Air Force nucleus going to Pacific
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Tokyo predicts more invasions
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Home front problems left –
Senate quits even though job is undone
Barkley promises action in fall
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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In Washington –
U.S. income and spending to drop, new budget shows
Expenses for year to total about $85 billion; federal receipts to be less than half that
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Editorial: News blackout
The Potsdam Conference has ended as it began – in secrecy. The ban on news coverage of the negotiations exceeded all reason.
Nothing is more alarming in the post-war European trend than the continued news blackout over large areas. There is no justification for this whatever, except when military considerations are involved.
Russia is responsible. Wherever she controls there is no free flow of information. This is true not only in her own territory, but in the vast regions occupied by her armies or governed by her puppets.
Explanation is not altogether clear. The natural conclusion is that many things are occurring which Russia has reason to conceal. There is some evidence to support this in underground and indirect reports of purges, deportations and other violent measures. It is possible, however, that such reports are exaggerated, and that the main reason for the blackout is simply long Russian habit.
Whatever the explanation, this is undermining European reconstruction, Allied unity, and American confidence.
Our government is well aware of this. Therefore, for many weeks Washington has exerted continuous pressure on Moscow to live up to the Yalta agreement, under which the United State and Britain were to have equal and joint control with Russia over the liberated areas. This demand – including freedom of the press in those walled-off countries – was high on the list President Truman took to Berlin.
The Potsdam agreement, to be announced tomorrow, should be judged largely on whether it ends this vicious news blackout over most of central and eastern Europe. The small pledges and high-sounding phrases about democracy for the liberated peoples, which sugarcoated the Yalta communique, must be tested this time by facts on the spot as observed by American officials and correspondents.
Crop damage grows severe on seaboard
Picture brighter in other areas
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
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‘Europe after the war’ –
Scenery all Norway has left
Trip up fjord on commuter steamer reveals real beauty of northern land
By Henry Ward
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