Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1950)
r i p rpQQinri JL By JOHN L. SPRINGER AP Newsfeature Writer One word—Communism—dominated IfifiO. Its menace over-shadowed all others in this mid-year of the 20th Century From the first days of 1050 to the last, threats of Communism enveloped the earth. Eyary day, they affected Americans more and more in their thoughts, their work, their prayers. In January, we could still debate the issue. Should we step onto Formosa and aid the Chinese Nationalists make a last-ditch defense against the Reds who had overrun, their mainland? Twelve months later, in December, the issue was real. Weary Americans were retreating south in bomb- pocked Korea to avoid massacre by the overwhelm ing Red horde thrown against them from Manchur ia. Between those two months, Americans grimly awakened to the fact that relations with Com munism’s Motherland—Russia—fast were approach ing crisis. How Cold War Turned Hot It was still the cold war that fateful morning on June 25 when sharply-trained North Korean Reds crossed the line, plunged past the 38th paral lel and the defenses of the stunned South Koreans. JAN. 5—President Truman backs Secretary of State Acheson on hands-off policy in Fonnosa. JAN. 7—37 women perish as fire sweeps mental ward of Iowa hospital. JAN. 9—Chinese Nationalist warships shell the blockade-running U.S. freighter, Flying Arrow. JAN. 14—U.S. orders all American official per sonnel out of China. JAN. 1.6—Soviet Union walks out of U.N. meet ings when it fails to get Nationalist China expelled. JAN. 17—Robbers take $1,500,000 in holdup of Brinks, Boston. < JAN. 31—Tinman orders Atomic Energy Com mission to develop the hydrogen bomb. FEB. 2—Ingrid Bergman gives birth to son. FEB. 14—Russia and Red China sign 30-year Treatv of Friendship. FEB. 22—-Labor Party ekes out slim victory in British election. MARCH 4—United Mine Workers sign contract ending 27-day strike of 370,000 coal miners. MARCH 7—Judith Coplon and Valentin A. Gub- itchev found guilty of conspiracy and attempted es pionage. MARCH 9—Dr. Herman N. Sander acquitted of “mercy-killing” murder in Manchester court. MARCH 15—House, by vote of 368 to 2, passes administration bill to tighten laws covering espion age, sabotage and subversion. MARCH 26—Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, in campaign against alleged Communists in govern ment, says Owen J. Lattimore is Russia’s top secret agent in the U.S. MARCH 31—House passes $3,102,450,000 foreign aid bill after approving Truman’s Point Four pro gram. APRIL 6—Lattimore replies that McCarthy is “base and contemptible liar.” APRIL 11—Soviet reports American plane “dift- appeared” after brush with Russian fighter planes oyer Latvia. APRIL 18—U.S. accuses Russia of shooting down unarmed American plane over the. Baltic Sea outside Soviet territorial waters. MAY 4—Hundred-day old strike of 89,000 United Auto Workers ends against Chrysler. MAY 13—Big Three foreign ministers announce program to relax controls in Germany gradually. MAY 15—U.N. Secretary General Trygve Lie climaxes peace mission to Moscow with 90-minute talk with Stalin. MAY 18—Twelve foreign ministers of North At lantic Treaty Council agree that security lies in “balanced collective forces.” MAY 19—Million pounds of mines and dynamite blast South Amboy, N.J., in munitions barge explo sion. MAY 23—Auto Workers and General Motors agree on new contract to run for an unprecedented length of five years. MAY 25—Congress approves $3,121,450,000 for eign aid bill. JUNE 20—Senate passes Social Security expan sion bill to cover additional 10,000,000. JUNE 25—North Korean Communists cross 38th Parallel to invade South Korea. JUNE 25—Soviet-boycotted U.N. Security Coun cil tells North Koreans to “cease hostilities” and Withdraw invasion forces. JUNE 27—U.N. Security Council asks U.N. members to supply military aid to South Korea; President Truman orders U.S. forces into action and sends 7th Fleet to protect Formosa against Chinese Communists. JUNE 30—President authorizes Gen. MacArthur to use sea, ground and air forces against Korea. JULY 5—American combat units overrun by North Koreans in first contact. JULY 12—U.N. forces fall back behind Kum River. JULY 18—Truman orders credit restrictions on housing in move against inflation. JULY 19—Truman proposes vast rearmament program to help beat back Reds. JULY 21—Americans lose temporary South Ko rean capital of Taejon. JULY 25—Truman calls on Congress to increase individual and corporation income taxes by $5,000,- 000,000 a year. JULY 29—Hwanggan falls to North Kroean Reds as Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker, U. S. 8th Army Com mander, issues stand-or-die order. JULY 31—First American reinforcements direct from U.S. land at South Korea. AUG. 1—Soviet Union returns to U.N. Security Council with Soviet Deputy Malik in chair. At tempt to oust Nationalist China defeated. AUG. 7—U.S. Marines and Army launch first major offensive in Korea. AUG. 21—U.S. combat team blocks bloody attack on Taegue; 15,000 Reds killed or wounded in