Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • 6

SWlnu 3Rtpotftr-5it3 EDITORIALS The Big Bowl Game OTHMAN OBSERVES Promises Wire for REA I hmit refninrd my feet from aeery ti it way that I might keep thy Ttalmt Il9tl01 Tho word unto (ho prophet imkn Vu writ on table pet unbroken: The word bp eer or SbpIa told In prove of oak or fane of gold Still float upon the morning wind Still whiaper to the willing Emerson and enough copper but ettll was plagued hy ahortagea Of what for Instance? Ren La ger glared at him Ega said he couldn't get enough electricity and gas to melt tha copper onto the steel The senator ordered him Pillsburgn his to the power and the gas companies Then Langer demanded that Maxwell Noyes of tha Aluminum Corp tell why he couldn't get elertrieily to the farmers' wives on aluminum wires Noyes said the only thing that prevented this was a shortage of aluminum said the senator "amP three countries got aluminum from us under the Marshall plan and then sold it bark at a substantial Noyes said that was Canadian aluminum The senatur said yes and those Canadian plants were finanred hy Jesse Jones when was by Rep Hoffman (R-Mich) one of the die-hard isolationists and that too much power in the hands of the secretary of defense would lead to a militarv dictatorship As a result of this leaning over backward to keep the military submissive Congress although insisting on complete unification and often critical that it has not yet been accomplished gave the secretary of defense a whiskbroom with which to clean out the Augean stables of inter-service jealousy and rivalry In consequence unification is still far from reality and there is every indication that the situation becomes worse rather than better Even Mr Forrestal who ought to know is not enthusiastic about the progress that has been made The sensible thing would be for Congress to give the secretary all the authority he needs to effectuate unification for as long a period as may be necessary Then his powers could he modified or restricted if found desirable after a thorough trial Congress can always rewrite a law By FREDERICK OTHMAN WASHINGTON-How many thousands of ladles got varuum cleaners and electric washing machines for Christmas only to discover there was no Juice to run 'em Sen William Langer of ND doesn't know But he's doing something about It mradames and you'll he blowing fuses yrt In your all-elertrie kitchens The senator got to worrying about the problem when in his travels about the rountry he noticed long stretches of electric light poles with no wire connecting them Sinre they all teemed to belong to the Rura1 Electrification Administration he railed in the head men to ask how come? George Haggard the administrator said yes air he had 22000 miles of poles In the air-enough to stretrh across America mora than seven without a sign of a wire on their cross-arms STILL WAITING Rome of these poles went in more than two years ago when thousands upon thousands of farm families looked out the front window and bought electric toasters percolators and massagcri for sore barks fur use on the great day when the swltrh was thrown They're still reading hy coat lamps the lilerature that rame with tha rlrrtriral widgets Haggard said he had plenty of poles Insulators and transformer! Rut he couldn't get enough wire So the gentleman from North Dakota hauled In the manufacturer! of electric wire which is made of copper copper welded to atrrl and aluminum And talk about your shortages! The Anaconda Copper man said his firm couldn't get enough copper The Aluminum Cnrp man said hla firm was fresh out of aluminum William Fge the general sales manager of the Copperweld Steel Co of Glassport Pa the only firm In America that makei combination copper-steel electric cables said he had plenty of steel he was boss of the RFC PLENTY ALUMINUM Isn't It a asked Committee Counsel George RIW "that aluminum is the most plentl" hit metal on the fare of this Aluminum-man Noyes couldn't win He said it waa a fart Rut he couldn't get enough electricity to refine It And furthermore aluminum wire cost less per mile than copper wire and he hu so many thousands of orders that ha can't possibly begin to fill any new ones until 1933 In the meantime he said all customers look aliko tv him and "They don't look alika to rnaied Langer hanging the labia and ruining his rlgar in the pro-reaa "We don't propose lo let these farmers and their wives alt there with thoae poles and no wlrt Wo propose to find cut why your company ian't giving them their prop er percentage of wire They're going to get That does it ladles Lay In a supply of fuses a rd keep those washing machines dusted off! They'll he of some use yet Senator Lancer promises it Copyright ISM L'nllfd Fonrtum sye las Spy-Chasing Revision Reps Mundt of South Dakota and Nixon of California both Republican memberi of the House un-American Activities Committee spent five hours Wednesday with Whittaker Chambers the ex-CommunIst turned informer during which Chambers revealed new names and additional inform mation in