FIRST TIME ON PARADE—A provisional batttalion from the recently activated 25th Combat Team at Fort Benning, Georgia, marches down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D. C., in colorful Army Day ceremonies April 6. The only unit of its type in the Army composed of Negro enlisted personnel and white and Negro officers, the organization is being built around the 25th Infantry Regi ment which fought in the Pacific as a part of the 8th Army. (U. S. Army Signal Corps photo from Bureau of Public Relations.) P __ fl I -r L^aBil ]- tn-1._ _IHJ».IIIHHumi--—”1 II HITT 'pTriodTc “cancer _ - _ Lm-j lit n"-'-*-*-- II iif'r,-'*r*‘-±JLT‘ - *aiu>Ka&iWPr»UJ*<11 1 - Ll"- - - - EXAM IN ATIONS__ " ' -*r*rc , , m— • •• ■; Ye^hall khou* the truth and the truth shall make you free $ from -fear. African Cancer 5ecome effective in a simple, automatic way if we are ever to arrive at free markets.”—Lawrence Fer tig, economist. “I’ve lost my pucker.”—Elna than Daniels, Stamford, Conn., on his inability to play the trom i bone at 92. _ 1,000,000 tons of bituminous coal daily before strike. NAACP PETITIONS WAR DEPT CLEMENCY IN COURTS_ MARTIAL VICTIM New York—The NAACP, thru the assistance of special counsel, submitted on April 3rd to the Se cretary of War a petition of cle mency in behalf of general pri soner Willie Wilson. Private Wil son had been tried by General Court Martial in the South Paci fic in July, 1945, for an alleged violation of the 92nd Article of War, involving first degree mur der. The GI was found guilty as charged and sentenced to be con fined at hard labor the rest of his natural life. The petition pointed that from ADMIRAL LASHED BY PRES. SAYS NO COMMENT WASHINGTON, D. C_Navy Photo-Soundphoto—Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill, Commandant of the 8th Naval District at New Orleans, who was publicly con demned by the President for op posing the merger of the Army and Navy, photographed at the Navy Department where re is attending a routine meeting of District Commanders. He told Washington reporters there is not a thing in the World I can say. a reading of the record it was apparent that the killing was accidental, and to all probability it resulted from a faulty gun The NAACP pointed out that ac cording to the evidence, the pro secution failed to introduce the gun as court evidence. It was found emphasized that the charge of first degree murder should never have been made, and that the GI, if guilty at all was only guilty of negligcnc’e, resulting in the death of a friend. The failure of the prosecution -— llteeU&tM L Rep&itesi |gin WASHINGTON ill By .Walter Shead Wm> Correspondent WHU Washington Bureau. 1616 Eye St.. N. W. Co-Ops Battle to Keep Tax-Exempt Status npHE National Council of Farmer Co-operatives, representing ap proximately 2,300,000 members of local farm co-operatives, is clearing decks for action. A bitter fight in congress is anticipated over the move to tax farm co-operatives on income, along with other so-called tax-exempt organizations. These would include such tax exempt financial institutions as mu tual savings banks and building and loan associations. According to a re cent report of the internal revenue division, total assets reported by tax exempt groups for 1944 aggregated $13,438,908,000. Organizations en gaged in business such as the mutual banks, and co-operatives, accounted for the bulk of these assets with $12, 034,959,000. The report further showed that the gross income of the tax-free groups exceeds $5,000,000, 000 annually. Of this total income the farm co-operatives are the larg est tax-free group with gross income in 1943 of $2,233,804,000. Co-Ops Pay Many Taxes. Members of the farm co-opera tives received $117,646,000 in refunds or patronage dividends and other di rect disbursements, according to the report. To combat the impression that the farm co-operatives are, in fact, tax-free, the National Council of Farmer Co-operatives, however, has just issued a statement showing that for the year 1943, the 5,233 co operatives included in the treasury statement paid a total of $14,822,000 in various kinds of taxes including property tax, social security tax, use taxes and all other taxes paid by other business groups. “Farmer Co-operatives which are [■exempt under section 101 (12) oper ate as non-p~ofit organizations and they pay no federal income tax be cause they have no Income to tax,” said John H. Davis, executive sec retary of the national council. Davis further pointed out that there are approximately 10,300 co operative organizations reporting to the Farm Credit administration, whereas the treasury report only in cluded 5,223 of the farm marketing and purchasing associations or only slightly over 50 per cent of the total. The treasury report, Mr. Davis says, “completely refutes the claims of those who say that farmer co operatives are avoiding the payment of their fair share of taxes.” Tax League is Spearhead. The National Tax Equality league, supported by large industries in the grain, meat and other industrial fields, is carrying the ball for those seeking to