three days. AUG. 25—Truman orders government seizure of railroads to avert nation-wide strike. SEPT. 10—New National Production Authority set up under William Henry Harrison with sweep ing powers to channel essential materials to war industries. SEPT. 12—Secretary of Defense Louis A. John son resigns; Gen. George C. Marshall named his successor. SEPT. 15—Marines and Army troops land in Inchon and drive toward Seoul, as U.N. troops press attacks in south. SEPT. 19—Opening session of 1950 U.N. General Assembly defeats Indian and Russian resolution to oust Nationalist China delegates and invite Red China in. SEPT. 26—MacArthur announecs liberation of Seoul. OCT. 10—Federal Reserve Board announces se vere restrictions on new home mortgages. OCT. 15—Tinman and MacArthur in three hour talk at Wake Island. ' OCT. 26—South Koreans reach Yalu River, boun dary line between Korea and Red China. It was still the cold war when representatives of the United Nations hurriedly conferred to meet the crisis. It was still the cold war, too, U. N. members feebly hoped, when American troops raced up from Japan in a “police action” to put down the aggressors. But as American casualties mounted—above those of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War, above all but four wars in the nation’s history—no one could longer doubt that the heat was on. We had come to armed grips with Communism; when the fight would cease, or how, no one dared to forecast. Invasion and Aggression At first, it looked like just another of the bor der skirmishes the North and South Koreans had been having since their country was divived at the 38th Parallel in a postwar settlement. But this time the Reds did not fire a few shots and retreat. “We’re repelling an invasion,” they said, straight-faced, as the United Nations Security Coun cil in a dramatic emergency session warned them to cease hostilities and withdraw their forces. Then the Council asked all U. N. members to supply South Korea with military aid President Truman ordered U. S. air and sea forces into action. He sent the Seventh Fleet from Philippine waters to defend Formosa. He author- OCT. 31—Communist troops identified as part of Chinese Red army attack U.N. positions in Korea. NOV. 1—Attempt to assassinate President Tru man foiled. NOV. 3—U.N. General Assembly adopts “veto- proof” plan to act against aggressors. NOV. 6—MacArthur denounces Chinese interven tion in Korea. NOV. 7—Election gives Democrats slim margin in Senate and House. NOV. 9—MacArthur’s headquarters report strong forces of Chinese Communists army have entered Korean war. NOV. 16—Communist forces pull back; Truman assures Chinese Reds U.S. seeks to avoid extending war. NOV. 22—Seventy-eight killed in Long Island Rail Road wreck at Richmond Hill, N.Y. NOV. 24—MacArthur announces launching of a “win the war” offensive. NOV. 25—Gales and rain ravage east while bliz zards cripple midwest. NOV. 27—Chinese Reds come to U.N. to charge U.S. aggression. NOV. 28—Chinese Reds beat back U.N. forces; MacArthur says they create a “new war.” DEC. 4—Truman and Prime Minister Atlee of Britain confer on “military disaster” in Korea. DEC. 5—U.N. forces quit Pyongyang, former capital of North Korea. DEC. 8—Truman and Attlee urge China to solve Korean problems peacefully. DEC. 10—Marines break out of trap after 13- day battle around Changjin reservoir. By NEWS SPECIALISTS OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This symposium is written by the following specialists of The Associated Press; J. M. Roberts, Jr., foreign affairs; Howard W. Blakes- lee, science; Sam Dawson,.economics; Dorothy Roe, women; Alexander George, population; James J. Strebig, aviation; David G. Bareuther, construction; C. E. Butterfield, television; Gene Handsaker, movies; Ovid A. Martin, agricul ture; Ed Creagh, politics; Norman Walker, la bor; David Taylor Marke, education. # * The last half of the 20th Century dawns with fantastic promises shining through dark clouds. Amid war and rumors of war, new terrors grip the world, but hopes and dreams of the future prevail. The year 2000 looms nearer in the accelerating pace of modem life than 1950 ever could have seemed at the beginning of this century. If the past i’ortells the future and present trends point the way, many millions of persons alive today will live to see peace, prosperity, health, longer life, more leisure and greater luxuries than ever were known. A woman may be President! These are some of the rewards envisaged for the year 2000 by Associated Px-ess experts looking ahead. Here is how they size up prospects; Population: Growth Slow The population of the United States, which rose from 76,000,000 in 1900 to 150,500,000 in 1950, may not double again in the next half century. U. S. Census Bureau experts doubt that it will reach 300,000,000 by the year 2000, but they are not haz arding predictions that far ahead. Population may reach 200,000,000 before the end of the century and will keep on increasing well into the 21st century. While population' doubled in the last half cen tury, it more than