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Johnson's Statement On FTC Decisions Is Called Amazing Writer Sees Plain Effort To Pull Many Political Chestnuts Out of Fire By David Lawrence An amazing statement has come from the offices of Senator Ed Johnson, Democrat, of Colorado, chairman of the Senate’s all-im portant Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. It is amazing not because Sena tor Johnson and his colleagues feel aggrieved over the President's veto of the "basing point” bill, but because they are taking Mr. Tru man literally and are going to hold an independent agency—the Federal Trade Commission—ac countable directly for the clarifi cation of certain of its decisions. These decisions caused the present controversy over the right to ab sorb freight charges by quoting to customers a "delivered price.” Originally, when Congress created the FTC, it was supposed to be a quasi-judicial body. *It was not supposed to be subject to executive or legislative pressure. For the FTC now to attempt to amend what the Supreme Court of the United States laid down as the law of the land or for the commission to attempt to meet the viewpoint of the majority of Congress, which wanted Mr. Tru man to sign the remedial bill, is a distortion of the functions of that agency. Administration Embarrassed Plainly there is an effort here to pull a lot of political chest nuts out of the fire. The adminis tration is obviously embarrassed politically and from an economic standpoint by what has happened. In April, 1948, the Supreme Court agreed with the FTC that de livered prices which absorbed the freight rate w'ere the result of identical action in the cement industry. Had this been all that the court said on the subject, it would have been apparent that only "con certed action” to fix identical prices by absorbing the freight was being struck down by the decision. But Justice Black in speaking for the majority of the court went further when he said: “While we hold that the com mission’s findings of combination were supported by evidence, that does not mean that existence of a ‘combination’ is an indispen sable ingredient of an ‘unfair method of competition.” Congress attempted to clarify this point by passing a new law to remove all doubt that “delivered prices” could absorb the freight provided each seller acted indi vidually and not in concert. The President vetoed the bill last week on the assumption that the meas ure was unnecessary and that the Supreme Court didn’t mean what it said. His message was construed as meaning that the Federal Trade Commission itself now would clarify what the court failed to clarify. Extraordinary Pronouncement. Senator Johnson, therefore, has appointed a subcommittee of five Senators—all of whom favored the bill that was vetoed—to make sure that the FTC makes good on the implied instructions which the President’s veto message con veys to that comtnission. Mr. Johnson, in his statement, says he felt that "the frequent shifts in position of the Federal Trade Commission, particularly its early approval and later disapproval of the O'Mahoney bill, had destroyed public confidence and required continued close day-by-day watch fulness over Its activities in this field.” This is an extraordinary pro nouncement but the Colorado Senator and his committee have every right to survey the work of the commission because, as he promises, legislation may be needed on this subject at the next session of Congress. He also In tends soon to submit written questions to the FTC so as to make explicit what can or can not be done to promote competitive prices by absorbing the freight charges. Many of the industries of America and their lawyers are pondering all this with grave con cern. Some think they may join the "let’s take a chance” school of thought, which wants to begin absorbing freight and depend on the beneficence of the administra tion not to prosecute them for violating what the Supreme Court plainly said. Others fear to take any chance and are adopting the "let’s play safe” doctrine. As long as shortages in certain commodities exist the problem will be academic, but wherever supply is in balance with demand, there is a concrete choice to be made between reliance cm a gov ernment of laws or on a govern ment of men—the fallible bureau crats who are swayed one day by one pressure group and the next day by another. (Reproduction Right! ReserYed.) [★ ★★★SPECIAL.-j RESORTS. ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. pmif ml I Michigan £ Pacific Avci EDISON ATLANTIC CITY bwawwiA NEAR BOARDWALK _ f 1.50 CP DAILY—PER PERSON Running water all roams. Private baths Free parking. Free bathing from Hotel __Phone 4-3«ai._ BETHANY BEACH, PEL. “THE BEACH HAVEN' Rooms and Apartments Bethany Beach, Delaware Dickson 465 This Changing World Schuman Plan Offers The One Hope For Peace Among West Europe Nations By Constantine Brown The six-nation conference now going on in Paris to work out de tails of the Western European coal and steel pool is evidence of the firm inten tion of govern ments in that ! part of the con ! tinent to bring the Sch u m a n i plan to frui tion. The proposals a d v a n ced by Foreign Minis j ter Schuman of France — based on a plan form ulated by Jean Mon net. the noted French economist—without doubt consti tute the most important step ever taken toward unity of West , em Europe and the creation of such close economic and political ties between the countries of that : region that they could never af ford to go to war among them | selves. The eagerness with which not only Western Germany but Bel gium, the Netherlands, Luxem