W EEKLY HEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBIHE Higher Liquor Tax Considered To Finance Defense Program; Election-Year Levy Unpopular (EDITOR’S NOTE—When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) ___________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. ... CONGRESS: Budget Blues What Franklin Roosevelt’* budget message tossed into the congression al lap was a choice of following his recommendations and getting a def icit of only $1,716,000,000. or defy ing him and making it about $3,000, 000,000. Slashed were most items, but boosted to a peacetime record was national defense. If the Presi dent's ideas are followed, and if previous authorizations are appro priated, the cost will run well over $2,000,000,000. Very shallow was the hope that an early European peace may obvi ate the defense program. It ap peared. instead, that congress must enter an election year trance and decide which plan the public would swallow the easier: More taxes, to raise $460,000,000 as the President asked, or a boost in the national debt limit? Within a few days it was obvious that good Democrats were sparring for time. They gathered in huddles to wonder where tax money might be raised, tentatively settling on new liquor taxes and a slight boost in in come levies. Mississippi’s Pat Har rison, chairman of the senate finance TAT HARRISON Will John Barleycorn i>ay? committee, publicly doubted wheth er the defense program was justi fied, yet he shied away from criti cizing the President. Finally, with White House blessing, he sought more time by asking a joint legis lative committee to study the Roose veltian budget. But congress, ap parently refusing, turned instead to that hardy perennial, the anti lynching bill. Notes In an election year, congress and politics are intimately associated. Many G. O. P. comments were forthcoming after the President’s budget message. Samples: C. At Topeka, 1936 G. O. P. Candi date Alf Landon thought this about the slash in expenditures: "If the President really is serious in his budget plans, you will hear howls all over the place. He couldn't get the nomination now if he wanted it He is too smart a politician to try it.” C At Chicago, Ohio's Sen. Robert Taft accepted the President’s chal lenge to submit a plan for balancing the budget. The Tuft Plan: (1) de termination by the President to bal ance it; (2) elimination of bureaus, reduction of employees; (3) return of relief to states, and changes in housing, agriculture and loan agen cies; (4) elimination of local works grants, reduction of federal public works and reduction of subsidies; (5) elimination of budget "pets,” like army and navy items. NIBLETS | HERE’S WHY—At Moscow the magazine Communist Internationale explained, in answer to foreign re ports that Russia had ambitions to “Sovetize” Finland: “Russia's only aim is to free Finland from a gang of oppressors and imperialistic war mongers and to safeguard Finnish democratic development.’’ CASEY AT BAT—At Washington and Canberra it was announced simultaneously that the U. S. and Australia will establish diplomatic relations for the first time. (Pre viously, Britain represented Austra lia here.) First Australian minis ter will be Richard G. Casey. Soon to be named is the U. S. minister to Canberra. SPENDTHRIFT—Of her $25,750 personal allowance for 1939, the 16 year-old Heiress Gloria Vanderbilt spent only $10—for books. BANQUET — While Democrats wined and dined throughout the U. S. in honor of President Andrew Jackson's birthday anniversary. Re publicans at Indianapolis held a 25 cent milk and cracker feast honor ing Abe Lincoln. SECRET — In Hollywood died Flora Finch, co-player with John Bunny in early movie comedies. Her secret was her age, probably about 80. Her chieftains’ secret: The fact that Flora Finch’s contract with M G-M was regarded by the bookkeep ing department as a pension for an old trouper. BALKANS: Squabbles Before 1940 has gone its way the brave nation of Rumania may see trouble a-plenty. It started that way. Bucharest heard that Bul garia. its unfriendly southern neigh bor, had signed a trade pact with Russia, which wants the Rumanian province of Bessarabia. Next King Carol heard that Hungary’s Count Stefan Csaky, whose nation will seize Rumanian Transylvania if Russia invades Bessarabia, was conferring in Italy with Foreign Minister Ciano. A political realist, Italy’s Benito Mussolini knows the Balkans have a better chance of blocking Russian aggression (which would also hurt Italy) if they settle their squabbles in advance. Purpose of the Ciano Csaky conversations, therefore, was to urge Hungary and Rumania to settle their revisionist problem im mediately. In so doing, II Duce took a hearty slap at the Soviet. So did King Carol. Encouraged to defend Bessarabia now that the Finns are doing a remarkable job against Russian aggression, Carol and his retinue crossed into this dan gerous province, defied Moscow and smiled while Bessarabian minority leaders