' THlf PERQUIMANS WEEKLY ' liftKTFORftt M. C, FRIDAY. FEBRCAflt 21, 1947.
PAGETHRtfc'
CoMtHattouil Amendment To i
LUalt Presidential Term?
t.'The probability is that a constitu
tional amendment Will be submitted
to the various states," designed to set
an eight-year limit on the office of
President
The issue has been discussed in this
country tor many years. It arose
when Theodore Roosevelt ran. for. of
fice but was more widely discussed,
of course, when Franklin D. Roose
velt ran for his third term.
There ore many Americans who
think that it would be wise to limit
the term of a President to eight
years. They fear that an occupant
of the presidential office might man
age to create conditions that would
practically insure his" reelection.
There are other Americans who doubt
that this is a threat to the Republic
and maintain that the people of the
nation Bhould have a right to main
tain a President in office as long as
they wish to do so. .
Can 1,000,000 Government
Employees Be Spared?
Representative Jolyi Taber, of New
York, proposes to fire 1,000,000 of
the Government's 2,300,000 civilian
employes. He points out that in 1939
the Government had only 900,000 em
ployes and that if one million were
cut off, the Government would still
have 400,000 more than in 1939.
Since there is so much public dis
cussion about the number of Federal
employes, it might be a good idea
to get a few facts. At the peak of
the war effort, June 1945, there were
3,769,646 civilians on the payroll of
the Government.
According to the Joint Committee
on Reduction of Nonessential Federal
Expenditures, sometimes referred to
as .the Byrd Committee, the figure
dropped to 2,330,467 in November,
1946. Senator Byrd says that, out
side the armed services, there was an
increase, not a reduction, in the num
ber' of Federal employes.
According to the figures of thl
Byrd Committee, there were, at the
end of last November, 1,240,378 Fed
eral employes inside Continental
United States and 56,019 outside Con
tinental United States. To these
must be added 783,616 civilian work
ing for the War and Navy Depart
ments in the United States and 250,
464 overseas.
This means, that Federal employes,
excluding the Army and Navy, in
November,-numbered 1,240,3)78. v In
addition, 1,094070 civilian workers;
were connected with the armed ser
vices. In connection with the 1,240,
878 Federal employes, it should be
pointed out that the Veterans Admin
istration, which, began with 65,000
employes before V-J Day, now em
ploys 217,000 persons. The Postof
fice Department had 458,294 on its
payrolls at the end of November and
the Treasury Department, charged
with collecting taxes, had 102,352 on
its Toster. These three agencies have
on their rolls 777,646 of the 1,240,378
civilian employes.
We do not know whether the Vet
erans Administration, the Post Of
fice Department or the Treasury De
partment has more employes than
they need for the promptness and ef
ficiency that the public desires and
expects from them. However, the
other agencies of the Government
have some 462,000 employes and it
might be a good idea to . see where
the bulk of them are working.
To discover the work done by the
other 462,732 employes, one finds
82,114 in the Department of Agricul
ture, 44.188 in the Interior Depart
ment, 35,925 in the Commerce De
partment,. 33,823 in the Department
of Justice, 8,526 in the Department
of State and about 6,000 in the De
partment of Labor. These account
for approximately 200,000 of the
workers.
We have left approximately 264,
000 Federal employes. We have .not
available exact figures on the employ- j
ment list of a number of war agen
cies, but in June, 1945, twenty-two
of them employed more than 150,000
t In addition, the Government main
tains a number of independent agen
cies, more than thirty 'in number, in
cluding such activities 'as the Social
Security, the TVA, the RFC, the
Maritime Commission, the Federal
Security Agency and other activities.
These employed, in June, 1945, some-
' thing, more than 200,000 workers.
While the figures given in the three
paragraphs above are of June, 1945,
since that time there have been some I
reductions which exnlains whv the
total, as of June, 1945,' exceeds the
total as of the time of the other
figures used in this article. ... . ,
. From the figures given; the. reader I
of the Weekly will have a fairly ac
curate picture of the distribution; of J
Federal civilian employes. It will be
.. noted, of 'course, that the dates given
for statistics vary aMther may have
1 but !the general picture Is clear.
RadDMieal Trad Pacta ' '
congress No. 1 issue
Probably the most important Issue
to M decided by the' Congress is
whether-the United States will con
tinue its reciprocal trade program!
la tn effort to expand 'world com-
ulture, which points out that considerable scientific progress was
dell Hull, has been as vigorously at-
' . - . " t .. .'- lit. !..
tacked by certain .nepuoucan von
gressmen. Senator Butler, of Neb
raska.' for example, calls it "a gig
antic, hoa on the American people."
Other Republicans have been similar
ly critical! and; recently, some Demo
crats have taken it upon themselves
to answer the Republicans.
Along this line, Eric Johnston, for
mer. President of the U. S. Chamber
of Commerce, says that the stand of
the Republican Party on the recipro
cal trade agreements is the supreme
issue." He urges his party to give
full and hearty, not grudging, sup
port to the program.
Mr. Johnston says that the trade
pacts are' being attacked from all
sides, the right and the left, for dif
ferent reasons. He calls "absurd"
the fears of the Conservatives that
"the purpose is to tear away the rem
nants of the tariff structure" and
force ''free trade on America". He
says that this would be as bad as it
would be to scuttle the Army and
Navy and promote world peace.