bring the farmer co-oper atives into the income tax fold. They are being supported in some in stances by organizations of small in . dependent merchants, who are said to feel the greatest burden of com petition from the co-operatives. And at this time the smaller business committee of the house is working on a report which is expected to make recommendations on the tax question. Hearings held by the com mittee occupied several days and representatives of all the major farm organizations testified against the proposed move. The small business men up and down Main street in the smaller home towns of the nation, the inde pendent grain dealers, hardware and implement dealers and others, are loudest in their demands that the co-operatives pay the federal tax. The treasury department itself, how ever, could not say what proportion of the dividends or refunds could be classed as taxable income and it is ;likely that if there is any action either way, it is more likely to be proposed to equalize competition with this private business rather than for the revenue involved. Too Many Votes Involved. Then too, there is always the polit ical angle. This writer is convinced that this congress, which Is so sensi tive to the political winds, will not take action, since the farm mem bership so far outnumbers the mem bership of the small business groups. The political potency of some two million farm members, all allied with one or the other of the three large farm organizations, is something this reactionary congress will not overlook. And so the prospects are that any attempt to extend the federal gov ernment’s taxing power to include these farm co-operatives will reach an impasse. At least it will be a steep uphill fight, which the co-opera tives are most likely to win. At any rate, they are prepared here to go to bat on the question, and they will be aided by other pow erful forces included in the tax-free groups, such as the unions, the tax free financial and lending institu tions, and mutual insurance com panies. Tied in with this group also are the non-business organizations which also are tax free, such as chambers of commerce, hospitals and social welfare organizations, educational organizations and scien tific foundations ... all of which feel that an inroad into one tax-free group may endanger the others. to establish malice aforethought a prerequisite to support a con viction of first degTee murder, was a claim to constitute grounds of the greatest degree of clemen cy. The War Department was urged to consider the remitting of the remaining portion of Pvt. 1 Wilson’s sentence • For Greater Coverage ; ADVERTISE in the Guide j fine Quality-Personalized PRINTING JUST CALL HA-0800 ,-WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS_ Resume Wage T alks After T ruman Bid for Anti-Strike Legislation; Prize Steer Brings $10 Per Lb. ' ■ ■ ■ ■ i i .... Released bv Western Newspaper Union -■ (EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union’s news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) U. S. DIPLOMACY: Charges Double-Dealing In one of the most boisterous con gressional hearings of recent years, wily, silver-haired Maj. Gen. Pat : rick Hurley ripped into the state department career men for their al leged interference with his efforts to unify China and establish it as a base for far eastern political stabil ity. Alternately calm and heated, Hur | ley, recently resigned as ambassa 1 dor to Chungking, told the sen j ate foreign relations committee that during his discussions with Chinese communists he concluded that cer tain state department officials had convinced the Reds that his policy for unifying the country under Chiang Kai-shek would be scrapped. Instead, the officials were said to have declared that the U. S. would seek to stabilize Asia with a con trolled Japanese empire. In hitting at the career men. Hur ley charged that they sided with im perialist Great Britain, France and the Netherlands for keeping the orient divided to permit the con tinued exploitation of the subject people. In alleging underhanded state department workings. Hurley stated that war plans drawn up for the Big Three meet at Yalta and favoring the distribution of Allied arms to Chinese Reds if they were within Maj. Gen. Patrick Hurley the area of proposed American land ings, were communicated to the communists. As a result, the Reds moved en masse toward the pros pective beaches In an effort to se cure the arms ahead of Chiang’s nationalists. Mentioning George Atcheson Jr., and John S. Service as two of the career men working against his unification plan in Chungking, Hur ley said they retunned to the U. S. to be promoted as his superiors. LABOR: Truman Scare Because President Truman’s pro , posal for the creation of fact-finding machinery to speed settlement of industrial strife was reported to have thrown a scare into both capi tal and labor. General Motors and the CIO’s United Automobile Work ers agreed to a resumption of negotiations over the union’s de mands for a 30 per cent wage in crease. At the same time, expert observ ers looked