shouted: "We pledge our lives for our beloved Rumanian fu therland." ASIA: If (mg's Ready “The lime is now ripe for establish ment of a new central government in China. Careful study reveals that the objectives of Ifang Ching-wei are con sonant with Japan's manifest efforts toward helping in the formation and expansion of the proposed new govern ment." Thus, after much back-slapping, brow-beating and tutoring. Puppet Wang Ching-wei was announced ready to take over Japan's make believe "government” in conquered parts of China. THE WARS: Shakeup Far bigger than the war on France's western front was the bat tle of London. Called to a cabinet meeting by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was Leslie Hore Belisha, dynamic, Jewish minister of war who has built the British army from a stodgy and antiquated organization into one of the world's smartest. Minister Hore-Belisha was asked to sign his resignation. Also fired was Lord MacMillan, bundering minister of information. Announced purpose of the shake up was to establish national unity. HORE-BELISHA Social grounds? Neville Chamberlain did just that: There was national unity, but it was unity of opposition to the “sacking" of an efficient war minister in fa vor of Oliver Stanley, the 43-year olc! board of trade president whose father (seventeenth earl of Derby) was a war minister in World war days. By next morning every British paper, regardless of political lean ings, was blasting against the gov ernment. Typical was the London Star: "If it is shown that Mr. Hore Belisha was thrown overboard to satisfy a clique of generals who dis liked him on social grounds, or be cause he was pressing the pace of democracy in the army too strongly, then public resentment will be wide, deep and lasting." To both Hore-Belisha and the Prime Minister an opportunity for rebuttal was coming, but it would probably take place behind closed doors in the house of commons. Meanwhile it was rumored that Winston Churchill, first lord of the admiralty, would soon follow Stan ley as war chief. Other war news: Western Front. Minor artillery fire. Entertainment by the fabulous Albert, Frjnch airman whose daring antics along the Luxembourg fron tier keep natives in stitches. Northern Front. Finnish destruc tion of still a third Russian divi sion (the forty-fourth) near Suo mussalmi at Finland's waistline. Fighting was stalemated in the far north and on the Karelian isthmus, but in the central part Finnish troops penetrated Russ lines to dynamite the Leningrad-Murmansk railroad, thus isolating the northland. tFKKs,6K?&4f&'T?mir(*'M' MHiii>i|i|>i|n ] j' mm ill|i~|l|7r~irrH|jli TREND NAVY — If President Roose velt's $1,224,521,833 naval appro priation request (See CONGRESS) ts adopted, the U. S. will become the world's No. 1 sea power, big ger than Britain, twicr as big as Japan. RAILROADS—Daniel Willard, President of the B & O. railroad, said he wanted coach fares re duced to two cents per mile, thus meeting bus competition. Present eastern rate: 2Vi cents. AGRICULTURE — The tariff commission was told that imports of cheap Canadian wheat were keeping the domestic crop price below parity, thus threatening the success of farm aid measures. SHIPPING—The U. S. warned Britain it will be held account able for injuries to American ves sels or crews taken into belliger ent ports for searching. LABOR: A. F. of L. Damned By receiving more votes than ei ther of his fellow members, NLRB's William Leiserson was ranked “least unpopular” in a poll by the magazine Factory Management. But all three members (Leiserson, Warren Madden and Edwin S. Smith) should be fired, said voters. This contrasted with a Supreme court ruling which held congress, not NLRB, responsible by virtue of too much power lor NLRBs unpopular decisions. Coddled and cursed by such conflict in g t e s t i mony, NLRB went on trial again before the house commi 1.1 e a appointed to investigate it. New evi MRS. HERRICK “How long, oh Lord,, dence: A discharged NLRB trial exam iner said that Regional Director Robert Cowdrill of Indianapolis al ways speeded C. I. O. cases, but tossed aside A. F. of L. cases with the statement: “There’s another damned A. F. of L. case.” Com mented the witness: “The A. F. of L. usually was referred to as the damned A. F. of L.” Next came a dramatic paper pre pared by Mrs. Elinore M. Herrick, New York regional NLRB director, complaining about delays in proce dure. Said her paper: “We must wait! Wait! Wait! . . . How long, oh Lord! How long must we wait!” NAVY: New Boss C. Cannon roared aboard dread naughts in San Pedro harbor. Final ly, after much saluting, six-foot Ad miral James Richardson from Paris, Texas, strode down the Pennsyl vania's quarterdeck to shake hands with Admiral Claude Bloch. Admi ral Richardson stayed as command er-in-chief of the U. S. navy; Ad miral Bloch went ashore as a rear admiral in retirement. Ahead lay commandership of Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. COMMERCE: Game? In