The attack from the left, Mr. John
ston says, is designed to isolate cap
italism in America by choking off a
revival of international trade. The
leftists fear that Europe may re
turn to its rightful place in the com
munity and commerce of free nations.
The Republican business man, now
President of the Motion Picture Asso
ciation, says that a return to a high
protective tariff policy would be dis
astrous and, if adopted, lead to a
"whirlwind of economic disaster a
few years from now." For this rea
son, he considers the World Trade
Conference, which is to assemble in
Geneva in April, as important as the
San Francisco Conference which drew
the charter for the United Nations.
U. S. Must Assume Economic
Leadership Or Chaos Inevitable
' Willard Thorp, Assistant Secretary
of State for Economic Affairs, says
that the trade policy of the United
States is designed to "expand world
trade the production and use of
goods so that throughout the world
there will be more jobs and more of
the things people need and want"
Pointing to the nations stake in
world stability, security and prosperity,-
and saying that it compells us
to assume economic leadership, the
official points out that the markets
of the world must be opened m6re
freely to the products of various
countries 'and Warns that if this ec
onomic program fails, our political
programs will likewise fail.
Asserting that the United States
is the only country left in the world
that believes in enterprise and com
petition, Mr. Thorp says that unless
there is an expanded international
trade, the world will split into ec
onomic blocs, as it did in the Thirties,
that the "American way of life as
we know it will go."
Agriculture Department
Explains Potato Situation
The people who are always interes
ted in finding fault with the govern
ment hive made much of the fact
that thousands of bushels of potatoes
have spoiled.
Editorials have been written and
RnAeohpfii mnrlf wit:h thp nnrnnap nf
questioning the waste while hungry
people exist in the world. Th? an
swer comes from the Department of
early in the war there was a scarcity
of potatoes The armies needed, them
and, under the Stegall Act, the De
partment was compelled to support
prices at ninety per cent of parity.
The purpose of the Act was to pro
tect iarmers wno expanaea produc
tion during the war from conse
quences of over-producion.
When there seemed, to be the pro
mise of sufficient potatoes, the De
partment of Agriculture cut down
potato acreage materially but the
growers, counting on the ninety per
cent of - parity, changed to richer
acreage and used heavy fertilizer.
The result was an inevitable glut
upon the market
Very few Americans critized the
Government for offering to support
agricultural prices in order to en
courage farmers to produce food that
was necessary to win the war. Hav
ing made the promise, the Govern
ment was committed to the growers
and when too many potatoes were
produced, there was nothing that
could be done but to pay the grow
ers and let the potatoes rot.
It is pointed out that about 1,000',-
000 bushels were distributed to
school lunch programs and charit
able institutions. The United Na
tions Relief and Rehabilitation Ad
ministration would not take the po
tatoes because dehydration was too
costly and, otherwise, they would
spoil in overseas shipment.
Work With Insects
Stepped Up By War
The atomic bomb is not the only
scientific development that was ac
celerated by the war-time emergency.
From the entomologists' standpoint,
also made,
James T. Conner,. Jr., Extension
entomologist at State College, points
to the development of DDT as an exr
ample of this work, and other insec
ticides which will remove the menace
of still more common insect pests
may well be anticipated.
For instance, during the war, louse
borne typhus was one of the most
dreaded diseases. Entomologists rose
to the occasion and brought out a
powder known as MYL louse powder
which answered the need -at first.
LThey then devised a quick, convenient
and effective method of delousing in
dividual uniforms with methyl bro
mide. The use of DDT followed this,
as it was found still more effective.
A similar progression was followed
with the control of "scrub typhus," a
mite-borne disease of the South Pa
cific. The insect carrying this disease
is a close relative of the common
chigger. Insecticide after insecticide
was used in this treatment, each one
progressively better than its predeces
sor. Finally an emulsion was de
veloped which, by dipping clothing
into it, would give mite protection,
even after the garment had been
laundered.
The final page of the war record of
these entomologists was written when
they discovered that dipping garments
into benzyl benzoate rendered them
mite repellent even after five laun
derings. With the development of this su
perior material, Conner says, work to
control the common chigger has re
ceived added weapons, and it too may
soon f: .11 victim to scientific skill.
J. C. White, on Friday afternoon.
Mrs. Paul Vaughan of Portsmouth
has returned home after spending the
week with her mother, Mrs. Irma
Dorsey.
Miss Janet Quincy spent Saturday
in Norfolk.
Joe McNider spent Sunday after
noon at Center Hill.
Mrs. Roy Branch of Portsmouth
was the guest of her sister, Mrs. Em-
mett Stallings, on Friday.
C. P. Quit.cy has been confined to
his bed this week with pleurisy.
Mrs. Roy Pierce and Mrs. W. H.
Elliott were in Edenton Monday evening.
jur, aim ius. ituuaro urcjiuie vm
Norfolk were guests on Sunday of
Mr. and Mrs. George Jackson.
Mrs. J. C. Wilson spent Friday in
I Elizabeth City.
Virginia Electric and Power Company
Common Stock
(When Distributed Basis)
Bought Sold Quoted
Inquirif Invited
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NEW YORK
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CHARLOTTE
CHAPANOKE NEWS
Mr. and Mrs. David White of
Portsmouth visited his mother, Mrs.
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