committee, and spokesmen for other national organizations which have not been heard by platform groups.
Not until after these spokesmen had been heard, Mr. Taft indicated, would the Resolutions Committee settle down in executive session to work out the final platform draft.
Program for agriculture
The 16 points upon which the committee and the Mackinac Island advisory body reached substantial agreement late today were, in brief, as follows:
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Denunciation of “bungling” and “impractical” production programs.
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Recognition of the role of agriculture in providing wealth and prosperity for the nation and demand that it receive equal encouragement and maintenance with labor and industry.
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A philosophy of abundance, rather than scarcity.
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Freedom by agriculture from “regimentation and impractical bureaucracy.”
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Recommendations for a reorganization of the Department of Agriculture under experienced administration free of politics and regimentation.
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U.S. markets for American farmers.
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Protection of the farm economy by fair prices.
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Opposition to subsidies “as a substitute for fair market prices.”
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Advocacy of support prices, commodity loans or a combination of both, with specialized means of meeting price situations in specialized fields.
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Demand for the orderly disposal of surpluses without disruption of production and without benefit to speculative profiteers.
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Control of future surpluses through the finding of new uses for products, the development of new markets and efficient domestic distribution.
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Research looking to the discovery of new crops and new uses for existing crops.
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Approval of farmer-owned and operated farmer cooperatives.
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Consolidation of farm credit under administration by a non-partisan board.
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“Adequate and fair” tariff protection to prevent foreign competition with American agricultural products.
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The making of life more attractive for the family-type farmer, with the development of rural roads, rural home and farm electrification and the elimination of the basic evils of tenancy wherever they are found to exist, and a “serious study and search” for “a sound program of crop insurance with emphasis upon establishment of a self-supporting program.”
On this latter point, the platform framers propose a comprehensive program for soil, forest, water and wildlife conservation and development and of irrigation projects as far as possible at state and local levels.
In discussing the tentative agreement by the agricultural plank drafters, Governor Bourke B. Hickenlooper of Iowa, chairman of the convention committee, explained that it was not certain that all of the points would be included in the draft submitted for party action.
To avoid overlapping
At one or more points, he brought out, the views and recommendations of the committee and its advisors overlapped those of the Foreign Trade Committee, headed by former Governor Alf M. Landon of Kansas, which worked through tonight on a proposed plank that was reported to be weighted heavily with protective tariff declarations. While there was agreement in general view between his committee and that of Mr. Landon, Governor Hickenlooper said, care would be taken to avoid infringements upon jurisdictions.
The Platform Drafting Committee, Senator Taft disclosed today, would be unable to hold the platform to 1,500 to 2,000 words, as had been hoped when the policy committee began its preparatory work. In fact, Mr. Taft observed, it will be “darn long.”
The Drafting Committee continued to pledge its members to secrecy as to what was going on within the west ballroom of the Stevens Hotel, where it was reported to be working through the night on such platform subjects as Negro problems, equal rights for women, social security, post-war organization of the Armed Forces, control of insurance and the coal industry and the St. Lawrence Seaway, besides the planks submitted by special committees.