far-away Buenos Aires took place a show that may have been staged for the benefit of the U. S. congress. Broken off suddenly were reciprocal trade treaty talks be tween Ambassador Norman Armour and President Roberto M. Ortiz. Reasons given: (1) influence of Brit ain, No. 1 importer of Argentine beef; (2) a forthcoming election in Argentina; (3) refusal of Argentina to remove discriminations against U S. goods, and most important (4) refusal of the U. S. to import Ar gentine canned beef and flaxseed from Argentina without quota lim itations. Maybe yes and maybe no, but it was possible that U. S. insistence on quota limitations, even at the price of sacrificing the treaty, was de signed to allay the fears of western farmers and their congressmen. Up for renewal this year is the recipro cal trade act, basis of the adminis tration's entire low tariff program. Already faced with enough opposi tion to either destroy the act or give ratification power back to the sen ate, the state department is eager to show farmers that the trade pro gram won’t be allowed to hurt them. PEOPLE: Danes Death C At Chicago died Rufus C. Dawes, 72, president of A Century of Prog ress Exposition, financier, brother of former Vice President Charles G. Dawes. Last November Son Elliott Roose velt fathered the Transcontinental Broadcasting System which first planned to start operations with 100 stations on December 15, then Jan uary 1, then February 1. In Fort Worth, where he heads the Texas State Radio network, Elliott an nounced his resignation from TBS. C. At Boston died Mr.s. Eflle I. Can ning Carlton, about 84, who once made up an impromptu tune to lull to sleep the restless baby of a neigh bor. The song: ‘‘Rock-a-bye Baby.” C. At New York, W. Alton Jones was named head of Cities Service Co. Improved Uniform International SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON •> Bv HABOI.D I. I.IIN'HMJIST. D D Dean of The Moodv Bible Institute of Chicago. 'Released by Western Newspaper Union.' Lesson for January 21 Lesson subjects and Scripture texts se lected and copyrighted by International Council of Heiigious Education: used by uermission A NEW STANDARD OF GREATNESS LESSON TEXT—Matthew 20:17-28 GOLDEN TEXT—While we were vet sinners. Christ died for us.—Romans 5:8 The nations of the earth and their leaders are engaged in a struggle to determine which land and which leader is to be the greatest. They may attempt to conceal their real motive under a clonk of high-mind ed and well-soundin? objectives, but essentially the reason for their struggle is the desire to be great To them greatness means size, strength, wealth, and position It means that also to the average man on the street. What a pity it is that such is the case and that such » vicious and erroneous philosophy of life has been permitted to make its way even into the Church The world's ideas of greatness an entirely opposite to God's standards God’s people ought to learn wha< His ideals of life are and to live in accordance with them even in hi unbelieving world Both they acr' the world would br astonished at th result I. living for Olliers (vv 17-19) With surprising clarity and d tail the Lord Jesus once more r' vealod to His disciples that He vv;. on His way to Jerusalem to die and to arise again. It is well worth while to note that apart from divine foreknowledge and inspiration it would have been utterly impossible for Him to give these facts in such exact detail. The point we wish to stress is that the Son of God was steadfastly approaching the death of Calvary He had no desire to live for self, to gratify His own wishes, to prolong His life, or to improve His position in the world. He had come to do but one thing, the will of God, even to the shameful death of the cross, there to bear your sins and mine. Let us give ourselves in loyal de votion to our dying and risen Lord II. Living for Self (vv. 20-24). Were It not written for us to read. we could hardly believe that the two disciples, James and John, who were so very near to cur Lord, and their mother, who was a woman of earnest faith and sacrificial service to God, would be guilty of such an expression of selfishness, especially in that sacred hour when He had spoken of His approaching death Disregarding what Jesus had said about His sufferings, they apparent ly could think only of His coming glory, and in thinking of that they could only covet for themselves the chief places. What a strange mix ture of faith in Christ and an over whelming desire for self-glory! Perchance some of us have served Christ with a selfish desire for per sonal glory and position putting it self forward to influence our think ing and acting. Perhaps we do not see it in ourselves, but are like the other disciples who, seeing this hate ful thing in John and James, were repelled by it, even as we despise U in others. It may be that the dis ciples were only angry because they had not thought to make the request for themselves. III. Finding True Greatness