GO D V E' 11 E V y DY : h n t E i g ty f ir s t Con ress conven ed to a y the e m ocr t s im m i a t ly emon tr ted th t they re in un.iis ute d c o ntrol. The firs t tes t C me when a voice vote was calle d to reduce the po er of t h e Bo use u es Co :nm ittee. The ules Committee is a m ig h ty important one. It acts as a clearing house for bi lls . ecides which tJ be consider 2 d, hich to be i eon holed. You have to ha•• the approv a l of the Rules Committee to get your bill to the floor. In the last Congress the Administration soae- ti es did not have the support of the Rules Coaaittee. So Mr. Truman has been eager to curb its power. Today's motion as for a change i~ congressional procedure. To empower the chairman of all legislative committees in Congress to have their bills considered by the Bouse, if the Rules Committee does not clear t em "i thin t w n y - n a y . No m o r i l c an pigeonho l b y th u 1 s C o m m i t c ! od a y L ha t mo t i o "a u t to t e Ho u s e ; an d i t ,as ca r r1 e b a vo i c v ote o f t o- h undr d -an d -seventy fiv e to a hun r ed -an d -forty - two. Rep ub l ican 1 aders tried to e f e at tne man uv r. 1 y said it would brin a bout a d ictatorsbi . ut en th e votes w e re count d fo1 · ty-nine e p ublice s, ■ore t h an a 11•z quarter of the •epublicans h ad voted ith the Democrats. U n t e other hand thirty-one Deaocrats had vot d with the hepublicans. hat votP. also shows that the Dixiecrats may join up with the Aaministrati n, in a crisis. On Satu T day, forty-eight of the Southern Democrats voted against the new ral in th e ir party caucus. But to da y, in Congress, s eve nt en of the southerners support. d tb e A a aini s tration. 1~• ~oliticaJ ataae ie ae• ee~ &eF the O ur L - ar hmb a lo o c o w cnl Pd at t.h ' hit n us this m rnin • n ral B d 11 Smith as th r i n p rs on to a s t e P r s id en t to a c c e pt his r esig na ti n. D i d r . ruman say •yes". Not yet. In f a ct he said he had tol d t he President he would r e turn to Moscow - if o oessary. ut, he doesn 't. want to g o. The reporters naturally aske him if there was anythin g in the story of a split in the Soviet Politburo -- the to men in the Kremlin. liis reply was that his own relations with the Politburo had been some hat limited. But that as tar as be ta ■■ knows there never is any cleavage in that boay! If the members of the P~lit uro do have differences they keep it a s cret. A definite split in the Pi,litburo woalc be "bey ond my imagination" saia thP Ambassador. A 11 ht & •aw 1 ci add t.o t bet was t l>e t • l •• 11 • • • ~ oLLO~ ON h · ----- · ------------- - --- am y u r of ' 1 ' x n c pe ak • r 0 ous . i ci J Mar in a h ave t, e avel t.o i sue r: ".ou no , 'am , I r lly thou ht y u 1 anl, t., t, o ~ ar a o, I a idn't know it was t · 1 · r'"· jus an no 1an " REPOBLICANS --- · - -- The Senate Republicans today re-elected Taft ~shed of their olicy committee. Lodge, of Massachusetts, : avorite of the younger Republicans! lost out. Senator Wherry of Nebraska, was selected floor lea over Senator Inowland of Oll.ifornia. Only one of the ~ enate GOP insurgent groap won an important position Saltonstall of Masaaobuaetta to be the party whip. Which makes him an ex-officio member of policy committee. • C o 1 o n e 1 r k Ho 1 y , o u r m · · i t a r y com ma nd an t in Berlin, is t, 1 ing or m n t o t, i•• tough, - and sto frat rnizin ith th uss ians. ver the New Y ear , 1 y t eara iha l an erican official had wished a Russian official "all st" for the New Year - and had invited him t o Let them eat t said Howley.Let I them eat tne bones cf Ger ■ an cattle. I want uone of ay aen to play footsie •"h the Russians during tbia intolerable .,. He spoke of how American and British fliers