connection with espionage activities ten years ago Mundt according to a Baltimore Sun story of the incident refused to reveal any of the new names mentioned some of living and some of dead men This caution possibly stems from the tragic death of Laurence Duggan former Stata Department official who jumped or fell from a window to his death after his name had been dragged into the spy investigations Duggan was cleared of any Implication by the FRI and the attorney general as well as by former State Department associates including Sumner Welles Meantime the old committee lapses with the new Congress and if it survives at all it probably will get a face-lifting Senator McClellan of Arkansas suggested Thursday that the new committee be made a joint Senate-House body to operate a definite set of rules approved by Congress" This got an immediate rise out of rantin' John Rankin of Mississippi committee veteran who remarked that a little late for the Senate to start In on this or to try to destroy the House committee" Some Democratic leaders hope to find a way of keeping Rankin off the new committee if one is formed and this may precipitate an intra-party squabble of 1 major proportions Undoubtedly the committee's powers and methods should be completely revised and Senator McClellan's suggestion may gain considerable support In addition to defining the committee's i powers and procedures Congress should provide funds for the creation of a special division of the FBI charged with tracking down and busting up espionage groups It should also revise our espionage laws I Forrestal Recommends i The first annual report of Secretary 1 of Defense Forrestal covers much ground and poses several issues that may become highly controversial when they reach the Congress in concrete form There will be less disagreement over his declaration that this country must help re-arm Europe against communism i even though the cost necessitate hard decisions by our people" than over his proposal that the secretary of defense be given greater power over the armed forces This power he pointed out is needed to make unification work There has been progress toward unifying the armed services but it's no secret that the secretary's carefully defined and closely restricted powers have left him all but Impotent to enforce complete unification Either one or all the three for Air a Army and can go over his head to the President This restriction of power was deliberate a on the part of Congress The argument THESE DAYS WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND On Private Vengeance Democrats Face Factional Strife vate grudge a nasty mind an unquenchable hatred will point a vl( clous finger at the one he dislikea to rail him a spy and a traitor This Is a dangerous business and a far ai I ran tell and I hava studied this problem with unremitting rare for more than 20 year! those who are really guilty a-e pretty well-known even if proof Is unavailable and conviction well-nigh Impossible NAMES THE SAME The Moving Mountains Scientists of the California Institute of Technology have stocked up with groceries and jeeped out into the desert south of Death valley in an attempt to solve the riddle of mountains that They will study the Avawatz Mountains in particular in hopes of tracing the Gar-lock Fault to its lair The Gariock Fault in case you're Interested is a full sister to the San Andreas Fault and the professors have an idea that if they can get these two sisters together they will be able to solve the problems of earthquakes and the locale of various minerals from gypsum to gold we can tell them where to find plenty of gypsum but no gold We can also testify that mountains change their location size height and physioknomy So can anybody else who revisits his boyhood home after an absence of many years The mountains that seemed so far away and massive to childish eyes have been moved in whittled down and robbed of all glamor and mystery That goat trail up the sides that once seemed precipitous and precarious now is about as exciting and rugged as a garden walk The that was so high and impressive which you dreamed of climbing some day at risk of life and limb has weathered away under time's disillusioning chemistry to a mere outcropping of crumbling stone Part of the Balcones Fault maybe The artesian well that was so far from the kitchen door when you had to carry in two cedar buckets full of water has mysteriously crept closer to the back step so that you can almost spit in it from the doorway The plowed field in the river bend where you made the discovery that cockle-burs wouldn't stick if you ran fast enough has shrunken from a baronial expanse to peapatch size And the majestic river so wide so deep and so inviting has dwindled until you wouldn't recognize it as being the same We can tell the scientists that mountains do move all right By GEORGE SOKOLSKY When f-aurcnce Duggan went out of the window three assumptions were possible: 1 That he waa Involved In espionage directly or indirectly sad that he committed milclde: 2 That he waa not