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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Farnham F. Dud-eon Powerful Attack by Nazi Army Pushes Allies Out of Belgium; U. S. Defense Board Is Selected (KUITOR'S iVOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Tit.u-:.fti ty Western Newspaper Union. prise blitzkrieg for Johnny Bull. But England has taken strong defense measures of late to be ready for the worst and she has promised a warm reception for any invader. France's interior seemed a bit stronger too, for as the Germans moved against the trapped Flanders army in the north the line of defense across the nation's central axis was decidedly bolstered. U. S. DEFENSE: Progress President Roosevelt's fourteenth fireside chat began a series of THE WAR: Flanders Flight When King Leopold III ordered his 200,000 Belgian troops to lay down their arms in their battle against the military might of Adolf Hitler, worried French and British leaders saw that the forces they had ru:;lied into Belgium following the German invasion were doomed. For on the fields of Flanders their urrnies were exposed to a great encircling en-circling movement by the Nazis and were in great danger of being cut elf from the main body of the troops in central France. i - i events in the new national defense program pro-gram that , w a s marked by increasing increas-ing attention to the details of getting Uncle Un-cle Sam's house in order "come what may." Influenced chiefly by the progress of the German army in its drive toward Paris and London, Americans of both Without waiting Adolf Hitler began be-gan to close the jaws of his gigantic trap of death. Attacking with great ferocity the German machine moved toward the retreating allies. Without With-out loss of impetus military objective objec-tive after objective was gained in a tremendous show of force. In the sky, dive bombers swooped toward the earth, cutting off supply details, disrupting communications, destroying immense stores of war goods but failing to seriously daunt allied morale and courage. Their lines In formation, the British Brit-ish and French retreated steadily toward the English channel. For they . were outnumbered and the country they had come to protect from invasion in-vasion had been ordered by its king to cease fighting. Their best chance President Roosevelt major political parties are getting behind the President's announced objective of building defenses of the Western hemisphere "to whatever heights the future may demand." Pleading for unity in the drive for military security, the President .in his nation-wide radio address warned against Trojan Horse treachery within with-in the nation's borders. He pledged that the government would not expect ex-pect private capital to provide all of the funds necessary. Tax This statement invoked discussion as to how the government intended to foot the. necessarily large bill of any such program. A defense-tax defense-tax movement has been gaining ground in congress. This is a complete com-plete about-face on the subject by the legislators. When the first proposals pro-posals were made to increase armaments, arma-ments, most members of the senate and house passed over the matter of providing the money by remarking remark-ing that the important thing to do was to provide the defenses and worry about paying for them later. Now the. sentiment is that a flat 10 per cent increase in individual s4- Jk J I 1 and corporate income in-come taxes might be the best way to meet the obligations to be incurred by the billion-dollar program now under full steam. And as the rising war hysteria spread over the nation it seemed likely that this suggestion would not meet the disapproval disap-proval such a tax in- ' William S. Knudsen GOOD NEIGHBORS: To the South Not such a "good neighbor" is what many Mexicans are thinking these days of Leon Trotsky, exiled Russian political leader, who has taken up a haven of refuge from his Soviet enemies in Mexico's interior. in-terior. The recent attempt to assassinate as-sassinate Trotsky has caused at least a few Mexican officials to believe be-lieve that no. good can come from his remaining in their country and they are anxious for him to move on. Trotsky's home is constantly guarded but despite this "protection," "protec-tion," Joseph Stalin's arch-rival is not especially loved or admired by some of his "neighbors." A neighbor further south has been having a bit of trouble with a little uprising of its own. Reports from Panama indicate that the government govern-ment nipped an alleged plot for a revolution which was scheduled to prevent that country's 1940 presidential presiden-tial election. An indication that U. S. business was attempting to regain some of its foreign trade lost by the European Euro-pean conflict was evidenced by news that the Moore-McCormack lines were opening a new shipping service serv-ice between North and South America Amer-ica on both the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. In announcing the new shipping routes and ships to be used in the service the company's president, presi-dent, Albert V. Moore, said: "The surface of trade possibilities between be-tween the U. S. and South America has only been scratched." This was good news to business men for the commerce department's current trade report shows a $27,000,000 decline de-cline in export trade for last month. Some real "scratching" will be necessary nec-essary to build up this loss. To the North A career diplomat, Jay P. Moffat was nominated by