to settlement of wage disputes involving two other major CIO organizations, the United Steel Workers against U. S. Steel corpor ation and the Electrical Workers against Westinghouse, General Elec tric and other corporations in this industry. Decision of G. M. and UAW to resume bargaining reportedly fol lowed a secret meeting between company and union officials in Pittsburgh, Pa., in which the danger of the President’s proposal to free negotiation was said to have been discussed. Under Mr. Truman’s re quest for congressional authority io set up faet-finding machinery, gov ernment representatives would be empowered to look into both com pany and union books to determine validity of rival claims and strike action would be withheld during the investigations. Advanced after failure of thq labor - management conference in j Washington, D. C., to establish me j chanism for speedy settlement of industrial warfare, the President’s proposal drew quick fire from union circles, the CIO announcing vigorous steps would be taken in an effort to divert the requested legislation. In openly breaking with the Dem ocratic administration on the pro posed measure, CIO Chieftain Philip Murray declared the design of such legislation was to weaken and de stroy labor organization while ap peasing American industry which has refused to bargain sincerely over wage demands. PEARL HARBOR: Prepared: Marshall Declaring that American military forces in Hiwaii were more ade quately equipped than at any other installation in the army, Gen. George C. Marshall, former U. S. chief of staff, told the congressional commit tee investigating the Pearl Harbor disaster that he felt Maj. Gen. Wal ter Short was prepared to meet a surprise attack on quick notice. Reflecting general military opin ion, however, Marshall testified that he did not expect a Japanese at tack on the big base, even though both the army and navy were aware that enemy spies there were for warding information on fleet move ments in Pearl Harbor to Tokyo. A conservative Japanese thrust southward to Thailand and Malaya was anticipated, Marshall related. Acknowledging receipt of Short’s reply to Marshall warning of pos sible hostilities sent on November 27, the ex-chief of staff said special attention was not called to the fact that the Hawaiian, commander had only reported alerting his forces against sabotage without mention ing other preparations. Regarding U. S., British, Dutch and Canadian pre-Pearl Harbor discussions, Marshall said their purpose primarily concerned the de feat of Germany rather than Japan. In a message to President Roose velt sometime in the summer of 1941, the former chief of staff opined that the Allies could not defeat the Nazis with supplies alone, but large ground forces would be required. Jap Chief Faces Death First major axis personage to be convicted of war crimes, Japanese General Tomoyuki Yarrutshita's life detrended on a U. S. Supreme court disposition of his appeal that the military commission trying him lacked authority, and finally upon Gen. Douglas MacArthur if the high American tribunal denied his peti tion. Though Yemushita was not directly charged with committing atrocities, he urns accused of having contenanced them. With typical Japanese humility in defeut, Yama shita thanked the U. S. for supplying him irith “brilliant and conscien tious” lawyers for his trial, and also praised the fairness of the hearings FAT STOCK: Record Sale Grand champion of the Chicago Market Fat Stock show, Tomi-hawk, sleek Shorthorn steer raised by Carl A. Henkel of Mason City, Iowa, and Joseph Duea of Belmond, Iowa, brought the highest price ever paid for a steer when it was auctioned off to John R. Thompson, Chicago restaurateur, for $11,100. Sired from a Shorthorn bull bred by Chicago Packer Thomas E. Wil son, Tomahawk scaled 1,100 pounds, bringing the owners' return to $10 a pound, $1.15 less than the all-time top per pound paid to the Eastern States exposition champion of 915 pounds in 1929. Tomahawk's huge return justified the confidence of its owners, who turned down a $500 bid for the steer 17 months ago. High prices prevailed for stock champions, Karl Hoffman, veteran Hereford breeder of Ida Grove, Iowa, receiving $30,660 for his grand prize oerload of 15 steers averaging 1,022 pounds, and George E. Hoffman and his son, George Jr. of Ida Grove, Iowa, obtaining $1,742 for the top carload of 26 Berkshire hogs aver aging 268 pounds. Honor 4-H Climax to the whirlwind 4-H con gress held in Chicago, 111., 151 dele gates received approximately $32, 000 in awards at the annual banquet staged in the Stevens hotel. Of the total, $17,200 was paid in scholar ships mostly of $200 denominations while $14,600 was disbursed in trav elling expenses and $900 in victory bonds. Of five-day duration, the 24th an nual 4-H convention proved a field day for the 1,200 delegates in at tendance, 80 per cent of whom had never b*en outside their home states or stopped at a hotel, and 50 per cent of whom had enjoyed their first train ride in coming to the meet. Stressing the need for individual progress