dying to kee the air lift moving. And how the America people are bein forced to spend hundreds of ■ illloaa of dollars to fight the blockade. He ■embering all this, he says he doesn ' t want any Americans under bis If the Soviets refuse to get along *tk ■ with Alli d countries and li-e like civilized eople at the top level, said the Colonel, lh n there should e no BLOCKADE -2 ___ , __ social relations between u any here. He advoc ted a uniform policy-top brass an army priv tea ike, to giYe the cold shoulder to the Soviets ho re coating us so much in life and money. It's all right, saya the Berlin military commandant, for American ~fficiala who have business with the Russians to be polite. But anything in the way of getting palsy with the people who are the cause of the costly and brutal blockade, that's out. A PRI ' ON R ' ---.-------- · - In L on ci on tooa , h ni d Sta l s j ~ ined itb r at Brit in ana lir anc e in a s in g Russia officially ho• many G rma n p ri on r sh s ti l 1 ho l ds. A l so, why the · ovi ts faile lo r leas th ir G rman prisont>.rs was on December '! hirty -first 1 as t,. That •• the deadline for the releas of all prisoner - according to an inter-allied agreement. '1 l;ondon port that Ger ■ alla. • many mo ~ ~; who ure never e?ficiaµf counted after end / of the war. A lao Sib / ••icl to b~ olding bu thousands or J panese, u1ia1 t~em for slJ4e labor. In April, ~ineteen Fort7-Seven, the Big Four foreign ministers agreed to release all German prisoners. Russia at that time ad ■ itted to having nearly a milli>n. But, the count shows that nearly three million Germans h ve ' disappeared in Russia. lh re are they? The estern allie, and the relative& mi asing of the ~*••*••, men ar demanding an answer. F ANCE ------- r n h OV rnm n t, i inv . t.i P, atin g a financial · candal. a ia to invo ve t, mi appropriation . of t'Ub ic u nds. Upon b in to ld abou lhe misa propriati n of tho billions of francs, the French i at io na l Assembly voted for an imm diate purge. 1op tanking civil servants requisitioning buge quantities of liquors, •• costly ines, and women's clothes; police officials - members or tbe Surete Nationale, faking expense accounts, charging for trips by road and rai 1 t.ha t they never ■ ade. AN Tbe Chamber of Deputies has now learned all about it.. The investigation• s touched off after an auditing by the French Accountant General. Among other things he found t.hat French officials bad been getting gr at aany new automobiles. The Ministry of lali ■ Educa t.ion for instance with two hundred 11• ne cars, tw nty-eight of them markad. for•• the use of the Iii in i s t er hims 1 f - and hi s per s o na 1 s ta ff. Also, a lot of borro ing o furnitur • ' o much FRA C ---·--- ,.. f r · r ro · O fr m Manu a ctu e r s by Fr ench Mini try of 'ic i al t at t,h c of _urnitur in f r a nc s co 1 1 t l y x h aust d - n t a st.ic left ·o r anyon so a 11emb r of The ' ha11b r of tl ut.i 1 pa tch. So, t.o d ay e r e asking, why did the ministries need ornate sets of bedrooa furniture? Did so many officials sleep at t -- with expensive sheett an d pillo• cases? office TbP.y also l arnea today ho• other governaent. officials had a taste of art. lhen General DeGaull• was bead of the governmeut, t o historic tape1triee were loaned to the · ar Yinistry for taenty-tour hours to•••••• decorate th General's rooa when be was visited by a foreign statesaan. lnd then tbey were never returned. lhere did those priceless tapestries got lnvetiti ators are now searching govern ■ent office• for them -- as ell as for all those expensive modern bedroom set. As arch for the anci nt. an the moaorn -- an al so f r a ,. i 1 i o n fr a n c • ¥ ro 0 p ~ ramm r au, ~~rmaR•~ ~ h ar lhat 1 A t,h 1 am u ion P ay may n t ro uced nex year, c au s of sorta e of fun . Lik the rest of luro p , t. little Bavarian mount in villa-e has been hit by in l ation. Mon y buyin , nothin, and the market sbar 1 reduc d for the wood carvin s which the inhabitants sell the tourisls. Tbe 9•••• ■ mer8an Passion Play is produ~ed every ten years. The act.or~.