Show 49 U 0 OR W washington D C GERMAN PRISON LABOR officials are keeping very mum about it but the entire question ol 01 using german prison labor to rebuild russia and france has been thrown into a new controversy by a secret opinion rendered by supreme court justice robert jackson who has taken over U S prosecution ol of war criminals justice jackson wrote his opinion to U S reparations chief ed pauley stating that in his opinion compulsory german labor should not be used to rebuild france and russia unless they have been convicted of war crimes it is not my business what is to be done with reparations jackson wrote but this would largely destroy the moral position of america in this war compulsory labor he continued should be required only for convicted war criminals jackson went on to point out that german labor drifting out of russian conce concentration nt ration camps in the future would tell tales of horror which even it if exaggerated would arouse sharp condemnation in the united states he urged therefore that german labor not be used for reparations until they had been convicted of war crimes he indicated that members of the gestapo and the SS elite guard undoubtedly were war criminals as a class but the every member of the nazi party might not be classified as a war criminal following justice jacksons bombshell a hurried meeting was called in secretary morgen thaus office attended by ed pauley assistant secretary of state will clayton t the he army navy FEA and other interested government agencies secretary vigorously protested this new development it was pointed out by some that the use of german prison labor had been agreed to at yalta by president roosevelt himself and therefore could not be changed if we have to wait for the con diction of all these war criminals before we can get german labor suggested reparations chief pauley we may have to wait a year meanwhile there may not be enough germans to repair the damage in france and russia pauley also made the point that he been charged by the president with the handling of reparations and therefore would have to make the final deci decision himself after his arrival in europe after further discussion however pauley agreed to accept justice jacksons opinion in principle namely that only convicted war criminals could be used as prisoner labor this leaves the whole question pretty much up in the air however it has been hinted that justice jackson will endeavor to indict groups of germans as a class in other words he may try the gestapo as a group not individually and decide that every member of the gestapo automatically is a war criminal this probably will be done with SS elite corps whether a blanket indictment will also be lodged against the nazi party remains to be seen 0 0 TRAINING FILMS DESTROYED the army want it known but it has a new way of handling one type of surplus property in the case of training and orientation film it burns old prints according to a survey made by movie experts old films last summer were being burned at the rate of tons weekly at astoria N Y meanwhile other government agencies sc schools bools and universities are anxious to buy these outmoded prints from the army in fact the U S office of transportation had to spend of the taxpayers money to make 10 new reels of its own when the army refused to sell it the ardys excellent series of 20 reels for the training of auto mechanics sen francis myers of pennsylvania democrat has just written maj gen harry in ingles agles chief of the signal corps demanding an explanation the making of training films and orientation ellms by the army has been a major operation thousands of subjects have been turned out at a tremendous outlay and production schedules have been more crowded than those of any hollywood studio the films have proved remarkable training aids with officers claiming that they cut at least in half the length of time needed to teach men such things as first aid etc CAPITOL CHAFF 41 aviation enthusiast rep jennings randolph has introduced a bill authorizing the government to repay employees for the use of their private privat airplanes on government business just as is now done with automobiles and motorcycles 41 Wyo capable senator joe has quietly started a study of the disposal of sur surplus pills war plants he wants to insure maximum use of our national productive ca capacity p acety after the war and the stimulation of small business |