Involved b'lt did commit aulcida because hi name had been mentioned by association 3 That ha was murdered and thrown from tha window There la still another possible assumption namely that he did not commit suicide nor was be murdered but that he foil out of the window and that all had nothing to do with the Chambers-Hiss affair nor with hla having been attached to the State Department Neither the polire nor the FBI are helpful hut the FBI gives him a clean bill of health but does not explain the full nature of ita Investigation nor why he was Investi committee which can largely make or break Truman' legislative program? In addition to deodorising tho Rules Committee Rayburn could strengthen It by appointing true and trusted Democrats such a Helen Gahagan Douglas and Chet Holtfield of California Hugh Mitchell of Washington et al Also three of tho most reactionary Republicans of tho Rules Committee were defeated In November Rayburn rould replace them with liberal Republicans such as Patterson of Connecticut Morton of Kentucky Hull of Wisconsin and Hagen of Minnesota No matter which way you cut the cake Sam Rayburn's decision will hava a powerful effect on the nation for tha next four years in 1934 when the Harold War will were organised In 1933 when the Dies Committee got Ita fingers on the data In 1939 when Whittaker Chamber! told hia story to Adolf A Berle In 1941 when they gave It to the Department of Justice In 19454 when the prime minister of Canada MaeKeniie King personally gavt It to the President of tho United States No matter how much more Is discovered tha names are pretty murh the same with a little addition here and 1 there -i Li e- i I Second in importance to Harry Truman's reflection Is a problem to bo decided thia week end by one of tho most Important gentlemen in Speaker Sam Rayburn Sam has sot to decide who Is going to on th House Rules otherwise knowp aa tha house "bottleneck committee'' has the power to kill almost any bill Introduced in Congress Upon th membership of this committee largely depends whether Harry Truman ran carry out hla profuse election promises to the voters Most people don't recall It but last winter Sam Rayburn waa not at all In love with Harry Truman Neither was the new vie president Alben Barkley For Truman had committed the unforgivable sin of not calling In his congressional leaders for nearly three months Naturally they were burned up However Sam Rayburn la not one to hold a grudge His faults are In the opposite direction He carries friendship so far that there is almost nothing bo wont do for a which Is probably tha reason why one member of tho Rules Committee never served a Jail sentence For when the Justice Department's criminal division recommended prosecution of Rep Gene Cox of Georgia for taking a fee In connection with the transfer of a radio license Sam used hla persuasive powes with the then attorney general Francis Biddle Cox waa never prosecuted Cox therefore la still on tho Rules Committee where he prides himself on being a better Republican than any COPeer In tha asms category la Rep Howard Smith of Virginia Both ar Dlxlacrats Both worked against Truman's re-election And tho big question Is: Will Sam Rayburn put administration polley ahead of friendship and bar hia two Dixlecrat cronies from this key And this must he understood what we are dealing with is: 1 espionage 2 neglert of duty 3 violation of tha oath of office: 4 condoning espionage and protecting aplea to avoid exposure of error In high plaers This country haa not outlawed the Communist Party and being a member nf it is nelthrr a misdemeanor nor a fel-rn and can only he made so not hy private Judgment hut by law" This must recognized If wo ar not to go haywlr about thes casea Copyright law Ktng tnhne lyw Im gated at all The FBI haa been ail-ent In these espionage matters for many years under instructions It Is to be presumed At any rate It would he more Just to the memory of Laurence Duggan If the Department of Justice made Itself dearer so that no one would he suspicious mat there la aom thing op Duggan but that it la being suppressed The case of Sumner Wellea Is different Here a man goes (or a walk on Christmas -very late -In quiet country across fields and not hy road He either had a heart attack or somebody tried to bump him or bo simply stumbled on a root Only Welles can describe the clrcum-stances because he was alone Immediately those who oppose the activities of the House Committee on un-American Activities rushed Into print nr on tha radio saying that Sumner Welles waa made emotionally unstable by the suicide of Laurence Duggan When they said on they could not know It to he true LOTS OF CAUSES Youth Arrested lor Refusing Service SAN ANTONIO Dee 10 -A 25-year-old Poteet youth faced federal prosecution for a second tima for refusing military service Gregory Winfred Tahberer waa arrested Wednesday hy federal agents for refusing to he sworn Into tha army at tha San Antonio Induction station Tahberer was arraigned before Commissioner A Lockhart and charged with refusing to sarva In