Ii^L^-oIJNOCO - Mar. 19, 1955 Good Afternoon, Everybody:- V»e seem to be getting used to that speedy pace _ ——“fa in Washington. ^Events moved rapidly during the past week. But they haven1t left us quite so breathless. The latest word on the Beer Bill is that it is scheduled to go to the President for his signature probably tomorrow. It was the first of those rapid-fire Roosevelt Emergency measures to run into any kind of snag. The President cracked the oresidential whip, and the House of Representatives responded with a snappy okay. It was the Senators, however, who tangled things uo a bit by kicking in with a few ideas of their own. The week ended with the big stein of beer in the middle of a lively argument between the two Houses. They say the President has .intervened to iron the matter outy ^ M<$'rrc' ' mmmmLr_ IflTRO - 2 The Senate 3 they say, will not be stubborn about that 3*05 wine. That’s out. Connoisseurs declare that wine with such a small amount of alcohol in it is the tallest story of the week. But we’re not going to give it the tall story prize. And expert opinion is that it’s thumbs down on that provision prohibiting the selling or giving of beer to children under sixteen -- the idea to make it a criminal offense for ax German papa Heinz to give little Fritz a sip from his stein. The Mew York Times predicts that the compromise is to favor three and 5 -hundredths per cent beer. FABM About the Fill lor Farm Relief, there is something mighty refreshing in the President's approach to the matter. It is a common enough fault with most of us to be* a l*it cockshre. But^Mr. hoosevelt says outright that the plan "-Rfc proposes to help the farmer is an experiment. It is stepping out in new paths, and all he asks is a chance to see how his ideas will work. The loud* buzzing sound we heard curing the last agQ few days of the week was a confused echo of^the arguing fcfcati* been going on in ..ashington on thJla subject of the President's agricultural olan. Tfee-irc-w-Farm Pel ini’ ■Bl-11 -ie — feh^~sub^rtr-ot,-^a'-3rrv'»-ly--er^ument >d,n totli of Gon^re^s. Predictions are freely being made that the lawmakers will demand ^ changes^ ALe ^llarmr^ The Mew York Herald Tribune predicts that tiWEill will be passed by a coalition of both parties,, with groups of Democrats and Republicans uniting to support the President,. Ti -s—u s. - -that- som O' the—Benenfeeii*. ECOflOHX One ratlier breathless note which, sounded all week v/as ; that ol amazement — amazement at the swil*t passage of the Economy Bill. Arthur Krock, distinguished Washington corresp -dent of the New York Times, referred to it as a miracle. He declares that it causes people l:ving in Washington to feel as though suddenly transported to another country. Then Mr. Krock propounds an idea which certainly sounds reasonable. He attributes the miracle in large part to the banking panic. Without it, the Economy measure could not have been passed. It was the mood of dark crisis that forced the bill through. And so it may turn out that ikat the banking crisis was a good thing after all, maybe one of the best things we have had in a long time. Many people, everywhere, have been saying the same thing this week. 1'he New York Herald Tribune states that the Presidents Economy plan as framed during the past week contemDlates a cut of 750 million dollars. A cut of three-quarters oi a billion in government expenses — hoop-la! The expectation is that with this ECONOMY - £ vast reduction, together with the income from the sale of beer. Uncle Sam will at last be able to balance his budget without putting any new taxes onto the long-suffering back of old John Public, And here's hoping! It is known that there will be a considerable drop in income tax returns tills year. But even so, with the slash of expenses and the money from the foaming brew, Uncle Sam expects to make ends meet. V. OOP IN mhile on the suoject of Washington, here’s a telegram from William P. Smith of Cynwyd (KINWID) Pennsylvania, on* t you olease nronounce the name of the Secretary of need have no fear that you will be implying that he has a hv?