tripled in the previous 50 years between 1850 and 1900. Between 1800 and 1850, it had more than quadrupled. Three shifts in U.S. population that have been tremendous in the past 10 years are epected to keep going strong. These are: Movement of people from farms to town, migra tion from the center of the countiy to border states, particularly the Pacific coast and the South, and the movement of city dwellers to the suburbs. These trends will be further stimulated by industrial pro duction needed for the new, long-range defense pro gram and by farm mechanization. World Affairs: Price of Peace Students of history in the year 2000 will prob ably look back on the 20th century as the era of blood and money. Blood because the earth will still be reeking from the third world war. Money, representing the material resources of the western world, because it will have outweighed the unfulfilled promises of Russian imperialistic Com munism in unifying the world, or at least will be on the way to that end. More importantly, but bearing on both, will be the recognition that a new world unifying power— the United States—will have taken its place in the center of international affairs; forging a new “em pire,” different from Britain’s, different from ized Gen. Douglas MacArthur, occupier of Japan, to bomb military targets in North Korea and to use ground forces and establish a naval blockade of the entire Korean coast. But help proved slow, Using modem equipment bearing Moscow’s label, the North Koreans swept down the peninsula. On July 5, the first American combat uuits went into action. They were overrun by 40 North Korean tanks in fighting south of Suwon. A week later they fell back behind the Kum River. Soon they were striving desperately to de fend a narrow beachhead around Pusan, the coun try’s major port. The battle of the build-up began: And the Yankees won. By August they annihilated a Red, regiment trying to break through to Pusan. By mid-September they were ready for their big of fensive. While MacArthur’s troops hammered for a break-through in the south, he made a master gamble. He sent 262 ships and 40,000 fighting men north to Inchon, far behind the Communist lines. The gamble won. Troops raced for Kimpo airfields, then up to South Korea’s capital at Seoul. Others roared south to meet the Cavalry moving up from. Pusan. Thousands of Communists were caught in Mac Arthur’s trap. The police action became an offensive. U. N. forces chased the Reds to the Parallel and beyond. The troops, it seemed, would be out of the trench es by Christmas. Prestige of the U. N. was never higher. The Hordes From Manchuria Then China’s Communists intervened. They first appeared as the U. N. troops neared the Manchurian border in October. Then, myster iously, they pulled back into the mountains. On Nov. 16, Truman reassured the Chinese Reds the United States would take every honorable step to avoid extending the war. The next day the Peiping radio replied: “The Chinese people are not deceived by what they see through this curtain of lies and bellicosity ” Despite this danger signal, American troops con tinued to thrust to the Manchurian border. Mac- Arthur flew to the front and announced a general assault which “should for all practical purposes end the war, restore peace and unity to Korea, en able the prompt withdrawal of United Nations military forces and permit the complete assumption by the Korean people and nation of full sover eignty and international equality.” Wu Hsiu-chuan, head of the Chinese Red dele gation, came to the United Nations meeting in New York to charge U. S. aggression. But the offensive proved more than a diplomatic one. In waves, thousands of Chinese hurled them selves against the Allies. Like locusts they poured out of Manchuria, and behind them lay millions more. It was a new war ... a war, said MacArthur, whose issues must be solved “within the councils of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world.” While the chancelleries stirred, the Allies retreat ed grimly. For 13 days, in a battle that will rank with the most despei’ate in their annals, the Marines fought their way out of a trap around the Changjin reservoir. The bulk of the U. N. forces went south of the parallel, seeking to build up a new defense. Rome’s, indeed not an empire at all in the old sense, but nevertheless a new core, a new catalytic force. This central position of the United States will grow out of its already-demonstrated willingness to base its relations with other nations on a community of interest; out of its capabilities for lending aid to the underdeveloped out of its refusal to divide the world after World War II, into spheres of influence for the benefit of the great powers. The Third World War—barring such a miracle as has never yet occurred in relations between coun tries so greatly at odds—will grow out of Russia’s exactly opposite attempts to unify the world by force. By the year 2000 some sort of world federation idea should have taken real form, with the United States, because of its commercial interest in