Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

Current Events
By
Prof. William H. Kussell.
Ph.D.
BRITAIN VOTES CONSERVATIVE
Great Britain's recent
Parliamentary
elections produced
a substantial victory for the Conservative Party. They
raised their majority from 17 seats to 59, and increased their
share of the popular vote by l.S per cent. This continues the
Conservative trend which began with the elections of 1950
and 1951. The Conservative triumph is attributed to general
prosperity, and to Prime Minister Anthony Eden's success
in foreign negotiations, such as the Paris pacts and forth
coming Big Four talks. "The Conservatives also gained by
the serious split within the Labor Party, which offered very
little in the way of a constructive program. Eden is now
securely in power and the new Parliament may last a full
live years. Government policy is not likely to change, but
the Labor Party must have a showdown soon to settle its
interna) disputes over policy and leadership.
AIR SUPERIORITY
Washington is embroiled in an argument over the rela
tive strength of Soviet and American air power. For several
months, Air Force spokesmen had hinted that our present
goal of 137 wings was inadequate. Then came a brief an
nouncement that the Russians had displayed a new type
of bomber comparable to our eight- jet B-52, which we have
just begun to put into regular service. Congressmen and Air
Force officers reacted with a rash of conflicting statements
and conjectures.
Most estimates place the Soviet rate of plane produc
tion above ours, and some also believe that they have more
planes in .service.
However, we are definitely
superior in
certain categories, such as naval aviation, transport planes,
and long-range medium bombers. Our fighter planes proved
their general superiority
over the Russian MIGs in the
Korean war. We also have important geographical advan
tages, for we have air bases closer to Russia than she has
to the U. S. To meet the threat in heavy bombers, the Air
Force has announced a 35 per cent speedup in production
of B-52s. Under the new schedule, all our B-36s will be re
placed with B-52s by 1958.
WILD WINDS
The tornado season again has arrived. In an average
year the U. S. has 145 tornadoes,
which take 230 lives and
destroy property worth $20 million. They usually
late spring and early summer, and are most common in the
come in
Midwest and Southeast. In one 24-hour period this May, we
had several "twisters" which killed at least 114 persons and
injured many more. Sixty-nine died in the little town of
UdaJl, Kansas. Let us hope that we do not surpass the
record of 1953, when tornadoes killed 516 people and de
stroyed property worth nearly
REFUGEE PROBLEM
$225 million.
Controversy over the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 has not
died down since the firing of Edward Corsi as chief admin
istrator of the program. The law provides for the admission
of 214,000 Iron Curtain refugees, beyond the regular quotas,
by 1956. So far, with the period covered by the act half
gone, only 22,000 have entered this country, and only about
one-fourth of these were actual refugees. The White House
has now asked Congress for ten changes to liberalize the
354
law. These amendments would broaden the definition of a
"refugee," ease the necessity of sponsorship by an American,
and relax the requirement of a complete personal
history
over the past two years. Most persons coming from behind
the Iron Curtain cannot provide any proof of their past his
tory, and many have had to wait out the two-year period
in a DP camp. In spite of strong support for these changes,
it is doubtful whether Congress will comply, for many
Congressmen are fearful of any liberalization in the immi
gration laws.
HOT WATCHES
Swiss watch movements have become one of the biggest
items in the modern smuggler's trade. Last year the Ameri
can tariff on foreign watch movements was increased 50 per
cent, to meet the demands of American watchmakers for
protection. Our legal imports of Swiss watch movements
have fallen from 12 million in 1953 to a rate of about eight
million this year. But the smugglers, it is estimated, are
bringing in over a million Swiss movements a year. Customs
officials believe this is done by a well-organized internation
al syndicate. Watch movements are small and easily hidden,
so the detection problem is very difficult. America's legiti
mate watch dealers, who pay the tariff, are complaining of
competition from the illegal imports. They have asked the
Swiss Watch Federation to police the Swiss factories, to
prevent watch movements from getting into illegal channels.
The Swiss Federation, however, is more interested in getting
the American tariff reduced. Perhaps you have seen their
attractive ads in some of our national magazines.
GERMANY FLIES AGAIN
Planes bearing German insignia are again flying the
world's airways. Early this year Lufthansa, the prewar
national airline of Germany, was revived. Permission for
this was granted even before the signing of the Paris agree
ments which restored West Germany to full sovereignty.
The West German government owns 90 per cent of the
shares in the new Lufthansa. (Nearly all European airlines
are at least partially government-owned.) Its main base is
at Hamburg. Domestic service began in May, and trans-
Atlantic flights on June 1. When more planes are acquired,
Lufthansa also will begin service to South America and the
Middle East. Some of Hitler's Luftwaffe veterans are being
retrained to fly the new German airliners.
DOCTOR SHORTAGE
Officials of
American medical schools have begun to
complain that they do not have enough applicants. The num
ber of applications for admission to medical schools has de
clined steadily for the past five years, and the national aver
age is now 1.96 applicants for each opening. This still leaves
college graduates with only a fifty-fifty
chance of being
admitted
immediately to a medical school. Most state uni
versities continue to restrict their admissions to residents of
their own state, and all too often political "pull" is useful
in gaining admission. But the schools are already com
peting for the better students, and complaining
of a de
cline in the quality of applicants. Among the reasons given
for the decline are the length and expense of the training,.
and the improved employment opportunities in other fields.
COVENANTER WITNESS