Chicago world., 1948-06-19
washington
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.ASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, d. Chow
can the people of this country be
expected to believe anything the
President says or authorizes to
be said?''
That indictment of the Presi-
dent was made by one of the
top political writer's of the Ma
ton hre after Mr.. Truman made
present tour.
his first major address Of his
The writer said:
'It seems to me that the Pre-
sident of the United States would
be prompted by the. dignity and
prestige Of the high office he
holds to be allof to such politi-
cal indignities praGticed in con-
nection with his trip to the West.
"The response to his appear
ances on the tour has been in
keeping with the falseness Of the
tour. He authorized the Official
statement that the trip would be
non-political; then, he proceed
ed to make it purely political.
How can the people Of this
country be expected to believe
anything the President says or
authorizes to be said? Perhaps
it is because of this lack OF con-
fidence in his utterances that
has resulted in the great stay
away movement in the West" :"
What was said by the writer
was not said without confirm
ing facts. Before Mr.. Truman
even reached the Chicago scene
of his first major address on the
mon political tour the taxpay-
srs' train, and it has been main
tanned since. ,->
Last week on national RADIO
hookup, Senator Warren G. Ma
gnuson, Democrat Of Washington
chuckled at the political re-
ference to Mr.. Tr1man's trip and
admitted with great delight that
he. was going to ride the train
into his home state and make
appearances there alongside the
President.
Senator Magnuson will not be
on presidential business when ne
rides the taxpayers train.
All this is going on at con-
siderable expense to the taxpay-
ers. The cost of the train wlll
not he great. but when one takes
into consideration the great sec
urity measures attendant to the
presidential trip THE cost mounts
into more figures than you can
find in a chorus Line.
Well, Mr.. Truman Is accustomr
ed to free rides. he got one into
the Senate on the Pendergast
train and another into the White
House on the F. D. R. special.
VOTE REPUBLICAN -
kiNG-SiZE FIGURES
"The United States economy
cannot he air lifted Or truck
borne" says the San Francisco
Chronicle editorially. IF it is to
| move it must move by rail- or
not at ALL
Back of that statement lie
what, the hronicle terms king
size figures" This country has
| Z27 900 miles of railroad-29 pei
cent of the worlds mileage. II
has 1,750,O00, freight cars, which
transported $4,000 100000 ton
miles of reight last year. Along
with it, the lines rolled up near.
ly -46,OO,OoO,O00 passenger miles
And the value of the railroads
is something like $28, 900, 900 600
according to conservative anaiy
sis-or almost $4,000 per mile
of line.
f! It would take an astronomer II
visualize figures sucn as these
But: there is one easily assimila
ted comparison which points t.
our dependency on. the railroads
They haul seven-tenths Of tn
nations freight. All the othel
carriers-the waterways, thu
trucks the pipe lines, the all
/ carriers, II the lake steamers
move together only three-tenths
of the {whole.
The Chronicles editorial wa:
occasioned by the threatened
strike. which was prevented BY
| government action. AS it said
1--WE would find even a weeks
rail strike inconceivable and in
tolerable.''i Going farther, all the
I activity in this country is tied
in one way or another to effici'
ent railroad service-the kind o.
service that moves the goods
when we want them moved, ane
takes thine swiftly and safely te
where they are needed. That il
the enormous stake we Amerl
cans have in our railroads.
VOTE REPUBLICAN -
"From the way the Democrats
are talking, Truman is going K
| run against Stain like .Rooseve
It did against Aoolpn Hitler II
,1944''-Colhers, Overheard II
/ Senate cloackroom.
| Our attempts to persuade lila.
to adopt the American way Of lift
succeeded better, than ,anybod!
expected. The italians hav'
chosen a dark horse for Presi
, dent.-Howard Brubaker in tn
/ New Yorker.
'sIn South Carolina could no
possibly raise Confederate dollal
| for the National Democrat Part.
!, as presently constituted Sen
ator Johnson (D1SC).