bourg and Italy took up the sug gestion and agreed to confer on details of the plan demonstrates their awareness of the vital na ture of the changes which the Schuman plan proposes. The fact that the British gov ernment is reluctant to go into any system which involves the sacrifice of some of its sovereign ty will not deter the continental countries from carrying forward as energetically a$ they can a pro gram which offers the one hope for permanent peace among the countries of Western Europe. Plan to Be Broadened. Conceivably the pool plan will be broadened to take in other phases of the participating coun tries’ economic life, and already the French are proposing that agriculture be the next activity to be unified. Such broadening of the pool is almost a foregone conclusion if the greatest benefit is to be reaped from economic unification. Pool ing of industry alone would pro vide some great results, chiefly in bringing under one authority industries which are competing [now under six different authori ties. But the elimination of com petition and integration of indus ; tries for more efficient operation is only one of the possible con sequences of the Schuman' plan. If the free flow of coal and steel within the pool creates an eco nomic tie which serves to prevent war, the free flow of food would | serve that purpose even more. If Britain finally refuses to have anything to do with the movement 1 for Western European economic union the Schuman plan would be dealt virtually a death blow. But it appears that Britain can not afford to give the plan such a blow, particularly since the United | States, which has been supporting Britain ever since the war, stands | four-square behind European in , tegration. Long and Tortuous Path. The British Labor government may be forced, by pressure of opinion in the United States and Western Europe, to take some part in this greatest attempt to make sense out of Western Europe’s present conflict of eco nomic and political interests. Certainly it will be difficult for the British to refuse to give up a small slice of their sovereignty to a supranational authority w?hen other governments, aware that their economic and political strength must be built on union, are willing to make the required sacrifices. Although the French proposal for a European Parliament ap pears to be aimed to make eco nomic integration more palatable to the London government—for presumably it would give the Brit ish a democratic forum in which to protect their own interests— the prospect of easier access to supplies of food on the continent which the farm pool proposal im plies may be an even greater in ducement. The path toward European union will be long and tortuous, but a start is being made. Those objections which have merit can be met. Those which are based simply on pure self-interest will have to be overcome by pressure. If any country frustrates this great step toward the removal of causes of war within Western Europe it must bear the respon sibility for the tragic conse quences. The G. O. P/s Only Issue Truman Says Republicans Use Red Smears For Lack of Other Issues By Doris Fleeson President Truman told the Democratic Governors at their private luncheon that Republicans i had resorted to Communist smears because they didn’t have any issues. I Actually the adminis tration is in a race with Re pub 1 icans to keep them from having an issue which could be very trouble some. By a co incidence the Governors had just been mak ing clear their own concern with it in their an nual conference at White Sulphur* Springs, W. Va. The reciprocal trade agreements ; to encourage foreign trade are be ginning to bite into the American economy. Coal, glass, pottery, tex tiles, etc., are feeling the compe tition with resulting unemploy ment. Governors, both Democrat and Republican, asked Secretary of State Acheson many searching questions about what he proposed to do about it. Called Hard Problem. The Secretary had no trouble inducing the Governors to take the large view of foreign policy generally but he knows the large view of direct Injury to the pock etbook nerve is rare. He said it was a hard problem and rather thankfully added it had been as signed to Gordon Gray for study. He also tentatively men tioned an old suggestion that the i Government subsidize United States industries which were be ing injured and charge it up as a national defense cost since trade strengthens our Allies. A concrete use of the issue was simultaneously being threatened outside the conference room by Republican National Committee man Walter S. Hallanan of West Virginia who had dropped in to WANT TO MOVE INI You ten move in toon, * too . .. efter you've started your Liberty Building Association savings account, - Only $5.00 opens e savings account end small weekly deposits with liberal dividends will soon open tbe door to a new. wonderful life . . 