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Show NA I XrfV DREW PEARSON Washington, D. C. BEHIND RAF RAIDS Few people outside the inner circle cir-cle know it, but the recent bombing raids on Bremen, Cologne, Essen, have been accomplished in part through the farsightedness of Ed Stettinius Jr., who, long ago saw the importance of high octane gas and demanded that the administration start large scale production. Stettinius has taken it on the chin regarding the slowness of aluminum production and has admitted he was wrong. (Real reason for the tragic error was his reliance on Aluminum Corporation of America figures). But on two other vital commodities he was way out in front. One of these was rubber. Stettinius Stetti-nius was the first to see the need oi building synthetic rubber factories to prepare for the fall of Singapore and began dinning on Jesse Jones for nearly a year before he could get Jesse to move. The other commodity was high octane oc-tane gasoline, without which the current cur-rent bombing raids could not take place. One bomber takes about 1,000 gallons of gasoline to fly from England to Germany and back, so with 1,000 bombers staging a raid, 1,000,000 gallons of fuel is used up in one night. V. S. PRISONERS IN BATAAN Ex-Undersecretary of the Interior Jack Dempsey has taken up with the American Red Cross the problem prob-lem of getting a Red Cross representative repre-sentative in Manila to look out for U. S. prisoners from Bataan and Corregidor. So far, the Japs have not permitted permit-ted a Swiss Red Cross representative representa-tive in Manila, though they have admitted ad-mitted Swiss representatives to Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. No excuse has been given by the Japs for not permitting a Swiss representative in Manila, but U. S. officials presume it is because they don't want anyone from the outside world to see what is going on there. Meanwhile, however, the treatment treat-ment of U. S. prisoners in Japan and China is reported to be good. The Swiss representatives make regular reports, state that American Ameri-can prisoners have no complaints, that sheets on the beds are changed frequently, and that married men are allowed to go to see their wives every week-end. ROYAL PRESS CONFERENCE At King Peter's conference witi the press, the Jugoslav monarch was completely poised, though ad-mittt'tg ad-mittt'tg the camera men fazed him a bit. With characteristic zeal they monopolized the proceedings witi popping flash-bulbs. A reporter asked Peter what his outstanding impressions were of the U. S. "One that stands out is youi friendliness," he answered prompt ly. "Everywhere I have gone I have noticed that." "Does that include photographers?" photogra-phers?" ' "Well, they are persistent, aren'1 they? I wouldn't mind if they didn't keep shooting off things in my face." TANKER-SAVING PIPELINE American automobile owners don't know it, but indirectly they had the British to thank for the final decision deci-sion to build a new pipeline from the South to the Middle West. Secretary Ickes had been urgini construction of this pipeline foi more than a year always - being rebuffed by the War Productior board. Part of Ickes' argument was that it was foolish to waste Americar tankers by having them carry oi all the way to England from the Gulf of Mexico. If, on the other hand, tankers could load oil and gasoline at a Middle Atlantic port, they could save 1,000 miles ol travel and reduce the exposure tc submarine attack. Tankers are getting get-ting scarce these days, and the shorter the distance they have tc steam, the more trips they can make. Ickes put forth this argument emphatically em-phatically at the last hearing before the War Production board, but was rebutted by Lieut. Gen. Brehon Somervell, Som-ervell, head of the army's service oi supplies. Somervell pooh-poohed the idea that England was hard up fo: oil or gasoline, said he had just returned re-turned from there, and that Ickes1 argument was pure poppycock. Ickes made no immediate reply, but cabled the British government. The British were boiling mad, and the reply he received clinched the matter. The War Production bftard decided Somervell didn't know much about British oil supplies. The pipeline pipe-line was ordered built MERRY-GO-ROUND fi Capitol insiders are betting that before the tax bill finally emerges from congress it will contain some kind of provision for compulsorj war savings as an anti-inflation measure. Secretary Morgenthau has been opposed to this, but recently seems willing to shift his view. C. Former OPM boss William Kn'ud-sen, Kn'ud-sen, in his new role as a lieutenant-general lieutenant-general in the army, has inspected 285 war plants and in many of them he has recommended changes which have increased production. |