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WAR BABY ... f The price of lead jumped from 11 *4 cents per pound on f June 23 to 17 cents on Dec, 13—or an increase of 48 per | cent. i WAR BABY . a a Wool tops jumped from $2 to $3.35 per pound in same period, for bump upwards of 67 14 per cent. 1 I WAR BABY. I é I ) Tin went up from .764 per pound to $1.39, for an in- | I crease of 83 per cent. | I I I WAR BABY I I a m m ( I Rubber, in same period skyrocketed from 28 cents per | f pound to 66*4 cents I Cong. Record, Dec. 16, page A8206.) climb of 133 per cent. (Source | er a I I RISING PRICES EUT Ü? THREE BILLION DOLLARS OF MILITARY BUDGET From WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS Rising prices since last June 25 have eaten up enough of our defense dollars to— Outfit and equip 10 infantry di visions. Buy 300 B-36 bombers, enough for 10 B-36 bomber groups. Buy 2,250 F-80 jet fighters, enough for 30 jet fighter groups. Buy enough tanks for 10 armoréd divisions. All this could be had at today's prices for $3,000,000,000—and that, by conservative estimate of military sources, is just how mu,ch inflation rising prices have away the purchasing power of the defense dollar. In other words, we would have been able to buy this much more with the money Congress voted and is now voting had prices been held to their pre-Korea levels. What the military is now preparing to spend $30,000,000,000 for could have been bought for $27,000,000,000 at pre-Korea prices. (The $30,000, 000.000 is a rough estimate of the amount that will be spent for pro curement, research and development, and other items directly affected by rising prices out of the $42,000,000, 000 already voted and now being voted by Congress for defense.) The military, like the individual, has found its dollars .constantly melt ing away in purchasing power as the months go past. Specific instances were cited this week by Chairman LYNDON JOHN SON, Democrat, of Texas, of the Senate preparedness sub-committee. The money which would have bo\ight 1,000 truck tires before Ko fore Korea would buy only 85 miles in September and only 78 miles in November. The money that would buy 10, 000 barrels of fuel oil before Ko rea would buy only 4,700 barrels in November. The money that would have bought 1,000 truck tires before Ko rea would buy only 830 in Septem ber and 720 in November. The money that would have bought 10,000 pairs of khaki trousers be fore Korea would buy only 7,600 WANTS A CENTRAL CRIME DETECTION AND INFORMATION LABORATORY By HJALMER BENSON, Helena The People's Voice Helena, Montana Read your editorial "Money Well in the Dec. 29 issue and that if the same kind of enforce ment is to continue, as much or more should be appropriated by the '51 legislature. However, isn't it time that the State of Montana took a long look at its old-fashioned, .cumbersome, ex pensive and as the past two years proved, inept local law enforcement system ? Many states have centralized labor atories to encourage the application of modern principles of detection and law enforcement. In Montana we have only a central information bu reau, and PH bet half the enforce ment agencies of the state are un aware of its existence. Where enforcement is state-wide and pressed by earnest and sincere officials, great results can be achiev ed, even on a low budget. But it in Nov. Money which would have bought 10,000 pairs of wool socks before Korea would buy only 8,500 in October, and even fewer today. OTHER EXAMPLES The military can buy only 690 pairs of surgical gloves now with the money that would have purchased 1,000 pairs before Korea; and only 72 space heaters for Navy barracks with money that would have bought 100 before Korea. Take an expensive item—about $50,000 apiece—like height finders for the Air For, ce. The money that would have bought 10 of these be fore Korea now will buy only 7. And the money which would have bought about 1,000 yards of jute burlap before Korea now will buy only little more than half that amount. Over-all, wholesale prices — the level at which the military buys in most instances—have gone up near ly 10 per cent since the Korean war began. But, as Senator Johnson's ex amples showed, the prices of scores of items affecting goods which the mili uu.it uuy nave £uue Up inucii I '-"'J' more. Large Loan Approved for Sun River REA Co-op The Sun River Electric Co-op has been granted a loan of $120,000 by the Rural Electrification Admin istration, a wire from Sen. James E. Murray advises. The loan funds will be used on system improvements and to build 75 miles of new distribution lines in Cascade, Teton, Chouteau, Lewis & Clark and Pondera counties. 1950 Crops Set At Third Largest In Nation's History; WASHINGTON, D. C.