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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS . By Edward C. Wayne Japan and Axis Powers Sign Pact; Britain's Navy Backs Tree French' In Attack on Dakar, West Africa; 77 English Refugee Children Drown (EDITOR'S VOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper Union I' ti A k f Av A A, I : kprkj XT A "Eventually, why not now," seems to be the slogan of these men of military age that recently swamped the New York city TJ. S. army recruiting recruit-ing offices. This line of would-be doughboys, desirous of getting into the army before the draft blows them in, reached away around a city block. Crowds like this have been applying for enlistment for the past few weeks and officials are of the opinion that volunteers may make up the first quota of 400,000 men required under the conscription law, without resort to the nationwide draft. (For further news of the draft see: DEFENSE, Conscription.) THE WAR: New Fronts A united front of Germany, Italy and Japan became a reality as these three nations signed a pact in Berlin Ber-lin in which they proclaimed to the world a new political, economic and military treaty providing for an interchange in-terchange of assistance in case any other nation enters the European war. Military experts were quick to say that this pact was aimed at the United States for it is believed by many that this country's policy of aid to Great Britain has disturbed the axis powers and Japan is none too pleased with the friendly American Amer-ican attitude toward China. Under terms of the treaty signed in the presence of Adolf Hitler, Germany and Italy are recognized as the powers of the "new order" in Europe and Japan is to be the leader of a "new order" in "Greater Asia." u Day before this pact was signed the United States government had cut off scrap iron shipments to Japan. French Trouble Battle broke out in two new sectors sec-tors and France was engaged in both. Technically it is not war. But to the soldiers and sailors killed it made little difference. Gen- Charles de Gaulle, leader of the "Free French Committee" which, from offices in London, is opposing op-posing the Petain cabinet, led an expedition against Dakar, Senegal, in French West Africa. Many African Af-rican states controlled by France already had pledged allegiance to De Gaulle. In Senegal, De Gaulle said, there had been infiltration of Germans and Italians who sought to seize the air station. The air station is important. It is the hopping hop-ping off place for Brazil, 1,700 miles across the south Atlantic much closer to Latin America than New j York. De Gaulle expected quick victory. French warships under his com-i com-i mand, however, were beaten off by Petain warships already in the port. But British naval forces backed up the French and a first class battle ensued. The British indicated they will land troops to hold the country. In reprisal Petain planes bombed Gibraltar. Indo-China French Indo-China also was under assault in this scene by Japanese. The Tokyo government sought military mili-tary privileges ostensibly to attack China through the back door, but in reality to extend their Asian influence. influ-ence. An ultimatum brought them results. But the Japanese Canton army attacked nevertheless, and began be-gan an invasion. In Europe German radios continued to thunder thun-der that Nazi legions would invade England. "We are coming," said the broadcasts aimed at the British Isles. Louder than the radios, however, was the rumble of bombs over London Lon-don as well as other interior towns. Night after night Messerschmidts dropped 500-pound thermite bombs that wrecked rows of homes, stores and factories, the British museum was hit. Shell splinters pitted Big Ben. A famous church designed by Sir Christopher Wren was destroyed. Londoners slept in subway stations and shelters, if at all. There was demand for retaliation, for the royal air corps to smash Berlin. At Sea The British admitted loss of their seventeenth submarine and on the same day announced sinking of four Nazi boats in the channel. Most shocking of all, however, was loss of a merchantman sent to the bottom bot-tom 600 miles at sea allegedly byi German torpedo. The ship was bringing English refugee children to America. Among the 248 dead were 77 children. Also lost with the ship was Rudolf Olden, former publisher of the Berliner Tageblatt. Olden was a thorn in the side of Adolf Hitler Hit-ler when the fuehrer was struggling for power. The brown-shirted leader lead-er had voiced threats of vengeance on him. DEFENSE: Conscription Two volumes of rules and regulations regula-tions which have been compiled during years of study by the army were signed by President Roosevelt to govern the draft of manpower. The regulations cover everything from the physical requirements of enrollees to the amount and type of furniture needed in draft board offices. of-fices. Whereas the regular army rejects applicants under 64 inches, the diaft will accept men of 60 inches. The draftee must have three upper and lower biting teeth that meet and