-.. the villagers o! Obera■■er1aa. Bo one else ~•i•8 allowed to take part) and _..._.._. -•o salarr. 0 Tbi & in strict tradition·• i th t.he first 11 production of the play~ in Sixteen Hundred and Thirty four • . lhen Europe was ' infected by the plague, which followea the Thirty-years ar, on~ out of ten of everyone of the Oberam■ ergau inhabitants died. So th•J staged the Passion Play, t.he dra ■a of the last daye of the Saviour fro■ the triumphant entry to Jeruaal@a to the Crucifiction, whereupon the plague anded; ao • e a r e to l d • PASSIO PLY -2 ------ A n d throu h the ye a rs t h e a sion lay became an intern a tional event, drawin p op le from all p arts of the world. A t the p eak of its p o ~ u la rity, more than a thous nd playe rs t o o· part in it. And today, nee a a i the elders are worried. hat money the villa e has is being spent on a more important project, feeding two thousand refugee,, victims of World ar Two, who sought shelter in their quaint village. The word from Bavaria today is that Oberaaaergau has faith - faith that aoney aoaeho• will come from aoaewbere, to pay for the production of its play and thus prevent the chain of history bein& broken. And, because they believe thia, the youn& aaa - 3 re ta rt.i n t.o ro tl · b 1 r , r to r e ady t.hems lves t.o ~lay th ir art. in th r at Passi o n Play. Actually. th con inuity of the O be rammer ga u assion Play has been broken, at. le ast one before. I know a little about it, pe rsonally, •••• an a few years ago ■ay have tol the story on the air, of how, at the end of lorld War One, two of us, American war correspoadenta, were t~e first to visit Oberammergau. At the tiae all Ger ■ any •as enveloped in revolution. The '•iser had fled. And the ~ocialists were battling it out with the Coa11unists. Wnen Vi ebb Waldron, European Editor of Collier's and I arrived in Munich, the Red flag was flying fro ■ the City Ball, and Iurt Eisner, a aaall red-headed Polish Jew, was the ruler of Bavaria. ~ebb and I s«l tHought it would be an excellent idea to spend Christmas in Obera ■■ ergau, t~e ho■e of t b e Pas s ion P 1 ay . e t o 1 d D i ct at o r I u r t E is n er about this and asked if we could arrow an automobile., of which there were almost none that would run at that moment. lie got. us a car, but it had no tires. Finally, A w rou nd ed up some old tires, and found some petrol. Off we started, throu h the snow, for the Bavarian Alps. Half way to Oberammergau our car broke down. e aban oned it., and hired a horse- . drawn bob-sled, that took us the rest of the way. 2icturesque le foun'!,(Oberaaaergau buried deep in snow. The vil agers elcomed us, the first visitors they had had in four years. In fact, until we caae that Cbriat11as Day, Nineteen Eighteen, they d ldn' t, e••• know that the First lorld iar had ended. ie &ayed at the boae of Anton Lang, who played the part of Christ,, and fro■ bi ■ and the bearded folks who played the parts of Judas and the other Diaciples, we learned bow tbeJ bad been unable t.o produce tbe Passion Play. lo• the children and grandchildren of those whoa e knew, are raising beards, getting ready to play parts in the orld'1 most faaous draaa. CINA ----- l n Ch ina oo y , Cit • Counc i l of Shan hai a a 1 d y r a i o f o r an i mm o i a t, c a s f i r b t e e n th ,ationa i t and the C ommunists. T his ap pe al they sent both to the ' ommunis 1 ad r, Mao-Tse-Tun g , in Yenan, ana to Pr i ent Chiang Kai bhek in Nanking. he ~hanghai radio spokesman addressed Communist Mao Tse-Tun as "mister". Thus conferring on him a title of ,.o r t , y. e a r this i s the r ir at, time a ommunist eader in China has ever been so address d by tne opposition. ' L he ed bi ■ to or4 r his fighting, ,,, ~nea, wait epresentat,i\'es of both ~· peace. a, if the re _., · re di aputes du / egotiation / , the ~bangh•1 City ~ouncil, , / that an 4ppeal be aade to Chinese pu ic opinion. / I wonder .