—(CNS) — The nation's farms produced the third largest crop in history, the U. S. Department of Agriculture re ports. This record was attained de spite adverse weather conditions in some parts of the country and the lowest planted acreage since 1942. seems to me that it is demanding too much of an honest official to place all the responsibility o^local enforce ment upon him with a budget that would be inadequate for a single coun ty. (Witness the dismal failure to accomplish the elimination of a single slot machine by the famed Lewis and Clark county Grand Jury after ex pending almost as much as the two year operation of the Attorney Gen eral.) While the crooks are on the run, of course the legislature should add a good sized enforcement fund to the State's Attorney General. But I sincerely hope that attention will be paid to the basic weakness of the law enforcement problem over the entire state. It would be in line at this time to change the existing in formation center into a first class criminal detection laboratory open to all enforcement officials of the state. A relatively small expenditure now along that line would yield immense returns in more uniformity and better trained and equipped law enforce ment officials over the entire state. '*3Tt)MIOAL SOCIETY OP MONTANA :— rffSWÆWA —V'' "1C" f I F 777 r. M .r<5W i il a âj k,F I -7* * ^r. y liJMil iipil EWIDI INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER iHTr r r MONTANA'S ONI HELENA, MONTANA, JANUARY 5. 1951 Price : Five Cents Vol. XII—No. 5 Governo -jrges Reorganization of State Governfint, Civilian Defense Program x? Le^il ative KNICK-KKACKS a By Every odd numbered year in Hel ena there is a feverish activity in the field of politics and issues. Fifty six senators and ninety representa tives come to the Capitol City to do the business of state for the two suc ceeding years. With many of the men (there are two women) come their wives. Of these wives many attend the sessions and pay close attention to all that goes on. They attend teas and par ties and they meet a host of people from all over the state and doubt less become as politically-minded as their husbands before the session ends. Many times they stand for hours waiting for Mr. Legislator to finish this or that interminable conversa tion and from the respective cham bers to the doors of the Capitol there and the ending discussions pertinent to the business at hand. The wife of a state legislator must be one gifted with patience. It is sometimes tiring, but it is rarely uninteresting. And in spite of the fact that all are usually happy by the end of the 60 days to return to home sweet home, it is the consensus of opinion that it is fun to come back another term. Because of this it has occurred to me that some of our women readers would be interested in peiiting in on some of the stuff the gals get in on during these crammed 60 days. Of course, you all know that I am not the wife of a legislator, and by no stretch of the imagination get in on all that goes on. I miss a great deal but I do get around a bit. So for what its worth, kids, let's go. The two parties held their caucuses o n Sunday afternoon so New Year's eve found the Placer lobby a bee hive of political buzzing. That Placer lobby is really the interesting place during legislature. We walked in Sunday evening and the place was packed. There was Senator Brown, Sen ator Rice, Senator Mahoney. Mrs. Brown was slowly starving to death while the Senator renewed acquaint ances. Senator Rice told us every ses sion he buys a new hat. After the session is over he hangs the hat on the wall as a memento. He could not get away with that without comments about being a plutocrat of some sort. Not the least of the noise came from Senator Mahoney who doffed his dis play of all things the price tag, all ready yet. Dr. Tripp hails everyone and we mpt Representative and Mrs. Blik ken on their way to their hotel after a trying day. Next we met Repre sentative Michels and his wife who are very pleased with their accom modations for the session. William Jameson of Billings, who will probably be lobbying, comes by and shakes hands. We had the opportunity to meet Judge and Mi's. Lindquist. The Judge was appointed senator (to fill the term of Senator Wilcoxin, who died.) There were new faces to me in the lobby. The tall good looking man in his tuxedo is Mr. Roy Glover, Council and No. 1 lobbyist for ACM. There are three gentlemen in earn - est conversation in another corner. I am told one is Neil R. Taylor from up Scbbey way. I recognized the name as he is a regular feature in the Dan iels County Leader, the Bowler pub lication. He is also Republican chair man of the house appropriations com mittee. Another is Mr. Orey Arm strong, newly elected speaker of the (Continued on page four) Outlines Need for Buildings at Custodial Institutions, And Serious Situation Surrounding Montana Highways Citing that "Montana now has at least sixty-four major branches of government . . ." and 56 other departments, Gov. John W. Bonner in his message to the 32nd Legislative Assemb ly Tuesday night, urged that body to make a ". . . complete reorganization of the administrative machinery of the state To do this long needed piece of stream i > government . . . lining, the Governor recommended that "this legislature cre ate a committee on reorganization . . . with power and authority study program present