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Show VATICAN: And Neutrality WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne McNutt Lashes 'Disciples of Despair Calls for All -Out Attack on Tokyo; Pan-American Solidarity Increases; R.A.F. Reverses Tide in Malta Battle (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed (n these columns, they are Ifao.e of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) (Released by Western Newspaper Union.! LATIN-AMERICA: Grows More Solid Historians, pointing to the fact that 21 Latin-American nations either ei-ther have declared war or have broken bro-ken relations with the Axis, as compared com-pared with 13 in the last war, had expressed the belief that Chile would be the next one in, and that Pan-American Pan-American solidarity was on the increase, in-crease, boding well for hemispheric hemispher-ic unity in the post-war period. However, as President-elect Juan Rios had reached the threshold of his office following the election, Adolf Hitler had cabled him expressing ex-pressing the hope that "German relations re-lations with Chile might become even closer." Chile and Argentina, at this point had remained the only two still maintaining relations with the Axis. Hitler was quoted as cabling: "I take this opportunity to express the desire that the relations of sincere sin-cere friendship between Germany and the Republic of Chile will be LABOR: Picture Complicated The labor situation, in the other big battle which had centered in Washington, the fight over whether the 40-hour week should be retained or not, had complicated the New Deal picture tremendously. On the one hand Secretary of Labor La-bor Perkins and the White House itself had been found apparently unwilling un-willing to scrap the 40-hour week, while Thurman Arnold, of the attorney at-torney general's staff, had issued the most bitter statement against labor unions as obstructing the War effort that had come out of Washington Wash-ington since the New Deal started. Now, the unions were whole-heartedly against the move to end the 40-hour 40-hour week, claiming that the only benefit their workers had from it was the extra half-time pay for the usual eight hours of overtime weekly, week-ly, while business already was being be-ing accused of getting huge profits for its share of the war-time boom in industrial activity. Congressional leaders were found urging, against business, that all profits over 6 per cent be recaptured recap-tured for the government, and at the same time highly divided over the 40-hour week. Tremendous mail was being received re-ceived on the subject, convincing many congressmen that a definite nationwide campaign to have the 40-hour 40-hour week thrown out was in progress. prog-ress. One official high in the War Production Pro-duction board stated that the 40-hour week through overtime payments was adding 8 per cent to the cost of all war contracts. 'ATTACK TOKYO': Pleads McNutt Lashing out at "disciples of despair," de-spair," Paul V. McNutt, social security se-curity administrator, had urged an "attack on Tokyo" as the "real defense de-fense of America." He said: "America's defense does not begin be-gin at wading depth on Coney Island, Is-land, nor on the sundrenched sands of San Diego. "America's defense begins with the attack on Tokyo. It is when flames roar through Yokohama its? fi'' ' . vNsL --pmar .jtS$ ' ' N J, It - j i 4a. x "w. s O It f I ARCHBISHOP SPELLMAN "The church is against atrocities." The sending of a Japanese mission mis-sion to the Vatican in Rome and its acceptance by the pope had brought statements from Washington and London that the Allies "had directed direct-ed the attention of the pope to the unfortunate effects of allowing Japan Ja-pan to establish a mission at the Holy See. While there was no direct answer to these representations from Pope Pius himself, the pontiff's closefriend and American spokesman. Archbishop Archbish-op Spellman of New York, said: "Leaders of nations who have tried to influence the Holy Father on one side or the other in this conflict must understand that the Holy Father Fa-ther has to be impartial. "While there can be no neutrality neutrali-ty between right and wrong, and the church is against atrocities, the Holy See must keep in contact with and aid the Catholics of every nation. na-tion. "The Holy See must accept the envoys who choose to make these contacts." SUGAR: A Week of None The announcement that there would be a week of no sugar sales decreed by the government for the week of April 27, came when sugar rationing, ban on sales of new automobiles, and demands that auto graveyards give up their dead were holding the economic spotlight. The East was having gasoline shutdowns, shut-downs, with rationing in prospect throughout this territory, perhaps also in the Pacific Northwest. Washington told the people of 7,900,000 tons of sugar having been withdrawn from the market by hoarders, and told of plans to make sugar hoarders give up their supplies sup-plies to the retail stores, selling them back at retail prices. A campaign had been started to force used-car-lot junkmen to "turn over" their cars every 60 days or face the penalty of having the rusty metal requisitioned by the government. govern-ment. In one eastern state of average size, it was said, the junkyards had 14,000 ears, enough metal to make 2,300,000 three-inch shells; 9,000 75-mm. 75-mm. howitzers or 6,000 anti-aircraft guns. TRAINING PROGRAMS: For Army Forces War Secretary Stimson has announced an-nounced that 100,000 men and women wom-en will be trained for civilian jobs including overhaul and repair mechanics, me-chanics, production