Show aa OR W N washington D 0 HOODOOED NORMANDIE NORMAND there la is not much consolation to ve be had in connection c with tho virtual sinking of tile the S 8 Nor normandie mandle except tor for ono one thing tho the french had gono gone to a lot of expense to build tho the giant vessel so that she could bo be converted to on an a airplane carrier in wartime to this end special funnels were arranged an on the side of the deck to give space tor runways especially cordially large eleva tors were installed st at each end of the ship find and the top deck consisted 0 of f the biggest sports deck in the world however U S naval engineers decided that despite nil all the french preparations the Nor mandles upper decks were not strong enough to hold a hock flock of planes the french had sacrificed reinforcements below tor for the purpose of beauty in the passenger salons As aa a troop ship tho the normandie Nor mandle was considered useful but not nearly so useful proportionately as a medium sized vessel such as the manhattan reason big ships draw so much water that they could not carry troops to dakar or west african I 1 ports small boats would be necessary to take soldiers and cargo ashore also the Nor Norman mandio dlo was too big to get through the suez canal SINKING U S TANKERS tho the navy is being more hush hush than usual regarding the sin kings of oil tankers of off tho atlantic coast Ilo however wever hero here are a few important facts acts about the situation which are not military secrets first fact is encouraging the tankers sunk were old small and slow alow all of them were 20 years old or over and the largest standard oils india arrow was tons on the surface this would indicate that oil and gasoline losses on thomasi tho east coast would not be heavy however this is not the c case a se for oil all of the big new american tankers have been baen taken over by the navy this was under an arrange ment the me maritime corn mission had lent the oil companies around per vessel to build fast modern tankers making 19 knots this Is so fast that they can avoid submarines and also keep up with the fleet Ho however Oever these cheso new tankers built in operation cooperation co with the navy aro are now with the fleet buy defense bonds HEAVY LOSSES two other factors indicate tho the im am cG of the sin kings on the atlantic coast one Is an announcement made by the british last week that sin kings for or tho the entire atlantic including the east coast of theunis the united states had been heavier in january than ever before the other Is the tact fact that tha comprehensive rationing of oil and gasoline for the east coast to Is now a certainty in other words oil and tanker losses have been very heavy reason for these losses Is easy to understand it requires no official explanation As everyone knows especially the enemy we had to rush various kinds of shipping to the pacific to replace the damage done at pearl harbor also we had a large number of warships busy convoying conveying vessels across the north atlantic hence we have been caught shorthanded on tho the east coast note most people dont realize it but the oil shortage along the atlantic could be relieved considerably by a curtailment of tank car rates on gasoline and fuel oil last fall the rail rates were reduced on crude oil but not on gasoline or fuel oil POLITICAL GO ROUND democratic insiders are predicting that gov herbert lehman of new york will be persuaded to ru rue tor for a fourth term this year lehman has told old party chiefs he want another term but they urge him to be a candidate again on the ground of wartime duty daty meanwhile former district attorney tom dewey Is busy behind the scenes organizing his political fences for another try at the governorship this will be the springboard tor for a second shot nl at the GOP presidential nomination in 1914 1944 ins gov julius hell bell will run tor for a third term this year to gc get t himself in position to take on iso isolationist lat sen alex wiley when he comes up for reelection election re in 1044 1944 doth both are arc republicans but privately no love is lost between them florello La Guardias ambition always has been bee n to become a U S se senator antor after he steps out as mayor of new york city buy defense bonds GO ROUND in trenton N J the giant gen eral cral electric company will be tried on charges of monopolistic control oi of electric light globe patents it will be one of the most important antitrust trials in history if the govern ment wins the case the effect will have far reaching consequences on all patent controls the treasury department has ordered customs officials to wear black silk neckties with their rew raw uniforms 4 |