the development of other lands, because of the blood it will have shed in their behalf, holding a lot of votes. % % % Science: A Man-Made Planet The first man-made star will be circling around the earth by the yfar 2000. This star’s light will be like that of the moon, re flected sunshine. It will be visible before sunrise and after sunset. It will circle 400 to 500 miles away from earth, or possibly farther. This little planet is likely to be the first of the space ships, because there are a lot of practical rea sons for building it, regardless of the future of in terplanetary travel. It will be the nose of a step- rocket, one which fires in sections, each part drop ping off to fall back to earth, until the final piece attains the speed of seven miles a second. At that velocity the end piece will not fall back, but will be come a satellite of earth. Practical uses are numerous. One is a radar bea con. Another to reflect radio signals, for scientific study. Three of these small ships, high enough and evenly spaced around the earth might become relays to serve the entire world with television. The first ship is unlikely to be manned. But it may get power enough from the sun’s heat to drive electronic equipment indefinitely. In 2,000 we shall be able to fly around the world in a day. We shall be neighbors of evei-yone else on earth, to whom we wish to be neighborly. The atomic age should be getting under way. Atomic power will become useful in those areas where coal and oil are expensive and where water power is not available. * * * Medicine: Longer Life Span Medicine by the year 2000 will have advanced the length of life of women to an expectation of nearly 80 and men to over 75. The record will be better if the cause and cure of cancer is discovered. Cancer is a form of growth. It is part of metabolism. Concerning growth, noth ing is now known. Metabolism is not such a com plete mystery, but is complex. Most of the chronic diseases, except infections caused by germs and vir uses, are based on metabolism gone wrong. Growth, metabolism and cancer studies will make the first break into clearing another mystery, the causes of aging. After that is known it will be pos sible to control aging so that elderly persons will be healthy to nearly the end of their lives. Hope is very good for restricting cancer’s at tack before 50 more years, but not for eradicating it. For it now appears that cancer is not a single disease, but takes manv forms. The prevention of baldness depends on studies of growth, aging and death mone than on any other now known factor. These events in faraway Korea produced deep and wide-reaching effects in America When the first U. S. troops stepped upon Korean soil, historians may truly say, an old way of life—an easy-going way of life—ended. Let headlines sketch the changing pattern: “Truman Authorizes Armed Forces to Draft Men and Call Up Reserves.” “RFC to Reactivate Synthetic Rubber Plants.” “New York City Maps Plans for Evacuation.” “Truman Asks Vast Rearmanent Program, Ten Billion in New Defense Funds.” “Congress to Boost Individual and Corporation Income Taxes.” The President said it: “The world responsibilities of the United States have become heavy. Clearly, they will become still heavier before the united efforts' of the free nations of th world produce a lasting peace.” The battered, bruised and beraggled cost of living index took another pounding as an early effect of war. Almost immediately, their mem ories of World War II shortages still keen, many persons raced to strip their grocer’s shelves of sugar and soap. “It’s like the week before Christ mas jammed into a day,” groaned a clerk in an electrical appliance store. As the military outlook brightened, scare buy ing subsided. Prices did not. Americans paid more for meat and bread, for cocoa and cotton. Gone (forever?) was the nickel cup of coffee. The price of suits went up. Washing machines cost 10 per cent more Auto makers posted new advances. That postwar phenomenon, the nickel candy bar that actually sold for a nickel, proved short-lived. The price went up again to six cents. The list was endless: cigarettes and car peting, beefsteak and beer, sofas and shoeshines. The Inflationary Spiral Along with prices, wages took another turn on the inflationary whirl. Detroit’s auto workers won “voluntary” pay increases and General Motors signed an unprecedented five year contracts. As defense spending gradually grew—by November it was at the rate of 50 million dollars a day—rriany industries began scrambling for labor. Partial mob ilization took men under 25 out of industry, and older workers found that they could demand—and get— working conditions reminiscent of the 1941 defense days. West Coast aircraft plants eyed the east for skilled mechanics, and the “labor recruiter” re turned to high favor. That hardy bedfellow of world crisis, the na tional debt, like-wise fattened. Soon after the Ko rean invasion, the President asked Congress for an other 10 billion dollars for military needs, and no one doubted that this was but the beginning