to this legislature, and, if necessary, to present to the next leg islature—a program which will con solidate departments, eliminate dup lications of service . . ." Other important parts of his mes sage urged : THE ESTABLISHMENT of a ci vilian defense and home guard pro gram, stating "legislation is neces sary to enable the state and the mu nicipalities (in view of the serious international sutiation) to take the action necessary to operate civil de fense plans which contempate the maximum utilization of state and mu nicipal facilities, officials and em ployes . . ." along with a sufficient appropriation to handle this. He also asked creation of a "home guard" to replace the National Guard, »should that body be called to duty. Fur ther and in line with his recommenda tion for consolidation of bureaus, he asked that such an agency be incor porated either within the Adjutant General's Department, or else abolish the latter, and place all three plus the to- Council in a Defense Depart BUILDING PROGRAM: After re r\ ment under the Adjutant General. viewing the progress made within the past two years in improving and enlarging facilities at the several state custodial institutions, the Gov ernor program buildings needed, and emphasized that the general fund surplus should be used for such capital improvements rather than for regular operation of the state government. The needed building program, as outlined by the Governor, includes: Stata Hospital, Warm Springs: $975,000 for another X-ray, a 125 patient receiving ward and a 125 patient dormitory, a s immediate needs. Galen. $500,000 TB Sanitarium, for more buildings for personnel and general improvements. Deaf & Blind School, Great Falls: $75,000 for a new boiler house and additional storage space. Vocational School for Girls, Hel ena: $106,125 for replacement of roofs, construction of a boiler room and.a water tower, and necessary pip ing for adequate fire protection. Orphans' Home, Twin Bridges: $105.258.83 for a sewage disposal plan:, water mains, sidewalks and electrical wiring. Industrial School, Miles City: $640,000 for a new school building and more dormitary space. f » I Please, Mr. Legislator ... I I DON'T FENCE US IN' I . I I Parking anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the capi- | tol during each session presents a most difficult proposi- | tion—not only for legislators — but —for us at Voice as j well. Already on a couple of occasions we have had to j put our cars through all kinds of acrobatics in order to = get into our parking lot in front of the Co-op building. ! All we ask is that at least one entry space be left open in j front of the building for our use. In exchange, you are j all welcome to share the private area in front of the build- j ing to the limit of its capacity, or to park on our property j just west of the building, with roadway entrance at head of j Broadway at Montana. I I I I I ! I I I I - - Soldiers' Home, Columbia Falls: $80,000 for a new building to re lieve housing situation. HIGHWAYS: Terming the condi tion of Montana's highways as ser ious, the Governor stated that it is necessary "that we obtain a minimum of $9,000,000 if we are to take ad vantage of federal funds already available and which may be avail able and in order to have a real high way program. Pointing out that farm to-raarket roads are lagging behind, he termed as "essential" that this legislature inaugurate a real farm to-market road program. He also cited the tight financial spot the state finds itself in time of disaster —such as snowbound areas involv ing entire counties at times, and that only federal aid had made it possible to keep rural roads open in the past couple of winters. But, in asking for additional highway funds, the Gov ernor cautioned against any "further tax or license" being placed on pri vate passenger vehicles and asked for abolishment of the $3 use tax ; as being inequitable. Concerning the highway patrol, and the very high calibre of men we ex pect to man that organization, he asked the assembly to appropriate sufficient funds that salaries com mensurate with their duties can be paid. WATER: Reiterating the policy of "Montana waters for Montana peo ple" that his administration has fol lowed, the Governor reported that in "most aspects we have been able to maintain this policy. ''However, he noted that we are in grave danger of the International Joint Commission deadlocking over division of Water ton-Belly liver waters, and urged the legislators to consider memori alizing the congress to authorize and all-American tunnel to "capture these waters before they cross the Inter national boundary . . . Miscellaneous: Other recommenda tions by Governor Bonner included: Careful consideration of the prob lems facing school financing; Passage of appropriate legislation to implement the referendum ap proving establishment of a separate department of labor. Substantially increased payments to victims of Silicosis; Adequate appropriations to pro vide for the needy aged, dependent children, blind, etc. (Continued on Paare Three) •:*