TRUMAN SETS TONE Democrats campaign en cold war theme WASHINGTON Where do the Democratic party's principal presidential contenders stafid on the key issue of the day? The position: taken by Adlai Stevenson, Governor Averell Harriman of New York and Senator Ester Kefauver is in dicated by. the speeches they made recently in Chicago to a $100 a plate dinner at the Stockyards Convention Hall — where the Democratic national convention will meet next year to pick its 1956 ticket. The speeches followed an-" statements by Stevenson, Harri-; Truman himself, in a press in- nouncement by Adlai Stevenson: that he is again a candidate for: the nomination. They also fol-| lowed a three-day meeting of | “the Democratic national com-! mittee at the swank lakefront » - Conrad Hilton Hotel and closed ; door huddles in ex-President Harry Truman’s suite across the street in the Sheraton Blackstone. Two notes ran through the. i HARRY TRUMAN‘ ESTES KEFAUVER man and Kefauver: @® A strong attack on “big busi- ness” domestic policies of the Eisenhower administra- tion. | A cold war stand expressed in terms of nostalgic yearn- ing for’ Truman’s policies and of criticism of admin- istration negotiations with the Soviet Union at Geneva. ADLAI STEVENSON AVERELL HARRIMAN U.S. Smith Act victim denied social security ; NEW YORK Alexander Bittleman, 70-year- old Smith Act prisoner, has been deprived of his social security pension payments by an arbitrary order of James Bennett, U.S. -di-' rector of prisons, it became known last week. : | Prison authorities told Bittle- man his funds had been impound- ed, but refused to say why or on whose authority the action was taken. ait When Mrs. Mary Kaufman, his lawyer, questioned the warden of Atlanta penitentiary, she was in- formed that the funds were with- held on Bennett’s direct orders. Bennett admitted to Mrs. Kauf- “aman that he had no authority or precedent for his action, but stated that he had stopped the a cheques from reaching Bittleman in order to get a ruling from the Social Security Board on the cor- rectness of his action in holding the funds. Recently, the redbaiting New York World-Telegram quoted an anonymous source as complain- ing Bittelman.continued to re- ceive social security payments. It was noted at the time, also, that social security records are confidential, and are supposedly not available for public inspec- tion. Social security payments, fur- ther, are not a bonus granted by the government to the aged but are repayments to the worker based on his own and his em- ployer’s contributions to an in- surance fund of which the gov- ernment is simply the custodian. In a letter protesting the action, William L. Patterson, secretary | of the Civil Rights Congress, as- sailed the misappropriation of Bittelman’s funds. 'terview- at Seattle this week, de- clared that the Big Four summit meeting at Geneva last summer “didn’t amount to a damn.” Asserting that the Eisenhower administration’s foreign policy had been a “series of mistakes,” the man who ringed the globe with U.S. military bases claimed: “The Russians haven’t changed. They still believe in force.” Harriman, who’ has come under criticism for turning over New York state. power resources to the Aluminum Company of Am- erica, harked back most admir- ingly to Truman’s cold war lead- ership. He paid tribute “to the man who ever fought for the rights of all the people at home and rallied and united the free world against the Communist menace.” As the most outspoken Demo- cratic advocate of cold war, Har- riman followed up by condemn- ing what he termed the “hoax of Geneva’ and said he was shocked by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles’ statement that the spirit of Geneva is not dead. Stevenson was almost equally critical of what he called “the mists of illusion” about the sum- mit conference at Geneva and added: r “". . we must again face the fact that the cold war is still in the deep freeze; that our se- curity system is deteriorating }.. our position is more perilous than it has been since Korea... .” Kefauver’s tone was little dif- ferent. He said the spirit of Geneva “seems to have expired,” and asked for more boldness by the Eisenhower administration. He regretted that under Dulles the state department had shown “none of the great sweep of thought which produced the Mar- shall Plan and NATO” under Truman. xt x xt Stevenson appeared to have a clear lead in the running for the presidential nomination. Even his favored. position at the Demo- cratic dinner showed that; his was the only one of the speeches put on TV. ; But Harriman and Kefauver could not yet be counted out. Both were prepared to push their own candidates aggressively, es- pecially if Stevenson should fal- ter and lose support. F All three seemed to be running against Vice President Richard M. Nixon. James Reston of the New York Times put it this Way: _“The target they would really like to have in the campaign is Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Even Steyenson, who has few enemies, could really get enthu- siastic about running against him. “But President. Eisenhower neutralizes them, and Chief Jus- tice Earl Warren terrifies them, and they have no agreed alter- native set of policies to talk about.” ; The Democrats were, in short, unprepared for a liberal-sounding Republican candidate who could rival them in “progressive” do- mestic talk and walk away with them by championing peace ne- gotiations. : : _ Memo to press clubs _ Have you fulfilled — 1955 sub target? Dear Reader: At the beginning of the year every press club accepted a 1955 sub target. months are shown below. Results for the first 11 Some clubs are over the top, others are well within reach of their objectives, and a few are trailing. During December we hope these figures show a change for the better. One way YOU can help is to send a gift subscription to a friend this Christmas. Youw’ll find a gift sub blank on Page 8. There are still far too many October and Novem: ber renewals outstanding. them up in the next four weeks. Let’s try and pick all of Rita Whyte PROVINCE PRESS CLUBS 1955 Targets PS bernis ee ee ee 175 Britantiag pee. sie ok 15 Campbell: River: cn6. 22.2 75 Copper Mountain ~............... 10 Courtenay. =e 90 Ciinberliang. oe 75 DiniGans