tha armed forces a violation of tha Selective Service Act of 1141 Ha waa placed under 12000 bond Records of tha Federal Bureau of Investigation show Tahberer was convicted In District Court here Oct 31 1043 of to report for and sentenced to serve three years In a federal penitentiary Induction officials said Tahberer asserted religious convictions prevented him from serving OTHER VIEWPOINTS I West Texas Tree Nursery Dal! Morning Newi: Thar ar aom good laugh In th efforts of By DREW PEARSON Copy right ISO Ml SyhdUata le WASHINGTON The greatest deliberative body will have aomo of the Uvest new senators In years when it convenes Monday But the ebanees arc Ita president pro tem will bo a reactionary who has aa much In common with tho Truman administration aa tha National Association of Manufacturers what the Democratic secret caucus today Is tha race between rantankerous Senator McKellar of Tennessee and elegant Millard Tydlngs of Maryland both ardent has-beens to bo president pro tem of the senate Both have campaigned rovertly but energetically for tha Job When McKellar who formerly held the post heard Tydinga waa In tha running he sent a letter to other senators saying ha esteem their action very much' If they elected him Tydlngs not to bo outdone dictated a letter of hla own proclaiming that "eight or ten" colleagues wanted to nominal him "While 1 am not personally soliciting support for this he continued blaodly "I am taking the liberty of bringing tho above lo your attention In tho event my colleagues feel me worthy of th place I shall do my best to discharge Its duties In tha interest of tho country and our party" MCKELLAR'! LAPSES Ordinarily McKellar would Inherit the Job aa a matter of seniority since be held It before But tha gentleman from Tennessee who refuses to reveal hla age had unfortunate lapaea of mind when presiding over the Senate two years ago One while wielding the gavel he asked Senate Secretary Leslie Blffle "When does the Senate meet Once a healthy influence In Congress McKellar haa not grown old gracefully has tha duhloua distinction of having slugged four newspapermen set fire to a Washington hotel hy falling asleep while smoking In bed being in two auto wrecks awarding S433M in government Joba to his relative! during this last year aa presiding officer (1946) and taking rsvengs on any government official who crosses his path Meanwhile Tydlngs of Maryland who voted against more Roosevelt policies than any nther Democrat arouses no enthusiasm In ths breast of most colleagues So they hope Statesman-Senator Joe O'Mahoney of Wyominf may he persuaded to let hla name ho submitted aa president pro tem NOTE Important bone of contention in this tug of-war la that the president pro tem haa the us of long sleek ehauf-feu red free REPUBLICAN LEADERS DIPPER While the Democrats battla over their Senate leaders today tha Republicans caucus over their leader tomorrow Several liberals want to mint th conservatives Elder Statesman Vandenberg mentioning thia point to Senator Wherry of Nebraska Republican Senate leader said: "I think we need change of "It's a good replied Senate Leader Wherry 'Til be glad to step down tf you and Taft step down" Vandenberg however demurred It finally developed that what Van really meant was that Wherry was lo alep down as I' Sr its I leader in favor of Mtlllkin of Colorado while Vandenberg and Taft were to continue la their Joba GOP Seeking Funds Denies Being Broke WASHINGTON Dm Tha Republican National Commlti lea Thursday called on the party faltnful to ante up quirk But a spokesman said that doesn't mean tha party Is broke In a plea for funds the GOP disclosed that In the recent election It spent 3333000 more than ft look In And It la 9506000 short of Its fond raising goal The committee asked for contributions of 35 nr 310 or 3100 or 3300 "But we are not a to official explained "We've paid all our bills It's Just that we are living on our fat our and it's getting thin" The spokesman declined to say how big a bankroll the party had at the start of the campaign year Ha would not aay either how nurh tha GOF has in th bank now te By Lichty GRIN AND BEAR IT Lota of people die of heart more than 4fl per cent of all the deaths in this country Therefore it it possible to assume that Mr Welles had a heart attack and rollapsed upon frown ground Surh an attack could bo without relationship to politics-national or International It m'ght also have been due to Indigestion oversmoking drinking too much or a diabetic coma Why must things not related to each other suddenly become related to each nther? In (act those who use Mr Welles' discomfiture for private revenge do him a disservice for If they go far enough In their assertions they may force a reopening of the Wellea-Hull quarrel which resulted in Mr Hull forcing Welle: an undeniably brilliant public servant nut of the State Department There la a danger that because of the certainty that spies were placed In the State Department by a foreign rountry our enemy since 1917 every individual with a pri Writ Trx nrrd trrri (or