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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Steel Placed Under Defense Priority; Government Moves to Check Inflation With Installment-Buying Regulations; Tension Grows in Far East Situation (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) I (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) I RSvv. ...... .x,i XfctK, : :'-?.wCvJC-.w. AkX , "- " Wm. S. Knudsen (2nd from right) OPM director, finds himself in a sea of motors during his inspection of the Curtiss-Wright aircraft plant at Paterson, N. J. The OPM chief on the same day also visited the company's com-pany's Caldwell, N. J., propellor plant where 300 machinists went out on strike on the day of his inspection. BUYING: Curbing Installments In an action designed to put a check on inflationary trends in the nation's defense boom, an executive order was issued by President Roosevelt which called on the Federal Fed-eral Reserve system's governors to regulate installment buying. This order gave the Federal Reserve Re-serve virtually complete control over consumer credits in the country coun-try and will become effective in about a month. It was indicated by Marriner S. Eccles, Federal Reserve board chairman, that the first steps in the regulation would not be to prohibit installment buying, but merely to control it. This meant that the board might put through an order regulating regulat-ing the size of the down payment to be made and the length of time allowed al-lowed the consumer for repayment of the credit. Eccles also said that initial regulation regu-lation would be issued promptly "following consultation with representatives repre-sentatives of the trade and financial institutions affected." DRAFT: Extension Fight The passage by the senate of a bill providing for an 18-month ex-1 ex-1 tension of the terms of service of all men in the army and navy did not end the battle by any means, nor did it have the effect of quieting opposition in the house. First intimation that this was so came from administration circles themselves, with the apparently authorized au-thorized statement that any exten-sien exten-sien at all from, the house would be acceptable. ) When the bill went into the senate, the first goal of the administration leaders was for an unlimited extension. exten-sion. The opposition bloc countered with the Taft bill, calling for six STETTINIUS: Issuing Orders The priorities director of the Office Of-fice of Production Management, E. R. Stettinius Jr., moving rapidly rapid-ly to get the economic condition of the nation geared into the defense production machine,' announced that all steel would be placed under full priority for defense. Stettinius announced that there was a growing shortage in certain types of steel products, and said that his order covered not only steel but also certain alloys. It means that the steel companies, already operating to capacity and with growing backlogs of orders, are forced to accept all defense orders or-ders in the future even if this means the shelving and deferring of non-defense orders. The preference given defense orders or-ders applies not only to the army and navy, but also to British orders and those of the lend-lease program. It goes into effect September 1, after which any order for steel will have to be accompanied by a special spe-cial form which will set forth what purpose the steel is to be used for. The priorities control over steel rolled the ball a little higher as far as governmental economic action was concerned. Already in August pig iron had been placed on the list, and the recent order concerning the manufacture of silk hosiery, and placing of the entire national output of silk at government and defense disposal sent women chasing pell-mell pell-mell to department store counters. Also the Stettinius office was ordering or-dering other goods out of production produc-tion to conserve materials. How far-reaching this was could be noticed no-ticed in the order outlawing "white-wall" "white-wall" automobile tires. Stettinius order stated that 8,000 tons of rubber per year " could be saved in this way, and that quantities quanti-ties of zinc, in the form of zinc oxide, ox-ide, also went into the manufacture of these tires. JAPAN: 'Crisis' Increasingly "tough" measures against Japan by the British-American front were predicted by London Lon-don as the crisis grew more acute in the Indo-Chinese area; with the Dutch East Indies, Malaya and the Philippines regarded as equally menaced. The Japanese demand on Portugal for an air base at Delhi, town on the Portuguese half of the little-known little-known Dutch-Portuguese island of Timor in the Malay archipelago, was the latest move of the Nipponese Nippon-ese to raise tension in the South Pacific. London stated that the granting of such a base would enable the Japanese planes to fly right over the center of the Dutch East Indies, and to throw a loop of military airplanes air-planes around the Philippines. It did not make the tension any easier when it was learned that Nazi Germany was putting pressure pres-sure on the Portuguese government asking air and submarine bases on . Lisbon's colonial territories in return re-turn for a Nazi guarantee of Portuguese Portu-guese territorial integrity. A German base in the Azores, London pointed out, would largely nullify the American aid to Britain on the Atlantic. Also a base on Portuguese territory in West Africa would do the British no good in the Mediterranean battle. At the same time an article by Chen Chieh, former Chinese ambassador am-bassador to Berlin, expressed the conviction that stiffer economic pressure on Japan by Britain and the United States might checkmate any of Nippon's demands. Chieh said that the entire Japanese Jap-anese southern Pacific campaign was the result of prodding by Germany, Ger-many, who had underestimated the courage of the United States, the strength of the Russian army, and while realizing the strength of the Chinese army, thought a blufT would close the Burma road. . But, Chieh continued, "tougher" L pressure by Britain and the U. S. on Japan would cause the latter to "fold up." Japan never would have moved in the first place without the insistent urging and misrepresentation misrepresenta-tion of the Nazi diplomats. ' Chieh, however, on the basis of ! his experiences in Berlin, stated that ! while the tension in Germany is ter-! ter-! rifle, and while there is consider-! consider-! able discontent' with the govern-I govern-I ment, the war, and with living con- ditions, "it would be wishful think- Iing" to figure that a revolution is imminent. months; later a vote was taken on a year, and the 18-month provision was finally passed, by a fairly strong, though lessened majority. It was considered significant that on the eve of the first test of strength, house administration leaders lead-ers were admitting that a "down the line" fight for the senate 18-month extension might risk a complete defeat de-feat for the bill. BATTLE: Of Propaganda The rival claims of Russians and Germans to successes on the east front continued to feature the war news to the despair of the reader and observer, and the beclouding of any clear understanding of the action. ac-tion. Official London, usually ignoring such matters, warned the public to "take the German claims with reserve," re-serve," but to realize that a serious and dangerous threat to the Black sea port of Odessa was shaping up. That was one direction in which the Germans were claiming relatively rela-tively little. They did claim the capture of an army general in the south, and thousands of prisoners, but most of the claims were in the territory closer to Kiev, Smolensk, and Leningrad. Stories came out of Berlin with an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with conditions, however, one dispatch dis-patch stating that the Russians, despite de-spite huge Josses, were still hurling "millions" of fresh troops into the fray with no count of the cost. BERLIN: Under 2 Fires The German capital, since the Russian war started, was placed under un-der two bomb fires, in fact, in recent re-cent attacks, people could not tell whether the bombing planes were coming from the east or the west. Britain, relieved of much of the necessity of protecting her own cities, was hammering away day after day, night after night, when suddenly came reports from Berlin of bombings of the city and territory by Red planes. This was verified in Moscow, though the Soviet communiques said that the flights were largely of a reconnaissance nature, hinting of larger bombings to follow. Speaking of these bombings, one outstanding British spokesman, General Smuts of South Africa, said that it was the British belief that a wresting of control of the air, and a continuance of consistent and heavy bombing of German objectives objec-tives by both the British and the Russians would bring an end to the war eventually. |