Askov American., 1943-07-15

be necessary to create new industries.
All over the land we have billions of
dollars invested in buildings and
equipment devoted to war production.
When peace comes we must find
way to use these buildings and equip
ment.
'We are told that after the war
millions will want to buy helicopters
and that activity will in time develop
as did the automobile industry which
employed nearly six million, directly
or indirectly, before Pearl Harbor.
Then, we have prefabricated homes,
the production of which we are told
will require many thousands of work.
ers. Then plastics are coming into
general use and that will help take
up considerable part of the unem-
ployed. Nylon and rayon have prac-
tically freed us from the use of i'm
ported silk. Both of these new in
dustries will give work to additional
thousands, as well as provide an
additional market for agricultural
products. Some of these new ven-
lures may need little tariff protec-
ton until they can develop to point
where they can stand on their own
feet and l am sure there can be no
objection to that. Of course, l real
ize that prices and quality will have
to be somewhat comparable to for
eign made competitive products but
l have every confidence that Amer
ican ingenuity will be able to meet
that situation if given a little time
and encouragement.
81 have been called an 'Isolationist'
because / believe that America should
make herself as Self-sufficient as is
humanity possible. In my study of
foreign commerce know of no other
country that buys abroad what it
can produce at home, in order to
foster good neighbor' policy. Euro
peans and Latin Americans are ex-
tremely practical while on the other
hand we are more or less gullible
This position may not jibe with the
platitudinous policies now being
enunciated by those who appear to
be more concerned with the welfare
of peoples living in other lands, but
that is the way millions of us feel
about it. With us, America and
Americans must come first wherever
possible if we are to provide work for
all and maintain the American stand
ard of living We want no more Of
WPA when this war is over if it can
possibly be avoided, and it can be
avoided if we will think with our
heads rather than our hearts. refer
my readers to Timothy So
Congress Takes Recess.
After being in almost constant ses-
sion for three years and 10 months,
Congress last Thursday voted to take
a much needed recess which will ex-
pire on September IA unless called
together at an earlier date by the
leadership - Republican or Demo-
cratic, or both. This is something
new but no one wants to take any
chances by any other arrangement.
While this Congress has only been
in session since the first of the year
it has already done lot of pruning
and cutting. A number of activities,
such as WPA, CCC, NYA and the
Bituminous Coal division have either
been li9uidated or ordered discon-
tinued Many thousands have al
ready been released from the Federal
service and many millions of dollars
saved as result.
l know now from personal eXper-
ience how hard it is to get rid of a
government bureau. The proposal
to extend the life of the Bituminous
Coal division was before the Ways
and Means committee for two weeks
and never have seen so much wire
pulling. Every state that had men,
bers on the committee sent individ
uals down here to work on them to
vote to keep the thing alive. AS
bureaus 60, the Bituminous Coal
division is an infant in SWaddling
clothes. They have only about 1900
employees and budget that does not
exceed three million dollars yearly
yet they put up fight for survival
that almost challenged admiration.
We finally succeeded in killing off
the project by a vote of 13 to II,
which is close enough. Even the
President took hand by writing the
chairman explaining how essential
the continuation of the division was
to the war effort. Cutting out gov
ernment bureaus is very much like
grubbing jack oaks that grow on
sandy soil. One almost has to stand
on his head in order to get at the
tap root.
It is my plan to leave for home in
the next day or two and spend as
much time as possible in the District.
After 1 have had a little rest I'll
work out a schedule that will take
me into every county seat in the
Sixth District Due notices of my
visit will appear in the local papers
so that those who have matters they
wish to take up with me in person