wlndhrrak and shelter-belt planting Properly patterned belt of trrri crlsi roiling the wide-open ipacei would break and retard the wind'! powerful awreplng force SnUi ai well aa rropa would be protected luch break! and belli were In exlitence today the real threat of struct ie land itorai thia winter would bo allayed Weil Tex ana have learned theie facta th hard way They are ready to buy a million aerdlingi now If they could get them A Anderin of College Station acting director of the Tcxaa Foreit Service belie vei Unfortunately tha service has been unable to produce these trees at Ita Indian Mound Nursery near Al'o In East Texas The West muat have trees that ar adapted to Its region So the West has been getting the little end of the deal In state a reforestation activity To correct this maladjustment the service his Included In its current budget funds for establish-men! and maintenance of a West Texas Nursery Seeking 11291740 for the 1949-50 season th budget allocates only 179000 for the wealent pro) A-t Th service will present this budget to tin Fifty-first Legislature when that body convraea next month The West Texas together with the remainder of the ought to meet full approval Th nursery sum Is nil It hardly can he compared at all to emergency demands that surely await the state if no action la taken to correct th deplorable condition of drouth-blasted fields and ranges In the West Tha more quickly Texans move to esUUIsh large-scale and long-range protection th lower th damage hill la going to he In th long run An Indian path became tha first arheduled airplane route In Amero1 Ira An early railroad between New York and Philadelphia followed the path and the airplane route built In 1010 followed the railroad the teachers and pupila to understand earh other even though they both speak But the important thing easily overlooked la that the children want to understand their new teachers from overseas and that the teachers are learning to underatand their new "foreign'' pupils They soon learn to know and respect each other and the unaccustomed accents and the cnlloqulallsma of on no longer sound queer to the other These pupils will grow up with a better comprehension of other peoples and other places They will be more tolerant of foreigners who apeak different langragea and follow different customs The teachers will return to their homelands with a wonderfully enriched background of experience which will help them to atlmulat greater vision and deeper appreciation in their students BY BOB HOPE It Says Here I hop it dive Mr Richard Mnrrow-Tait the 25-year-old British housewife who was attempting a round-the-world flight and had to crash-land her plane may tak a Job as a singer In an Alaska night club She's Just singing so she ran make enough to get her plane In the air again Yes air she's the world's first vocalist to get paid off in gasoline In fact if she's a hit Ih first two weeks they may hold her over for 3000 gallons I can't understand It but one number she refuses to alng Is "Slow Boat to China" Of course singing Isn't so different from flying Think of Sinatra He soloes has thousands tf air hours and when things get tough ho ran always come in on one tonsil Bn this young housewife deserves tremendous credit for her spunk I Just hniie she run into any sky writers advertising hargsins herau-e when she takes off want her lo make the re-t of the trip nonstop Ceertuhl 1SU King raaituoa Sta Ins THE ABILENE KEPOBTER-NEWS iwiro "bail saagay kr is ar costs a ri aiihin to North atom an Cyproaa TZLZPHONX TSTI SWUM Taant tho' Abllano-rporir3fawa a mrmboy the Audit Hurrau nf Clrrulaitona a Mttanal oraanlraUou ah tak aortlflaa lha alraulatlo I al tut trading nrwapnprra Ihal'nli4 eiai-a fcntrrad aa Sonmd Clair OtCV MSB al tha Under Ilia Act al Marrh 1ST Xuli-criptoTn a'aiaa-ByT'afriaFldornlng and Sunday nr Kvahln and Sunday as jravk a month Muming and Erontng and Sunday ana a week: 11 IS a monliu Hymait WratTrNaiT Morning' ondSunday'or Xvrnlng'aod Sunday' SITS a manihi Outaido id Wart si so a month Uthor ratoa on rauuant SIfin'rl 'fhT AanorinlaPrran YknCaancIaV3 Prana auTualvaly "tn'lhi' nan" oTirpiifillratlnu af al tha larnlnowa pnntod Id thlanowapopoy aa wail aa lha APnrwi diapolchoa Any rrmnrmia'rrflortlnn upon" tr I- alandln rrnulaltnn of any p-a ann firm or rarpm anon whim may ncrur In lha enlumna of THC NEPOHTKN'Ntwe WUI hr gladly ror-arird upon holn brought la tha attanlmn of lha managrmonl Tha puhllahrra are not rmponalhla for copy omlaalnna Iy-pnranhlral arrora nr any unintrniianal arrura that mar ncrur Mhar than in corm I In nral l-auo after it to brought lo Ihelr altmtmn At advertising nrrirra are arreptad on ihla haoie anjy When Teachers Go Abroad Milwaukee Journal: 7t Episodes Involving American and British acb wlteachera who have exchanged Jobs for a year make Interesting reading Ho do th account! of their early impression of their pupils he'a one of thoae nuts that like to be first in line for sll events think we should call the stroll jacket squad?" Abilene Tcxaa Friday Morning December 31 1943.