and enterprise to assure survival, Secretary of Agriculture Anderson told 4-H delegates that 50 per cent of the youth living on farms will have to seek other occu pations due to increasing efficiency and mechanization. Points Up Lack of Modern U. S. Roadways Only 6 per cent of the 333,000 miles of primary rural highways in the United States have more than two traffic lanes, Charles M. Upham, engineer- director of the American Road Builders’ association, revealed. “It will surprise many that in 1943 we had only 20,879 miles of roads with more than two lanes, of which 14,661 were three lanes,” he said. "America’s mileage in more than two-lane highways is far more limited than most people realize and much of this is not of a high type surface,” Mr. Upham went on. “Only five states—Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Texas—have in excess of 1,000 miles each, and the predmoninance of this is of the three-lane variety. In fact, deduct ing the three-lane mileage, Kansas has only 93 miles of four-lane or more, Minnesota 253, Nebraska 31, New York 567 and Texas 617.” FARM PROBLEM: * CED Solutions I Broader vocational training, spe cial types of rural employment; services and an accelerated shift of manufacturing into country areas would materially assist in the in creased use of surplus farm labor in industry and help solve one of the primary problems of agricul ture. the Committee for Economic Development declared in a state ment released by Chester Davis, CED vice chairman and presi dent of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. With agriculture destined to look more and more to the co-operative effort of government for assistance in resolving problems arising from heavy mechanized production and pressure on commodity prices, the CED foresaw a need for three types of federal payments within the near future: (1) to enable farmers in de pressed regions like the cotton belt to shift to other crops or occupa tions; (2) to compensate operators for the effect of severe industrial depressions, and (3> to permit reali zation of the government pledge to support farm prices for two years after the war. In reference to long-range price policy, CED asked for re-examina tion of the whole cost system, be ginning with a redefinition of parity in relation to existing conditions. GOP: Map Platform Making no bones about their conservatism. Republican members of congress drawing up a campaign platform for 1946 called for bal ancing the budget, economy and re duction of bureaucracy and repre sented themselves as the counter weight to what they styled Demo cratic radicalism. In rounding out their domestic platform, the GOP solons backed collective bargaining with govern ment provision for speeding settle ment of disputes, and also stood for government support of farm prices in the readjustment period and agri culture’s future fair share of the na tional income. In foreign affairs, the Republicans favored the United Nations organi zation, the right of individual na tions to self-government and exten sion of relief to the needy in war tom lands abroad to prevent chaos and misery. Advocating a well trained armed force, the GOP also asked for scientific research to as sure the most modem weapons. Cocky Hermann Now heading the list of 20 top Nazis being tried for war crimes in Nuernberg, Hermann Goering found diversion in palmier days playing with animals from his mini ature zoo at Karin Hall estate. Blandly assuming responsibility for all of his official acts and continuing to swear by national socialism, Goering has been the most aggres sive of the Hitlerian big-wigs at the trial, now in its second phase with British prosecution of principals on charges they violated international treaties. BRITISH LOAN: Trade Help In what the British termed “a magna carta for world trade,” the Truman administration replied to their appeal for a loan to permit an orderly resumption of their for eign commerce by agreeing to an advance of 4.4 billion dollars subject to congressional approval. Flatly turning down British pro posals for an outright grant on the strength of arguments that their early stand had prevented a Nazi victory, the administration agreed to spread the loan over a 50-year pe riod at a 2 per cent interest rate, first payable in 1951. As a result of the loan, Britain will be able to pay off wartime debts by shipment of finished goods to creditor nations, while still importing material to maintain an adequate living standard. The two countries also pledged to work for a reduction in tariffs and the elimina tion of quotas and other restrictions on world trade. TROOP TRANSPORT: Thirty-two American troop trans ports with a combined capacity of 83,000 men have been ordered trans ferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific and will move through the Panama canal by the end of De cember on their way to Japan or the Philippines, the army said. Seventeen of the vessels are fast troopships, including the West Point — formerly the America — largest U. S. passenger liner afloat. The other 15 are converted Victory ships. )