• ow the Genera 11/s imo and his / / iationalist eolleagues fe 1 about this appe the 1iiia citizens of Shanghai? It's r~ ayor of New York pr9posing eace •i~h an / Uni ed late is at war. Th~ be the f San rranci co had a bank rob b ery to~ay. An th robb r -- was a woman. She's described as ooout forty-five, short, husky and hard-faced. tell areas d, in a blue coat with a fur collar and dark glasses. Just before closing time she walked up to tbe window of Teller John Zobel of the Bank of A erica, and h anded hi ■ a note. The note told bia be was covered by three men with guns, and that ahe •anted tifteen thousand dollars. So the teller gave her a handful of curr•1cy which she stuffed into a paper bag, and lefL in a hurry. be San irancisco police say it's the firat ti ■ e in the city's history for a wo ■ an to stage a aucceaaful bank raid. There have been six bank robberies in . San Francisco ithin the last six months, with the bandits a ■ using the sa■ e device -- a note handed to a teller. Fr om Tok Y o w he a r t ha t ' n er a 1 M a c A r th u r has ma a • w Y e ar's re · o l ution. In Nin teen Forty- • eight th e n ra l took a day off from his office - one c1ay out of three-hundred-and-sixty-five, Satuays and ~undays a na holidays incluaed only one day. I bat did he <io on his one day o !f? hy he flew to Iorea for the inauguration of the new Republic. Is be go 1111 to take~• two days off this year? Mo: not even one! General •acArthur says - that in Rineteen Forty-nine he won• t ■ i as a single day at the office! I think we ought t.o start a petition - to send to llacArtbu••• · boss - if he has ne - asking that he be giwen • week off - to go skiing on llt. FujiYaaa. Geaenl MacArthur on skis! le would bav e our llovietone newsreel caaeraaen there for that! Today of course is t h e first onday of the New Year. A critical day we are told for the thousand• who made resolutions. How are you doing with yours? Statisticians and other opsters - including r. Gallup . and Elmo Ro er, I suppose, sa that according to the law of averages, it stood up over the weekend -- your resolution. You are, or ere, strong until today. Bat, today is the real test. If you swore off cigarette ■ , the Aaerican Yedical Association says that yoa pro,a,17 weakened - today. A quiet puff - juet one! And then--. But, if you did weaken don't be di1coura1ea. The American Medical Aesooiation aaya it's huaan to break a resolution. But if you do want to stop aaokin1 try rinsing your mouth with a mild solution of sil••r nitrate. Or, try the psychological approach. nead everything that's written about your habit, ee eciall7 the biographies of famous people who have gi••n up the weed. And, the American Medical Association aakea other suggestions that you can get from them; or, look up Gene Tunney who when last seen was trudging through RESOL0TIO -2 -- -- Adirondack snows, a lone, on h is w y to M t. Whitney. Gene has written some much deb a ted articles on the subject of how to escape from the wiles of y Lady Nicotine. Or, look u p Pros o er Burane l li, ~he crossword puzzle magicia~ in N ew York. de•a an authority on the subject. And now, Nelson, are you an authorit1 oa anything -- and have you any loft7 resolution iD ala47