President Roosevelt Roose-velt to replace James H. Cromwell as U. S. minister to Canada. Moffat, Mof-fat, now chief of the western European Euro-pean division of the state department, depart-ment, is not expected to create the flurry that Cromwell did when, as a U. S. representative, he made his now-famous speech expressing a decided de-cided sympathy for the British-French British-French cause in their struggle with Hitler. SOCIAL SERVICE: Trouble, Trouble There is no group of persons in the United States that is closer to the nation's vital problems of unemployment, un-employment, relief, youth movements, move-ments, etc., than the National Conference Con-ference of Social Workers. Basic human needs are the social workers stock-in-trade. Meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich., in national convention, conven-tion, that organization discussed, debated and "resolved" these problems prob-lems in their relationship to the current cur-rent domestic and international picture. pic-ture. MISCELLANY: C Six army flyers were killed in the crash of a Douglas bomber near Mojave, Calif. The crash, which carried the two officers and four crew members to their deaths, occurred oc-curred in a night trial flight over the army's desert bombing range. C Fifty thousand civilian pilots in the U. S. can be trained by the Civil Aeronautics authority, "without any loss of efficiency and safety," according ac-cording to an announcement made by that governmental agency. C In Chicago, a 10-day milk strike, in which labor union drivers had refused re-fused to make home deliveries pending the outcome of a wage dispute, dis-pute, was ended in a truce. C From the office of the U. S. comptroller of the currency comes news that the assets of the 5,184 active national banks in the United Unit-ed States, Alaska, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands have reached an all-, time high $35, 736, 657, W0. Bank deposits de-posits are also higher now than at any time in the nation's history. C The U. S. civil service commission commis-sion ruled that it would refuse to certify for work in any federal agency persons established to belong be-long to the Communist party, the German Bund, "or any other Communists Com-munists or Nazi organization." KING LEOPOLD III Hit order started a retreat. for escape was across the Strait of Dover to England or down the sea-coast sea-coast to rejoin the main portion of their troops along the Somme and Aisne rivers in France. While from Berlin came word of the great victory being won, from the first soldiers to reach English soil in their retreat across the channel, chan-nel, came reports that important losses were being effected upon the Germans as they advanced. But even these sources admitted that great stocks of war booty was falling fall-ing into Nazi hands. Supplies of gasoline and munitions which any army needs were being obtained by the Germans. Next Next, with Belgium and much of the vital industrial portion of northern north-ern France safely tucked away, Adolf Hitler had a choice to make. He could launch his long-threatened air attack on the British isles or he could strike out for Paris. Feeling against France has been running high in Berlin, judging from current reports. Usually it has been the British that have been the sub ject to press attack by the Nazi propaganda prop-aganda machine, but now France is getting its share of verbal abuse. Some observers thought these attacks at-tacks were a feint intended to lull the British into believing they were to be left alone and then when the "hour" arrived it would be a sur- crease would ordinarily encounter. Reading reports of the fierce power of German military might, U. S. citizens cit-izens may prefer to dig down in their jeans for preparedness than feel home defenses were insecure. Commission A presidential commission of seven, sev-en, appointed to muster the country's coun-try's economic resources in connection connec-tion with the preparedness drive, was announced in Washington. This commission represents a lay "general "gen-eral staff" which will work with government officials and agencies in lining up men, materials and plans for speeding up armament production. produc-tion. The commission: Edward R. Stettinius Jr., U. S. Steel company chairman, who will r . supervise production of raw materials; William S. Knudsen, General Motors production pro-duction wizard, who will direct his attention atten-tion to manufacturing manufactur-ing problems; Sidney Sid-ney Hillman, Amalgamated Amal-gamated Clothing Workers union president, pres-ident, responsible for labor matters; Chester C. Davis, Federal Reserve Chester Davis board member and former AAA director, di-rector, who will guide agriculture's course; Ralph Budd, president of the C. B. & Q. railroad, transportation; transpor-tation; Leon Henderson, chairman of the Securities commission, will check on stabilization of wholesale prices; and Miss Harriet Elliott, University of North Carolina, who will guard the consumers interests. Like This Scheduled to be an important cog in the machinery of defense, the automobile industry was given a tuning up by Secretary of the Treasury Treas-ury Morgenthau on his announcement announce-ment that the annual policy of introducing in-troducing new car models may be discontinued after this year. In charge of airplane procurement, he believes it may be necessary 'to keep assembly lines open for planes. Henry Ford says after six months he can turn out a thousand planes a day if necessary. |