of a new round of spending. Taxpayers felt the pinch almost immediately. On October 1, a bigger “Pay- as-you-go” wedge was driven into their paychecks, and corporation taxes also were increased. Conti'ols came back. Congress conferees agi’eed to give Truman a free hand in allocating and es tablishing priorities for scarce materials needed in war. To fight off inflation, severe restrictions were placed on new home mortgages, non-essential building was drastically curbed, and buyers of new automobiles found credit terms far stiffer. Buyers of copper for civilians uses were told to cut their consumption. By December, businessmen were anti cipating price and wage controls, and talk of ration ing became widespread. Public health will improve, especially the knowl edge of how air carries infections, like the common cold, from person to person. Before 2000, the air probably will be made as safe from disease-spread ing as water and food were during the first half of this century. Surgery, which has been the fastest-moving side of medical science, will by 2000, be able to repair bodies damaged by disease, by accidents or by her edity so that the “lame and the halt” will nearly disappear. Polio probably will be i stopped well be fore 2000. * * * Economics: New Standards The nation’s industrial and agricultural plant will be able to support 300 million persons 50 years from now—twice the present population. Land now un productive will be made to yield. Science will stead ily increase crop production per acre. Technological, industrial and economic advances will give the American people living standards eight times as high as now. Dr. Harold G. Moulton, president of the Brook ings Institution, in his book, “Controlling Factors in Economic Development,” predicts that in the next century the nation’s expenditures for food will be eight times what it is now. The total expended each year for housing will be 16 times the present outlay; for apparel 20 times more; for health and education 30 times more; and for recreation and travel 33 times more. Technical advances will be well distributed throughout the economy. For example, a housewife may use an electronic stove and prepare roast beef in less time than it takes to set the table. Other economists agree with Dr. Moulton. The Twentieth Century Fund, looking ahead only 10 years, foresees an American population of 155 mil lion (a conservative estimate) who, as consumers, will he spending 159 billion dollai’s a year. By 1960, they predict, the nation will be putting 45 billion dollars annually into additional capital goods, for further expansion of the industrial plant. * * • * Air War: New Terrors Ahead Space will replace speed as air war’s big prob lem before the world rockets into the year 2000. Distance between points should have disappeared as an element of military planning. Optimum speeds up to the so-called “escape speed” of 25,000 miles an hour, at which a flying object would sail out of the earth’s gravitational pull, will be available: Space for maneuvering will be an important factor, and scientists will be striving for better control to pemit use of top speeds. Long-range military thinkers speak now in terms of some newer source of propulsion, still undefined except in such broad terms as simpler, cheaper, uni versally available, inexhaustible. It may be solar radiation, atmospheric decomposition or some new nuclear fission process. Space platforms, sent out from earth, will end mid-century’s “iron curtain” era by bringing the en tire globe under constant surveillance. The 5,000-mile range intercontinental atmospher ic missile will be in service long before 2000 A.D. There likely will be intercontinental ballistic mis siles, capable of being shot out of the atmosphere and descending meteor-like on a target. Guided missiles to seek targets in flight or on the ground will have been developed to extreme sensitivity. They will be launched from continuous Day after day in troubled 1950, some aspect of the Communist Question produced scare, shock, or increased determination to do something about it. Start with January: • The Chinese Reds were threatening Formosa. • In international waters off Communist China, Nationalist warships shelled the blockade-running U. S. freighter Flying Arrow. • The U. S. ordered all official personnel out of China as a result of the Reds’ seizure of the U. S. Consulate General at Peiping. • The Russians walked out of U. N. meetings because they couldn’t get the Nationalist Chinese out of, and the Communist Chinese into, the or ganization. • A federal jury found Alger Hiss guilty of lying when he denied that he had ever turned secret State Department documens over to then-Commun- ist Whittaker Chambers in 1938. ® After much discussion over Russia’s atomic prowess,, the President decided we must strive to keep ahead of her. He ordered construction, if pos sible, of the horrible, holocaust-making H-bomb. In February, the U. S. broke off relations with Communist Bulgaria and a Red Hungarian court sentenced Robert A Voeglar to 15 years in prison