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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Nov. 22, 1955.
Presidential Hopefuls
Kefauver Strong In Primaries
(This is the sixth in a series on presidential candidate possibilities for 1956.)
By JOHN McMILLION
The man who Adlai Stevenson may regard as his most formidable opposition for the Democratic presidential nomination is a tall, lean, soft-spoken Tennesean named Estes Kefauver.
Despite his quiet manner and congeniality, those who know Sen. Kefauver realize that he is a man who can't be pushed around. As head of the Kefauver Crime Investigation Committee in 1951, he stepped on the toes of influential persons in both parties. This may hurt him at the nominating convention.
Estes Kefauver was born in Madisonville, Tenn. July 26, 1903, the son of Robert Cooke and Phedonia Estes Kefauver. He received his preliminary education in the Monroe County school system in Tennessee and then received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Tennessee in 1924.
In 1927 he received a bachelor of law degree from Yale University. Since 1927 he has practiced law in Chattanooga, Tenn. as a member of the firm of Kefauver, Duggan & Miller. He is a member of the American and Tennessee Bar Associations.
Kefauver is married and has three daughters and one son. His wife, Nancy, has been quite valuable to him in his political career, being an attractive and well-educated woman.
Kefauver's political career started in 1939 when for four months he was a member of the Tennessee Commission of Finance and Taxation. He served as a representative in the 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, and 80th Congresses and on Nov. 2, 1948 was elected to the Senate. He has served as a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Kefaauer is the author of a book dealing with the findings of his crime commission. The book's title is "Crime in America." He is also
the co-author of another book, "20th Century Congress."
Sen. Kefauver's biggest weapon in the fight for the nomination is the primary elections, an evil that both Adlai Stevenson and Averell Harriman wish to avoid as much as possible. In 1952 the Senator from Tennessee entered 15 primaries and won all but two of them. If he can score decisive victories over Mr. Stevenson and Gov. Harriman in some key primaries this spring, he will enter the nominating convention with a far stronger backing than he has at present.
Sen. Kefauver's biggest asset is his personality and backwoods, stump-talking, method of campaign. The common people like him. Mr. Stevenson impresses many of the common people as being too well educated and Gov. Harriman reminds too many of them of the capitalists.
Sen. Kefauver will be out to enter as many of the primaries as possible. Mr. Stevenson and Gov. Harriman will be trying to side-step most of them. Wisconsin, especially, is a dangerous place for Adlai and Averell. The Oregon primary. May 18, also is important because in that state a candidate's name can be entered without his consent. In 1952, Sen. Kefauver won both of these primaries.
Sen. Kefauver may have missed his chance in 1952. At that time he was riding the crest of his popularity and had undergone a long and well-planned political buildup. Now, even though he remains popular, the senator is not quite the household word he was in 1952.
Any way you look at it, Sen. Kefauver poses a definite threat to both Mr. Stevenson and Gov. Harriman. If these two candidates lock horns in a bitter fight over the nomination, Sen. Kefaufer could well slip in from his third place position in the running and take the nomination. Adlai Stevenson, for one, has never forgotten the sleepless nights he spent in 1952 when the news of Sen. Kefauver's primary victories were rolling into party headquarters.
'Geneva Spirit' Is Non-Existent
Russia and the West broke up the Big Four Conference and failed to secure the peace of Europe, unify Germany, or expand East-West relations.
The three Western foreign ministers accused Russia's V. M. Molotov of bad faith in his proposals during the three-week conference.
Mr. Molotov, in his concluding speech, claimed that only the Soviet Union had maintained the "Geneva spirit" which marked the summit conference four months ago.
The only agreement that came out of the conference was the assertion on both sides that they were not committed to meet again.
By now, the US State Department should realize that there is no such thing as the "Geneva spirit" and that probably what earlier was considered a softening of Russian attitudes toward the West was not sincere.
The conference blew sky high four of the major plans for disarmament extended by the participants. These were President Eisenhower's reciprocal aerial inspection, Premier Bulganin's ground control posts at key centers, Prime Minister Eden's East-West demilitarized buffer zone, and Premier Faure's co-ordinated military budget cuts.
The fading of the political career of Russia's Molotov apparently has been rejuvenated. Either the recent warmth of the USSR has been insincere or the country's leaders have relaxed their thinking to conform to that of Stalin-sanctioned V. M. Molotov.
In either case, the United States needs to revise its policies concerning Russia.
And the review should be a cautious one. The West stands to lose a great deal. The greatest danger that could result from a faulty step in foreign policy is the possible loss of Germany.
Germany wants to be unified, and all other methods failing, she will sacrifice profitable military and economic ties to get the job done. West Germany must not be allowed to bargain with the Communists for the sake of reunification at the expense of NATO.
But restraining Germany is no easy job. She is restless and she wants a reunified Germany above all else.
