Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

Current EventsBy Prof. William H. Russell, Ph.D.DECISION IN FRANCEThe French National Assembly has approved the London agreement for rearming West Germany,and the agreement is already starting to take effect. First is the restoration of German sovereignty and the removal of the last occupation troops. Later will come West Germany's admissionto NATO and to a new European coalition under the BrusselsTreaty, which seems destined to be known as BRUTO. Francewas reluctant to approve German rearmament but hadlittle choice, since Britain and the U. S. made it clear thatthey would act with or without French consent.Mendes-France staked his tenure as premier on theendorsement of the London agreement. The Assembly votewas 350 to 113, with 152 abstaining, showing the strongestsupport any French premier has had in recent years. Theissue brought new unity to some political parties which werebadly split over the ratification of EDC. Only the Communists voted solidly against the premier.CHURCHILL CARRHSS ONAt its annual conference, England's Conservative partygave high praise to Anthony Eden for his part in promoting;the London agreement. Eden has been clearly designated asnext Conservative prime minister. But at the party conferenceWinston Churchill indicated that he has no intention of retiring in the immediate future. Since then the cabinet hasbeen reorganized, another sign that Churchilll will not step'down now. Viscount Alexander, hero of the North Africancampaigns in World War II, is replaced as minister of defenseby Harold Macmillan of the publishing family. Several otherministers have retired to private life and their places aretaken by younger men.Britain has been shaken by serious labor troubles thisfall. As we write, London is still in the grip of an unsolvedbus strike. Even more costly is the dock strike which hasspread from London to Liverpool and Birmingham. Thegovernment was prepared to use troops if necessary to unloadships. A dock strike is especially critical in England becausethe country imports a large part of its food supply. Laborleaders blamed Communists for stirring up the strikes.TIES THAT BINDRussia and Red China have announced a new series ofagreements which involved some major concessions by Moscow. The two countries will cooperate in building a new central Asian railroad parallel to the old Trans-Siberian line.Russia will give China more economic and technical aid forestablishing new industries, and will exchange scientific personnel and information. Next year the Russians will evacuate Port Arthur, the key naval base in northern China whichthey have held since World War II. They will also break upfour Soviet-Chinese joint stock companies and turn over theirholdings to the Chinese. The two .powers called on Japan tothrow off U. S. "domination" and resume "normal" diplomatic and trade relations with the Reds; but Japan promptly rejected the overture. These new agreements between Moscowand Peiping seem to indicate that they are drawing closertogether in the face of recent diplomatic gains by the West.AVIND AND WATERAmericans seldom lack for something spectacular in theOctober 27, 1954ricanes. Following "Carol" and "Edna" came "Hazel," probably the most damaging of all. "Hazel" smashed at the Caribbean island of Haiti, then swept up to the Carolina coast.From there it went straight north, far inland from the usualhurricane route. As the winds lost some of their force, thegreatest damage came from torrential rains. The final deathtoll may go over two hundred, with many millions of propertydamage. The hardest hit metropolitan area was Toronto,Canada. Heavy floods occurred all over the upper Ohio valley, but the Pittsburg area was saved from a major disasterby a series of ten dams built since the great flood of 1938.It is said that in this one storm the dams more than repaidtheir entire cost.MUD AND TOMATOESBy the time you read this, the fall political campaign willbe about finished. After beginning on a fairly high plane,the campaign descended to its usual level. The worst smearwas directed against Clifford Case, Republican candidate forSenator from New Jersey, who is opposed not only by the:Democrats but by a faction of reactionary Republicans. Hisopponents tried to link Case's sister with Red-front groupsof ten years ago. Even if true, the charges would not havebeen valid ground for attacking Case. The New York gubernatorial campaign lost its dignity with tomato-throwing andcharges of anti-Semitism. Even ex-President Truman had toway of weather. Last year it was tornadoes, and this year hur-every-join in with an attack on the Administration. Nearlycampaign produces a notable blunder. This year it was Defense Secretary Wilson's comparison of the unemployed to>hungry dogs which almost went unnoticed. And the campaign's most unusual development was the confession, by aUtah Congressional candidate, that the stories of war heroism he had told for several years were all false. Many seemedmore inclined to sympathize than to condemn him,COFFEE SQUEEZEThe Federal Trade Commission has finally taken actionin the matter of coffee prices. It charges the New York Coffeeand Sugar Exchange withboosting the price of coffee by unlawful and monopolistic practices. The Exchange controlstrading in coffee futures and thus sets the price for the wholenation. The traders deny the Commission's charges, and ahearing will be held in December. Meanwhile a Senate Banking subcommittee is resuming its investigation of the samesubject. Its chairman asserts that unjustified increases in theprice of coffee cost American consumers $293 million fromJanuary to August of this year.LABOR MERGERProspects are good for the merger of the nation's twogreatest labor organizations, the AFL and CIO. A joint committee which has been studying the question has reported itsdecision to go ahead with merger plans. George Meany andWalter Reuther, presidents of the AFL and CIO, have bothendorsed the proposal. The suggested plan would combine thetwo groups at the top first, leaving until later the problem ofconflicting and overlapping jurisdiction between AFL and CIOgroups in the same field. For the time being, all memberunions would have their separate identity guaranteed. Thecombined body would number about fourteen million members. Two and a half million would be left in other independent labor groups such as the railroad brotherhoods andthe United Mine Workers.259