1 owning your own homo. Every penny will be Federally Insured up to $5,000 to make your borne of tomorrow safe. • ' " £ ;■ , < | i J A Savings Institution M VIA**SERVICE FEDERALLY INSURES 1407 € St., N.W. ST. 2200 pay his respects to the Governors and press. Mr. Hallanan said West Vir ginia Republicans would run an old-fashioned full dipner pail, i“save the working man's job” cam paign to elect six Congressmen this fall. The highly industrialized State has been hard hit, he said, especially coal. This fact has been recognized by Senator Neely, West Virginia Democrat, who heads an Educa tion and Labor subcommittee in vestigating the situation. “We’re going to use the Neely subcommit tee testimony as our textbook," Mr. Hallanan asserted. President Sympathetic. Senator Neely has been out of the Senate pampering a leg injury. His colleague. Senator Kilgore, ex pressed confidence that the ad ministration would move in these matters long before November. Senator Kilgore said he had talked to the President, who was most sympathetic. Senate Republicans expect to make their usual reciprocal trade challenge—the peril point amend ment which would effectively re strict tariff concessions—some time this session. But the trade agreements legislation is not up; their problem is to find a proper parking place for it, A minor bill that the President could veto offhand won’t do. Yet they don’t want to tack it on. a bill importart to them because they fear Mr. Truman might seize on the amendment as excusing a veto. The tax bill represents the latter hazard. More and more it appears that Mr. Gray deserves the sympathy of the republic. Last week the British Labor Party politicians made it harder for him by rebuff ing the Schuman plan. Now the political pressures are building up at home. The total of exports always in creases with expanding foreign trade, according to State Depart ment experts. This, of course, will not stop the cries of those who are injured in the process. H f M / m AHf f # Ml 4 ■« KEEPS THAI "NEWLY PAINTED" LOOK YEAR AFTER YEAR! RICH IN TITANIUM «M PURI WHITE REFINED LINSEED OILI MUTH 710 13Hi St.- ST. 6323 Ovality Since 1**5 LOUIE g.P¥" IF I ”38a —By Horry Honan ii" i ..... Political Heresy in Ohio Lausche Stand on Senatorial Race May Be Good Tip for Dopesters By Thomas L. Stokes When President Truman asked Democratic governors assembled here for a luncheon with him for their help in electing a Demo cratic Congress in November there was one Governor pres ent who must have had a momenta ry feeling of em barrassment. This would seem at least a justifiable sup position about bushy - haired Frank Lausche of Ohio. He had attracted Tho“»* considerable publicity earlier this week when he told newspapermen at the Governors Conference at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va„ that he hadn’t decided whether he would vote for the Democratic candidate for Senator in Ohio, State Auditor Joe Ferguson, or for Senator Taft who, it is well known, is No. 1 target for Presi dent Truman, the Democrats and their labor allies. He had prefaced this announce ment by describing Mr. Ferguson as "a good and fearless auditor" —which provoked a loud guffaw from his hard-boiled newspaper audience there—and Senator Taft as “a forthright and fearless pub lic official” and wound up by say ing his vote would be guided by the best interests of the Nation. Democrats Startled. This sort of uncertainty in the midst of a hot campaign ap proaches political heresy, and it startled Democrats here in the high command and in his home State. Mr. Truman, only three hours before the luncheon here, had given a fairly good idea of how he regards such an attitude. While he had a brusque "no com ment" when asked at his own regular press conference about the Ohio Governor’s statement, he added in the same breath that he had no doubt Ohio would elect a Democratic Senator and then, when asked how he would vote if he voted in Ohio, replied that he would vote the straight Demo cratic ticket. The Ohio Governor was natu rally the center of interest for newspapermen who milled about the hotel room where the lunch eon was held—a private affair to which they were not admitted— and he was pursued as he came and went, the "star" of the occa sion. When asked afterward if he had shaken hands with the President, he replied, slightly an noyed: kji course—xnw jrresiaent is most delightful and pleasant.” Thfcre was no reference at the luncheon to the Ohio incident. The Governor has become the private hero of Republicans who, of course, cannot be too kind pub licly because they have a candi date of their own for Governor against Mr. Lausche, who is run ning for re-election. He has been the beneficiary of all sorts of praise for his "courage and independ ence” from some quarters, just as was Jimmy Byrnes of South Caro lina, former high Roosevelt and Truman administration official, when he began to attack the Tru man program. This is all well and good, but skeptics who have watched the Governor’s political career have some ideas of their own. They ask, in the first place, why it is that Joe Ferguson, who is not an outstanding figure, is the candi date against Senator Taft? It is because Governor Lausche, who was regarded as the strongest candidate, refused requests from party leaders that he run against the Senator who is, indeed, a for midable opponent. There is not too warm a feel ing in the Democratic high com mand toward Gov. Lausche be cause of his refusal to go along EDUCATIONAL. BERLITZ 7*4 Tear—French. Spanish. Italian, G.r ■•n sr nny ether lansnase ms4e hi; hr the BarUta Metha4 wiffiih ash at the Ebebutz school of languages 9 17th St. (at Erei STerlinc MIS '•PProve^to^G^VETERA^TRAlNINGM DEVITT SCHOOL College Preparatory Summer Session June 26-August 18 Fall Term Begins Sept. 13 WO. 3111 2958 Upton St. N.W. *• for the party's sake, as party men often are expected to do, to take on a hard job in a tough year. Frank Lausche always has played a lone hand in politics, and thus far successfully. He ran on his own in 1944, with little help to President Roosevelt and the national ticket, and carried the State while Mr. Roosevelt lost it. It was only at the eleventh hour that he raised a hand finally in 1948 for Harry Truman, who seemed to have no chance. The President barely scraped through in Ohio, thanks to the farm vote while Gov. Lausche won by 221, 000. There may be some clue in the report that the Ohio Governor feels that a conservative reaction is setting in, since he has been a good weather prophet before. Per haps the most important thing out of this Ohio episode is infor mation for the dopesters that it’s best to string along with Sena tor Taft in Ohio and take the cue for other hot spots, from that. McLemore— Shine Boys in Damascus Are Best in World By Henry McLemere DAMASCUS. Syria.