Russia is patient and can afford to wait a long time. The only thing left for the West is to keep driving home the point that Russia is responsible for the breakdown in the reunification plans and try to think of a new and fresher approach to the problem.
Hats Off To Players, Coaches, Fans
—Ted Blankenship
Being somewhat of an old timer around these parts, we have seen some pretty exciting things happen on dear old Mt. Oread.
Comparisons of things past with things present don't always sound logical to those who witnessed one or the other, but not both. But we'd like to compare the fourth quarter of last Saturday's game with the same quarter of the home-coming game in 1947 .
The only difference in the two games is that KU isn't going to the Orange Bowl this year—wait till next year. But in both games, there were at least 30,000 spectators, both teams needed the victory, and they were both homecoming games.
There was without a doubt all the excitement, enthusiasm, crowd spirit and spectacular football
in both games. The two teams put on a great display of hard, fast, and clean football. Both teams made highly creditable showings during the afternoons.
But above all, you can say that both afternoons were well spent by everyone. Even the Missouri fans admitted they had seen excellent football games. The best thing of all, though, is that the Jayhawkers won both games, to end one season highly successfully, the other highly improved with better prospects for the future.
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
During both fourth quarters, the noise from the crowd was deafening. You might even say all hearts beat as one.
Sam Jones
Our hats are off to the players, the coaches, the fans and to the day.
"WHEN COACH SAID'SUIT UP 'FOR TH' BANQUET, M'EIFFORD, HE MEANT—"
Democrats, Benson Differ On Farmers' Pocketbook
By UNITED PRESS
Democratic critics of the administration's farm policies say the farmer is really hurting in the pocketbook. But Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson says American agriculture is basically "in a sound financial condition."
WASHINGTON—Just how serious is the "farm situation" that the politicians are talking about?
Those who picture the farm situation as pretty desperate cite the farm income figure. This is the figure that shows what all the farmers in the country have left over each year, as net earnings, after deducting their production costs from their crop and livestock sales.
Both sides have arsenals of statistical ammunition.
This figure has dropped from more than $14 billion in 1952 to a rate of $10 billion for 1955. That's a decrease of 27 per cent. And it has come at a time when the rest of the nation's economy is enjoying boom-time prosperity.
The Agriculture Department reported that a further decline in farm earnings is in prospect for 1956.
Secretary Benson and his supporters note that the number of people living on farms also has decreased since 1952. If you look at farm income on a per capita basis—that is, total income divided by the total farm population of men, women, and children—you find that it hasn't dropped so sharply after all.
Per capita farm income, from all sources, was $949 in 1952, and $913 in 1954. That's a drop of less than four per cent. The 1955 figure won't be available until the year ends, but doubtless it will be a little lower.
Politicians and economists who take a glum view of the farm situation point to the "cost-price squeeze" on the farmer.
What they mean is that the prices of farm-produced goods have been going down fairly steadily, while the farmer's costs have held steady or gone up. For example, a bushel of corn brought $1.51 in 1952, but only $1.14 last month. Whereas a tractor that sold for $1,980 in 1952 was tagged at $2,020 last month.
The government has a complicated formula for measuring the prices a farmer receives against the costs he has to pay. It is called "parity". When costs and prices are in the same balance they were in the period 1910-1914, the parity ratio is 100. It so happens that in 1952, the parity level also was exactly 100.
It's been sliding downward ever since and so far this year the average is 85 per cent. Considering
last month, alone, it was 82 per cent.
Economist Don Faarlberg, an assistant to Secretary Benson, says present farm price relationships are "about midway" between the postwar boom (when parity shot up to 115 per cent) and the depression of the thirties (when it sank to 58 per cent.).
"Present price relationships for agriculture...may be somewhere near normal for modern day periods of peacetime full employment, taking into account our heavy government stocks" Mr. Paarlboe says.
In discussing farm finances, Secretary Benson often quotes the old saying that 'price times volume equals income.' He's calling attention to the fact that, even if prices are down, production is high. Farmers may be getting less per bushel for their corn, but they're growing an awful lot of corn. This year's total harvest of all crops is expected to equal—and may surpass—the all-time record of 1948.
The dark side of the production picture is that huge surpluses are piling up in government warehouses, and these exert a depressing effect on farm markets. The hoard of surplus farm commodities which the government has taken in under price support operations has passed the $7 billion mark, and is still growing despite stringent controls on planting.
Nearly 60 per cent of all the land in the United States, over a billion acres, is used for pasture hay.
University of Kansas Student Newspaper News Room, KU 251, Ad Room, KU 376 Member of the Inland Daily Press association, Association Collegiate Press association, Reporter Press advertising service, 420 Madison avenue, N.Y. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or year, Mail subscription rate: $3 a semester in Lawrence, Published in Lawrence, Kans., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. Exam period: six weeks, entered as second class matter, Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan, post office under act of March 3, 1879.
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