three upper and three lower chewing teeth. Conscripts needing minor dental care will receive re-ceive it in camp. CAMPAIGN: The Willkie Siving Wendell Willkie ended in Madison, Wis., his first swing around the country, coun-try, which was expected to set the pace for the Republican campaign. Everywhere he spoke to great crowds, though not always to friendly friend-ly ones. In speech after speech Mr. Willkie attacked New Deal spending, spend-ing, the third term, Democratic city machines. He said he had a three-point three-point program: 1, Rehabilitation of American industry as a means of ending unemployment; 2, a strong national defense; 3, preservation of democracy and national unity. His next tour will be eastward. F. D. R., LI. D. In the Philadelphia hall where Wendell Willkie received the Republican Re-publican nomination, President Roosevelt, dressed in a purple gown, received the degree of doctor of laws from the University of Pennsylvania at its 200th anniversary celebration. He had fault to find with the university's uni-versity's founding date. He told the crowd, which laughed at the remark, re-mark, that it embarrassed him that "the 200th anniversary should fall on an election year." CENSUS: Smallest Gain Besides you there are 131,409,880 of us in the United States, as of April 1. You have the word of the United States census bureau for it,, and they counted noses. But the rise in population during the last 10 years was only 7 per cent, the lowest low-est on record. In the decade between be-tween 1920 and 1930, the percentage percent-age of increase was 16.1. Decline in the birth rate and a virtual stoppage of immigration is given as the reason. William L. Austin, director of the census, viewed the situation with concern, as did students of population trends. Some have figured that by 1970 there will be 150,000,000 in the United States and after that, unless something some-thing unforseen occurs, the drift will be downward. RADIO: New Numbers The Federal Communications commission com-mission announced that 777 out of 862 radio stations in the U. S. will change frequencies on or about December De-cember 1. The rearrangement comes through agreement entered into by the United States, Cuba, Mexico and Canada, in order to eliminate international interference. Radio receivers of the push button type will need adjustment to the new numbers. For the metropolitan centers the reception will not be altered greatly, but it will make quite an improvement in the rural areas, FCC officials claim. In the new setup, United States stations now operating between 740 and 780 kilocycles will move up 10 kilocycles; stations between 790 and 870 will move up 20; stations between be-tween 880 and 1,450 will move up 30; clear-cha'nnel stations will shift from 1,460-1,490 to 1,500-1,530; local stations now on 1,500 will move down to 1,490. Stations now between 550 and 720 will remain unchanged. PIE IN THE SKY: But No Automobiles Two years ago, Dr. Robert Ley, head of the German labor front, promised to put an automobile in every worker's garage. Some 200,-000 200,-000 workers began contributing $2 weekly toward the $396 purchase price, which later was raised to $467. But there will be no automobiles. automo-biles. Both unfinished factories and contributions have been turned over to war use. Ley now is offering a new plan. After the war, he told German workers, work-ers, wages for 10 years will be divided di-vided into "free" and "tied" parts. The "tied" parts will revert to the government and workers will get not only automobiles, but homes and other things the government thinks is good for them. He also said there will be no more forced labor and everyone will have a weekly vacation from Saturday noon to Monday morning. SCIENCE: Neiv Process John Henry Walthall, 40-year-old scientist with the TVA, has discovered discov-ered a method of abstracting aluminum alumi-num from common clay. Aluminum Alumi-num is now derived from bauxite, found domestically chiefly in Arkansas, Ar-kansas, but imported in huge quantities quan-tities from Dutch Guiana. The TVA said the discovery will make the U. S. virtually independent of foreign for-eign sources. MISCELLANY: C. Mrs. Stanley Beggs, 46, of Lynd-hurst, Lynd-hurst, N. J., was arrested by FBI agents charged with demanding $50,-000 $50,-000 from Miss Helen Clay Frick, heiress of the late steel millionaire. C A bill fixing penalties for peacetime peace-time sabotage in defense industries has been passed by the senate and sent to the house. C The Pennsylvania super-highway which cuts through the Appalachian mountains from Pittsburgh to near Harrisburg, was designed for speeds at more than 100 miles an hour. While the express road has not yet been opened for traffic, the commission commis-sion controlling it has already decided de-cided that the state's 50-mile an hour speed law will be enforced, ft Boston saw the greatest parade in the history of the American Legion Le-gion when 100,000 veterans and their auxiliaries were in line, and 300,-000 300,-000 spectators stood along the curbs to see the 14-hour long procession. |