— wooden head or issues wooden money.” — fill had-boon-inf-oymcfi tnut the--rroaurK*^^ i■ >n -¥^s nee" ■] I iit "" Ju^t 1 Is") ‘ma'.y; eui*uy I # me 0 telephoned today, to the Secretary’s home inNew Yor<, and / was told th t the correct pronunciation of the n me is wood in. ^^Vv\^t© iOJWv \\) &=o i.nd just to give myself a bit of practice in that correct oronunciation I’ll go on with a couole of odd facts ti nt I aickod un in the New York Daily News.Secretary of the Tr asurv vio )dinhas hae 3 long exoerience cn money. When he v.as sixteen years old his lather gave him ten tas *'“ b ££V ' - thousand dollars and ss.idi **Do what you like with 1, but get into debt.” Six months later ir*ill,iLe Woocin Aas broketW. work in his father's factory at ninety cents ^ A I a day. That taught him the value of money. . . GOODIN - 2 ommivimu :>■-■ -■■ icw =aBW«^aEtt77^.uv:1-------- : ■ \M fi: He is fond of jokes and puns. What kind of jokes? Well, here*s one the Secretary of the Treasury nlayed on a prominent citizen v.ho came to visit him at his country home. Mr. v.oodin got a lifesize, lifelike dummy of a woman, undressed it, and placed it In the bathroom of his guest’s room. When the prominent citizen retired it wasn't long before he came running out protesting! ’’Vihat kind of a place is this?” Mr. noodin s addiction to music is well known. He plays the zither, the violin, the guitar, and the piano — if you'd call it playing the piano. He plays the piano twice as well as Irving Berlin, Secretary Woodin uses two fingers; Irving Berlin uses only one. j GOLD Tn^- newspapers are featuring the story of a girl from Brooklyn v.ho has sent^to the President her store oi hoarded gold — five dollars worth of hoarded gold. There is a deeo note of feeling in this, xm. a hint of a sadness that must have been felt by thousands of people in this country. The girl is an Italian, In her letter she writes in neat, correct English. .Here is part of her letter:- "Often I have laughed at myself,finding it most absurd to fancy that-I, in my abysmal insignificance, could helo. Then I realised that, although unaware of it. I had been harming the country right along. Yes, Mr, Roosevelt, I found out that I was a hoarder. "The five-dollar gold oieee which I was keening for the last two years for the sake of like sentimental value represented part of the gold that is needed to keen the currency sound, * I am offering it to you together with a little gold chain, the only jewelry I possess- It 1 -n 11 tiuch but it is all I have, I haven't even got a job. i!I shall not tell you ray name because I would not like to yive the impression that I am doing this as a oublicity stunt. The only thing I want you to know is that I am an Italian girl. I hooe that, notwithstanding what has happened, you will believe me when I tell you that we all love you." last That .± h ± sentence is an indication of how1 deeply A. \ thousands of Italians in this country must have felt about that attempted assassination in Florida. ■ - ITALY Euiopean politics during the week developed * with a sharp focus on the historic city of the Caesars, Rome, "Chet's* conferences are now going on between Prime Minister MacDonald of Great Britain, and Mussolini, the Black Shirt Dictator of Italy. Today's report concerning the first conversation of the two statesmen declares that ---- — vk~ Mussolini accepts the British Disarmament Plan^in principal and with reservations. And that's an old diplomatic formula. Mussolini's principal reservation concerns the Italian Colonial army. The plan presented by Prime Minister MacDonald proposes to allow Germany to double the size of her military establishment and to restrict the magnitude of the French and Itali; n armies. It would allow the French to keep a large force of armed men in her huge African colonies. What Mussolini now asks £ ese is an increase in the number of soldiers the British scheme would allow.Italy to maintain in her colonies of Lybia and Somaliland.. Tho^-a- , . ,, __ , naicin nf - Dri tish-Prime M-Wnl stor1 s v±- ITALY - 2 1 " Or course there is the slant which is apparent to everybody, that the British may be trying to get Mussolini to bring some influence to bear on Hitler and Germany — with the Duce ptitting a curtr# on the wild ways of the Hitlerites. Certain it is that Eurooean opinion has become exceedingly pessimistic about the^Disarmament Conference. The op-nior. is frequently stated that Eurooe is drifting Into a general war. The most honeful sign is found in the traditional friendship between Great Britain and Italy, almost It Is axiom of statecraft that Italy, and Mussolini in oarticular, will march by the side of England. / / ( The week in Germany was just a continuation of a the oressure that the Hitler government is applying to its opponents. The anti-Semttic wave in Germany is still running strongly. Prominent Jews are leaving the country. The latest command is for a^ll Germany to celebrate the opening of the new Reichstag next Tuesday. It goes into power with Hitlerite majority, and in consequence the Fascist will cohorts kt - r celebration a spectacular way. fK M4tt- ' ' ' ''■W- - QXrQBD Hei s a cui ions contrast. On the continent of Europe we line! all sorts of warlike sentiment, especially among the young. In Italy and Germany the Nationalist movements are largely movements of youth. In England It seema -(■ • i f"' :o he someth-lng else again.