workers, inspectors inspec-tors at government factories, depots and arsenals in government and state-owned schools and rented facilities facil-ities of private technical schools. Eligible El-igible men must be outside the age and other selective service requirements. require-ments. Students will be paid $900 to $1,400 a year in training. Courses vary from 15 weeks to four months. Applications may be made to any civil service commission local office. The Army institute has been established es-tablished at Madison, Wis., to provide pro-vide for enlisted men with at least four months active service, correspondence corre-spondence study in more than 65 courses in English, social studies, mathematics, science, business and engineering at a cost of two dollars a course. Army Ground Forces Commander McNair announced selection of a site "west of the Colorado river" for large-scale troop training in modern desert warfare, part .of a program to develop task forces for mountain, airborne and armored warfare and for joint ground operations. opera-tions. The department said the replacement re-placement and school command will open headquarters at Birmingham, Ala., and the anti-aircraft command at Richmond, Va., before April 1. The former will include 14 schools and replacement centers, including officer candidate schools. A military police replacement training center will be established at Fort Riley, Kan., about April 8, to accommodate accommo-date 1,800 trainees from all sections of the country. Mr. Stimson said the R.O.T.C. program will be maintained main-tained in colleges, but the army cannot can-not supply material and personnel to provide pre-induction training at such institutions. ATLANTIC: Sinkings continued at a rapid pace along the Atlantic seaboard, though there were not so many on the regular regu-lar sea-lanes carrying commerce between Britain and the U. S. Yet there were favorable signs, and measures were being taken to make the lot of the submarine harder, hard-er, and to cut down sinkings. One of these was the dim-out or black-out of lights of cities and resorts re-sorts along the coast, particularly along sea-lanes frequented by coastwise coast-wise vessels. PRESIDENT-ELECT JUAN RIOS Relations with Germany strained. preserved during your term as president, pres-ident, and if possible, become even closer." Yet, by contrasts, most Latin-American Latin-American observers took this as a hint that relations were on the point of being broken. JAPS: Warn Aussies The Japanese, apparently trying to undermine Australian confidence and trying to build up a lack of unity within the continent, were putting put-ting out "warnings to Australians" before they had tried a landing. The grim determination of the Australians to defend their country, plus the appointment of Gen. Douglas Doug-las MacArthur to the supreme command, com-mand, was ample assurance that Japanese propaganda would fall on barren soil. As the invaders of New Guinea were moving across the difficult and almost impassable terrain between Salamaua and Lae and Port Moresby Mores-by on the southern coast, with prospect pros-pect of a bitter battle at the end, they issued the following warning: "Australia stands at the crossroads. cross-roads. She must choose between freedom and the fate of the Dutch East Indies. "Japan has no territorial aspirations, aspira-tions, and wants Australia to become be-come a partner in the eastern Asiatic Asiat-ic prosperity realm. "Australia, with a population of only 7,000,000 cannot defend her long eastern coastline. "The countries, Japan and Australia, Aus-tralia, economically supplement each other. One way leads to the end of Australia's existence and the other to wealth and peace," said the Japanese. At the same time the Japs showed evidence of being jittery over possible possi-ble attacks by American planes from Alaska via the Aleutians, Adm. Kayozo Nakamura having told the Japanese people in a broadcast: "Fears that the United States in the spring will embark on surprise attacks on Japan by submarines and aircraft are unnecessary. "The Americans have no adequate base." European centers had placed little importance on the signing in Moscow of a renewal of the pact between Japan and Russia on the subject of fishing rights off the Siberian Si-berian coast Refusal of Russia to have signed would have been viewed as a practical prac-tical declaration of war. But few European observers took the signing sign-ing of the pact, in existence for many years, as any special sign of friendliness. PAUL V. McNUTT More Leathernecks, feiver bottlenecks." and the factories of the Ruhr are blasted and broken that Wichita, Kansas City and Omaha will be secure. se-cure. "The leathernecks of Wake island taught the Japs what it costs to lick only a few hundred marines. What this nation needs is more leathernecks leather-necks and fewer bottlenecks." BRITISH: Gain Air Strength The report of a British-German air fight around Malta, where the British had been taking a beating since the war began without giving in, had been a signal for the fact that the British R.A.F. had been steadily gaining strength. In this assault, British Hurricane fighters and anti-aircraft gunnery had brought down 12 bombers and two fighters in a 24-hour assault on the island, the biggest bag in the war so far. Most significant was the fact that the "ack-ack boys," the gunners on the island, were credited with knocking the two fighters and 8 of the 12 bombers out of the air. The other four planes shot down were fighter-bombers, similar in plan to our "medium attack bombers," bomb-ers," and they were all bagged by the R.A.F. fighting squadron. |