—Incidental intelligence about Damascus: My favorite businessmen here are the shoe shine boys, of which there were some 25. 000 at the last unofficial ac count. They not only give you the best shine in the world: they do it for less money and with the most e x p e nsive equipment to be found any - i where. Their jshoe shine boxes are made of hand-ham mered brass, as are the contain ers for the various fluids and pastes with which they anoint your shoes. A similar box in the United States, if it were avail able, would cost close to a hun dred dollars, yet a shine costs I about three cents in American money. What puzzles me is how a shoe shine boy ever accumulates enough money to become a shoe shine boy. Are they the sons i of wealthy parents? Does the | government advance funds to ; youngsters who show talent with the brush, rag and shoe paste? Or is there a foundation, pat terned along the lines of the Rockefeller Foundation, which gives aid to Damascenes who show unusual talent for making a shoe, even the oldest one, shine like a bride’s eyes as she walks down the aisle? Any reader who can enlighten me would do me a favor by cabling me in care of the Semiramis Hotel, Cairo, where I'll be when this reaches print. Call Insurance Man. Before visiting Damascus be sure to call your favorite insur ance salesman and take out a: sizable policy protecting you against being run over by a don key. Donkeys have the right of way here, just as they have had since time immemorial, and there are enough of them to control completely the right of way. I; neglected to take out such a policy with my favorite insurance salesman. Miss Carrie Freeman. Daytona Beach. Fla., and as a result I am going to be out a few hundred dollars. Donkeys are little, yes. but they { are persistent, and when one sticks his muzsle in your ribs and keeps pushing, it is part of you that yields, not the donkey's nose Donkeys are not equipped with horns or sirens, either, so they sneak up on you. But one can hardly complain. The donkeys have been here centuries and cen turies before the first American visitor arrived, so they have a sounder claim to the streets of Damascus. If you are a visitor, and want to start the day wrong, buy yourself a drink from the cold-drink ven dors who wander the streets of Damascus. The drink, usually bright red in color, is carried in a big glass jug. surmounted by a vast amount of silver work, nearly always in the shape of a sailing ship. The vendor attracts attention by beating two silver bowls to gether, and serves the drink in glasses. He cleans the glasses by pouring in four drops of water, no more, swirling the drops a-round. and emptying them on the street. As magic a user of words as I am. I am unable to describe the taste of the drink It is my guess, however, that it is compounded by mixing the tears of a heartbroken donkey with equal parts of water from a bird bath frequented by young owls and water from the Red Sea at low tide. Be Careful of Potion. One glass of this mixture (of which the Damascenes partake with great relish) is guaranteed to make the average American drop to his knees and ask forgive ness for anything bad he has done during his lifetime. Two glasses and it is too late to do anything. Three glasses and the next thing that happens is a wire to his next of kin. Damascus is one of the few places I know in the Near or Far East where you can send out something to be dry cleaned with the assurance that it will be dry cleaned, not washed. Laundry is fast and superb. The best night club in town is the Black Cat. It advertises as the only club in the world with 22 acts and no cover charge. The ad is true, and the blessed thing is that the 22 acts require just 22 minutes. Most of the acts are of the type which is known as (this being a column for family news papers* abdominal dancers. The most popular hangout in town is Freddie’s. Freddie is a transplanted American, and what you won't meet in his saloon has yet to be met. Note to Time Magazine: Please send Freddie a fresh clipping of the story in which his place is mentioned He has just about worn out the one he has showing it to all new comers. Brother Crosby and Miss Grab!* are the Americans Damascus would like most to see That's all for the moment. Meet you at Freddie's (Distributed by McNauaht Syndicate Inc * •a«— INSTALL NOW! RUUD Automatic Gas Water With a MONEL Tank Forever Fuat-Free/ There's a RUUD tor every purpose, every purse. See the RUUD display at Woods. I Cill FLOOD, PE. 2700 \ Flood "dui" ororything, including financing j. c. FLOOD co. Flumbing—Hoofing—Appliancot 40 Year* "Just" Sarvica 2012 14th St. N.W. Re* D C„ MS., V*. THE MODE . . . Impoitont Mtn t tom«r 1 **; * select your Polm Beach Suits \ t where selections are topnotch and enjoy the advantage of Mode Fitting Service k 27.75 = This year’s Palm Beach Suits are entirely new. Nylon has been added to produce a cool, smooth summer suiting. The tailoring is far finer; the patterns are new; the colorings are clear and rich. At both Mode stores you will also see fine selections in Sunfrost Tropicals and Springweave i Suits by the makers of Palm Beach. 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