New Crusade

Last week Henry Wallace, fresh from his battle with international cartels, took on U.S. railroads singlehanded--why, no one could exactly say.

Wallace's bout with the Nation's carriers was staged in Dallas, which is Democratic but not New Dealish. There the Vice President was roundly snubbed by top business and civic leaders, roundly welcomed by labor groups, who pinned their insignia on his lapel. In his speech the Vice President sailed into the railroads with old-fashioned muckraking, trust-busting fervor. He swung hard:

> Excessive transportation rates burden all U.S. agriculture and industry and trade.

> Noncompetitive rates deprive agriculture and industry of the benefits of more efficient and cheaper transportation.

> Discriminatory rates keep the South and the West in a colonial status.

> Newer forms of transportation are being brought under monopoly control.

> Monopolistic conditions already present in transportation are fostering monopolies in industry.

Citizens read the speech and pondered it, but they were puzzled; what was their Vice President up to now?

Not This Year

Chances for a tax bill this year looked very slim. Main reason for the delay: Congressional GOPsters, quietly abetted by many a vote-minded Democrat, staged a revolt. The revolt turned into a coup. By week's end Congress seemed agreed: no economy in the Administration, no tax bill. Furthermore, went the argument, the Administration had yet to demonstrate a real need for another $10.5 billion.

Chairman Robert ("Old Muley") Doughton immediately drew for his House Ways & Means Committee a heartrending picture of the Administration straining every nerve to make every penny count. Unimpressed, the Committee came up at week's end with several minor amendments which would add a minuscule $1 to $1.5 billion to Federal revenue.

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