| The past v:eek was^rudly disturbing for many a staid Englishman by a Resolution passed by the student body at Oxford. uxford Union, one of England’s most haloed schol .Stic institutions, met in solemn conclave and passed theyllesolution — ,!That this house will In no circumstances fight for King and country.” And other Biitish educational institutions are following suit. At Glasgow University more than six hundred students met and voted that they too would not light lor King and country The same thing happened at Leister and at University College in *.ales. Manchester Unive sity too is backing the extreme Pacifist position. eTi, you can Imagine what many an old English Colonel thinks of thi s uo-to-date version of the old British - | |rl 1 spirit# Prominent Oxford graduates stormed down to the University QX-FQRD - & * and denanded tliat the Pacirist motion be stricken from Young the records, a turbulent meeting was held. .Randolph A Churchill, the son of Winston Churchill, led the protest of the old graduates. He was received with catcalls. Somebody threw a stink bomb. he had to be escorted away by a couple of policemen. AndAti» Pacifist motion was A reaffirmed by a huge majority. It is now explained that the refusal of the boys WT3UC ^ .0 to fight for King and countryAis=BOureflection on the King BULGARIA The week brought vivid attention to a curious situation in Bulgaria, Pope PiusAKleventh at Rome issued -&JL, a lormal protest against the baptism oi‘ the^daugliter of the King of Bulgaria according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church, TheNev; York Times gives an interesting story of the progress of events in that Bulgarian dilemma. The ~£aJl a _ Vatican at first refused to sanction th*Tmarriage of the Italian Princess to the Bulgarian King^ who is a mtember of the Orthodox Church, Finally the Pone consented after receiving a pledge from the young couple that their children would be baptized as Roman Catholics. It is said that King Boris made this pledge although he knew that according to Bulgarian lawj, members of the royal 1 amily must belong to the Orthodox Church. He believed, however, that this could be altered. i.hen the young couple returned to Bulgaria the Bulgarian Ecclesiastics refused to sanction any change. Than tiio King olannea to sene the Queen to Italy lor a visit BULGARIA - 2 ABOUT the time the child would be born. The idea v/as to have the child baptized iramedi tely after its bir|h, in Italy. But the Bulgarian Ecclesiastics heard about the project and vetoed it. The little Princess was born in Bulgaria, and the story runs that immediately after her birth, she v/as taken for a few minutes from the c^ueen and secretly baptized according to Greek Orthodox rites. And so the Pope in his protestAagainst the broken promise esoecially declared that Queen Jo&anna was in no v/ise to blame. TALL The week’s events in the Tall Story ciub brought to light whopperif^^hlsit certainly deservd5^ an autographed, copy of the Tall Story book for a prize. is from a . t . Shorey, a town named A Speculator in New York. Well, a town named Speculator is a good place for big lies to thrive. Brother Shorey tells about an old hunter named Hiram, who, instead of using dvc*. powder, loaded shells with Blue Sunoco. he v/as at the edge of a cliff when he saw a big brown bear coming at him. The bear was so close that Hiram, panic Ki&i stricken, jumped off the cliff. And the bear jumped right on after him. Llkw Ly&ar ■ Li, The.% cliff was mighty tall, and on his way down,^Hiram thought hard. Realizing the power that wras in thftC®. shotgun loaded writn Blue Sunoco, he pointed the barrel downward and pulled both triggers. The recoil of the Blue Sunoco hurled him right back to the top of the cliff, where he caught hold, oi the projecting limb 01 a tree and crawled to safety. . TALL - 2 The bear, having no shotgun loaded with Blue Sunocdi, fell to the bottom of the cliff and was killed. CHbr.SE Nor come 157 varieties of cheese, x didn!t Icnov/ there vere that many in the world. The New York Times tells of a restaurant^ in Paris that specializes in cheese. How those Frenchmen love their fromage i It has a cellar — what, a cellar 1 Stacked against the walls are cheeses, and nothing but cheeses — all of the 157 varieties. Gamembert, Gorgonzola, and the a Limburger speak loudly to the nose. But I'll speak softly to the ears — with a subdued So Long Until Tomorrow. A