for “spying.” In March, Atomic Scientist Klaus Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years for spying for Russia. Former Government Girl Judith Coplon was found guilty of conspiracy and attempted espionage for Russia. (The verdict was upset later on tech nical grounds.) The McCarthy Story Then “Communist influences at home” because big news, as Republican Senator Joseph R. McCar thy of Wisconsin charged Red infiltration into the State Department and provoked bitter controver sy over his charges that Owen J. Lattimore, one time State Department associate, was “Russia’s top secret agent” in. the United States. Lattimore flat ly denied it, Truman called McCarthy a Soviet as set in the cold war. McCarthy asserted that Tru- maii, by refusing to open up secret loyalty files, was giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The McCarthy story faded out but another Com munist story was there to burgeon in. An Ameri can Navy plane, the Privateer, flew over the Baltic Sea and never returned. The Soviets shot it down. The Privateer had fired first, they said, while fly ing over Soviet Latvia. “Untrue,” the U. S. replied. The plane was unarmed and had flown only outside Soviet territorial waters. International blood pres sures rose still more when the Reds rejected Amer ican protests and replied that they’d do the same thing again. Their eyes on Moscow, the foreign ministers of the “Big Three” (U S., Britain, France) announ ced they would gradually relax controls in Ger many and the 12 foreign ministers of the North Atlantic treaty council accepted the principle that their “security lies in balanced collective forces.” Still the outlook was hopeful. On June 1, in fact, the President could say confidentally that the earth was nearer to peace than at any time since the end of World War If. But even then the Reds were accembling their forces in North Korea, preparing to plunge into a war that might spread throughout the globe. patrol aircraft, able to stay aloft as long as ships stay at sea. Electronic eyes will eliminate errors in detection and identification. An air attack of the next century will he as rel atively unstoppable as today. Effectiveness of air borne weapons will have become such that the first problem will be survival of “round one”-—the initial attack. $ * Women: For President! The woman of the year 2000 will he an outsize Diana, anthropologists and beauty experts predict. She will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver. Chances are she will be doing a man’s job, and for this reason will dress to fit her role. Her hair will be cropped short, so as not to get in the way. She probably will wear the most functional clothes in the daytime, go frilly only after dark. Slacks probably will be her usual workaday cos tume. These will be of synthetic fiber, treated to keep her warm in winter and cool in summer, admit the beneficial ultra-violet rays and keep out the burning ones. They will be light weight and equip ped with pockets for food capsules, which she will eat instead of meat and potatoes. Her proportions will he perfect, though Amaz onian, because science will have perfected a balanced ration of vitamins, proteins and minerals that will produce the maimum bodily efficiency, the minimum of fat. She will go in for all kinds of sports—probably will compete with men athletes in football, baseball, prizefighting and wrestling. She’ll be in on all the high-level groups of finance, business and government. She may even be president. * * * Labor: A Short Work Week There is every reason to believe that the steady growth of organized labor in the first half of 1950 will continue along the same trend in the scond half of the century. Labor developed to where it is today from prac tically nothing at the beginning of the 20th century. It’s still in the process of growth. .The various ele ments and cliques making up the American economy —labor is just one of them—are learning more and more that the national security and well-being re quires them to remain strong and work together. So as labor comes closer to reaching maturity it is likely to win greater acceptance from other ele ments of American life. This in itself would tend to eliminate some of the great labor-management struggles and create a smoother-working American team. From every indication labor is in politics to stay, probably playing an expanding role as the years progress. By the end of the century labor may have its own party, as is the case in several European countries. It’s a good bet, too, that by the end of the cen tury many government plans now avoided as forms of socialism will be accepted as commonplace. Who in 1900 thought that by mid-centry there would be government-regulated pensions and a work week limited to 40 hours, a minimum wage, child labor curbs and unemployment compensation ? So tell your children not to be surprised if the year 2000 finds a 35 or even a 30,-hour work week fixed by law. The Year, Day-By-Day Changes Noted In The Next Half Century... Predictions Of This Nation And Affairs In 2000