Milford chronicle., 1955-06-03
CAN WE SOLVE OUR RUSSIAN
PRORT EM?

CAN WE SOLVE OUh ROOO1AN
PROBLEM?
It is undoubtedly true that hope is higher
now than it has been in years that the threat
of World War III can be lessened, and the
existing uneasy peace made more secure.
That hope is based an another hOpe-that
there has been significant change IN attl-
tude in the Kremlin. Doughty old Winston
Churchill suggested this, rather graphically,
when he said: "We have new scene. New
men are masters in the Kremin. 1t is by no
means certain that there is not another new
look on other faces with more powerful
forces behind them which may still be most
beneficial to the overwhelming masses OF
people all over the world who wish to dwell
in peace with one another"
This view is not universally held by any
means. Authoritative and respected voices
here and abroad warn that the Russian leop-
ard will not change his spots, and that to
think otherwise is the most dangerous OF
illusions. However, the top men in the West,
for the most part, are now taking cautious
ly optimistic stand. President Eisenhower,
for one, sees signs of light ahead. 1t is OF the
utmost significance that he has agreed to
Big Four conference "at the summit" not
just on the lower level of the foreign minis
tiers. In the past, he was very cool to this
idea.
In part, the Presidents present position
may be due to the pressure exerted by the
British and French in behalf Of any action
that offers the slightest chance of improving
the world situation. But the Russians, under
~~tfteir~new leadership, have taken some tang
ible and important steps. The signing OF the
long-delayed Austrian peace treaty, which
makes that country neutral tied neither to
East or West, is the outstanding example.
And, apparently, the Russians will discuss
the Formosa problem without the participa-
ton of Red China, which they refused to do
in the past.
Dorothy Thompson, long a student of
Russia and international communism, re-
Gently disputed the idea that nothing can or
will change Lenin's theory that long per-
iod of coexistence between capitalism and
communism is impossible, and that one or
another will have to be destroyed. This con-
cept, Miss Thompson argued, was radically
changed by Stain, "who made the building
of the USSR primary, and pushed world
revolution into the background and sought
safety in position of strength and bal
ance of power" She believes that the stua-
ton holds the possibility "of long period
of armed but peaceable coexistence."
In another of her columns, Miss Thomp-
son made an unusual and thought-provoking
point She wrote: "There is an odd contra
dlctiOn in our own propaganda about the
Soviet Union. On the one hand we say that
the rigid monolithic structure of commun-
ism is unable to produce for basic human
Of launching third world war-war being
the greatest imaginable consumer of goods
and services. Both views simply cannot be
correct"
In any event, the world outlook may
change materially this summer. No one ex-
poets miracles from Chiefs of State meet
ing or anything else But perhaps, at long
last, some groundwork for ultimate success
in the reconciliation of differences may be
laid.
BACK IN 1925
Remember the prices that obtained back
in 1925?
You could get a new small car for $500.
You could get good cigar for a nickel. And
you could buy a reliable watch for one
dollar.
Those days are gone, no doubt forever.
But there are few-a very few-commodi-
ties in general use which still sell at around
the 1925 price.
Gasoline, the oil industry's principal
product, is one of them. Exclusive of the
taxes, over which the industry has no con-
troll and which are up $50 per cent, gaso-
line now costs only slightly more than it did
in 1925. And, measured by the barometer of
performance, it costs substantially less-for
two gallons of todays motor fuel do the
work that required three in that earlier era.
Various forces have helped to bring this
about. For one, consumption is Tar greater,
and the more we use of anything, generally
speaking the cheaper the price. For another,
the oil industry has always been leader in
scientific research designed to produce new
products, better products, and lower-priced
products. And for still another, intense COM
petition is a hallmark of the oil industry -
in refining, selling and every other phase
of operation.
Very likely that has been the greatest of
all the forces In anv line of on0oaVOr com
petition is the consumers best friend