The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1941-02-20

;. (By Staff Writer)

cussions of the lease-lend bill
which went on in the Senate For.
eign Committee hearings would
have been regarded as tempestu,
Gus a month ago, but so much ha:
already been said for and agains'
the bill, and vituperations as tt
personalities have become so com.
nlon-place, that the session:
seemed relatively mild,
The target for the opposition
has been, of course, the bill itself
and, Indirectly the President. Sen
ator Wheeler of Montana started
the fireworks three weeks age
when he called it the President:
new triple-A foreign policy-plow
every fourth American boy under
President Roosevelt responded
heatedly at a press conference
and-the feud went on from there
These heated exchanges were
more or less expected in view OF
the extreme position which Sena-
tor Wheeler has taken since the
outbreak of the war, but some
surprise was evidenced at the
stand taken by former Governor
Alfred M. Landon, Republican
candidate for the Presidency in
1886. Mr.. Landon had previously
Endorsed the administrations for
eign policy and it was expected
that he would take about the
saIhe position on the bill as that
of wendell L. Willkie.
: However, Mr.. Landon opposed
the bill at its inception and when
he appeared before the Senate
Committee as an opposition wit
ness, he attacked what he called
"a dastardly attempt to silence
Senator Wheeler" and described
the lease-lend bill as a guess and
be damned policy
No Radical Changes
Despite the volubility of the
opposition, however, the Senate
Committee has made no radical
changes, and the bill must now
withstand the attacks from the
main body Of the Senate. There
: is not the shadow of a doubt here
that it will do so, although it
may have a few notifications
tackled on. But, although the more
optimistic supporters of the bill
are predicting its passage by the
end of February, the. best guess
among neutral observers still re-
mains the middle of March.
Immediately after the bill is
passed, ways of financing its ope-
ration must be found. Official
quarters are predicting an $685.
0OO,0OO,0O0 income for the United
States in 1941. and much of this
will be taxed to pay for both our
aid-to-Britain pragram and cur
own defense projects.
No serious tax proposals will
be made until the March 18th in
come taxes are in. but by that
time, the budget committees will
be able to estimate about how
much will be needed for the year
and make recommendations for
taxes.
Cheerful News
Some cheerful news about 1910
emanated from the Department OF
Commerce last week when it is
sued its reports on the retail CEN
sus. Americans bought S45, $780,
100000 worth of goods at retail
last year, the report said, 0.3 per
cent more than in 1889 and only
6 per cent less than the 1929 peak.
Three other agencies had cheer
full news also. The Social Securi-
ty Board said that state employ
ment offices placed $3,2O0,000
workers in private jobs in 1910
and $4,000 in public jobs-an in
crease of nearly 9 per cent over
1899 jobs filled. :
The Federal Deposit Insurance
reported that 1910 had fewer
bank failures or forced mergers
than in any year since 1885; and
the Federal Reserve Board said
the defense program boosted fac
tory and factory equipment eX-
penditures to $22,123,000,000, the
highest level since: 1929.
These effects of the nations de-
Tense program are really only be-
ginning to be felt Next week, the
e War Department, for example, in
tends to ask Congress for more
than 2,OO0,0O0,0O0 to add $1,000
airplanes to the Army air force.
The Army now has 19,00e
airplanes to the Army air force.
The Army now has $4,000
planes on order, most of which
were not expected to be delivered
until 1912, but with British orders
running out and many private
manufacturers facing the prospect
of idle assembly lines, some OF
the planes may be':delivered soon
er.