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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Russians Cheered by U. S. War Pact Pledging Support of Second Front; Nation's Scrap Rubber Pile Grows; U. S. Information Units Consolidated (EDITOR'S NOTE 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 ALEUTIANS,: foggy Details When the Jap radio announced that Nipponese troops had made a landing on the Aleutian islands there was no immediate denial by the U. S. government. For the navy had to wait for the fog to clear in that area to check these claims. When the weather turned better it I was found that enemy landings had 1 been made on the island of Attu, at ! the extreme tip of the island group , which stretches off Alaska in the Pacific ocean. Also Jap ships had put into Kiska harbor on an island nearer the North American main-"' main-"' land. Navy "operations" were called into play immediately to squelch any threat of a Jap drive for Alaska. It was believed that the landings took place at the time of the first raid on Dutch Harbor and about the same time as the beginning of the RUSSIA: Diplomacy and Death In Russia, even as the "citizens army" took up arms to defend to the death their city of Sevastopol, word came from Washington, Moscow and London that gave them cause for cheer although their immediate fate was darkened. It was the word that the Soviet Union and the United States had reached a "full-understanding" with regard to the urgent tasks of opening open-ing a second European front in 1942. After a conference between Russian Foreign Commissar Molotov and President Roosevelt in Washington, methods of speeding U. S. war aid to Russia were developed and the fundamental problems of post-war co-operation to safeguard "peace and security" were decided upon. The state department of the United Unit-ed States had further good news for life mmmm : mmm Ik l ev ? ; i - " I T': f - Midway island battle. Rear Admiral John H. Towers, U. S. navy chief of the bureau of aeronautics, classed the Jap thrust as of "no real importance" and figured that it could even become a liability to the enemy. WAR INFORMATION: Gets an Overhauling At long last there came word from Washington that all the information functions of the government agencies agen-cies were being consolidated by the creation of an "Office of War Information" In-formation" to be headed by Elmer Davis, well-known writer and radio commentator. All the duties and activities of the Office of Facts and Figures, the Office Of-fice of Government Reports, the division di-vision of information for the Office of Emergency Management and the foreign information service of the co-ordinator of information, will be under the authority of the new office, of-fice, according to a White House announcement. an-nouncement. Further, Director Davis will have "full authority to eliminate all overlapping over-lapping and duplication and to discontinue dis-continue in any department any informational in-formational activity which is not ; I sk f . 'it- lmi"'n,' -wine nt nrmmtM'f-niittft Wfllltii VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV In full accord with F. D. R. the Russian people. It was that a lease-lend agreement similar to that signed betmeen the U. S. and Britain Brit-ain as well as China, had been entered en-tered into with the Soviet. The good news from London was that Russia and Britain had signed a 20-year mutual assistance pact But in the Sevastopol area and around Kharkov the Nazis continued their pounding at Russian lines. Civilian Ci-vilian morale was good, said Moscow Mos-cow reports. BOTTOMS UP: For Jap Navy - Eight Japanese aircraft carriers at least half of that country's known carrier power were sunk or so badly damaged in the Midway and Coral Sea battles that they will be unfit for early action, informed naval sources have estimated. Based on communiques issued by the U. S. army and navy and Allied headquarters, capital ship losses of Japan and the United States from December 7 up to and including the Midway battle are as follows: JAPAN 1 Battleship 1 Seaplane tender 4 Aircraft carriers 16 Cruisers UNITED STATES 1 Battleship 1 Seaplane tender 1 Aircraft carrier 1 Cruiser 4 The official communiques concern only those ships whose loss is unquestioned. un-questioned. Wnofficial reports include in-clude ships whose loss, though unverified, un-verified, is fairly certain. TREASURE HUNT: ' This Time Rubber Although it was only one cent a pound, that fact didn't stop Americans Ameri-cans from stripping their homes, garages and factories of every available avail-able pound of idle and (to them) useless rubber. The rubber salvage program got underway upon President Roosevelt's Roose-velt's order. Collected by the nation's na-tion's gasoline filling stations, the scrap rubber is being transported to central collection points by petroleum petro-leum industry trucks and sold to the Rubber Recovery corporation. Undersecretary of War Patterson reported that army and navy crude rubber requirements during the 21 months after April 1, 1942, will be 800,000 tons, compared with the present U. S. reserve of 600,000 tons. He said he hoped the difference differ-ence would be made by the synthetic syn-thetic program. WPB Rubber Coordinator Co-ordinator Newhall stated that the synthetic program will produce 30,000 tons in the rest of 1942 and 300,000 tons during 1943. Bl'RON PRICE To collaborate with Davis. necessary or useful to the war effort ef-fort . . ." Under policies laid down bythe President this office will "issue directives to all departments depart-ments and agencies of the government govern-ment with respect to their informational informa-tional services." This means that while the various agencies and departments will still continue to operate, their activities must now conform to such direction as the Ofiice of War Information may give them. The presidential order provided for close collaboration between Byron Price, director of censorship, and Davis to "facilitate the prompt and full dissemination of all available avail-able information which will not give aid to the enemy." HOUSING: Conversion Loans' With a term as long as seven years, a new type of "war conversion conver-sion loan" up to $5,000 is available tor converting an existing structure into additional living accommodations accommoda-tions for war workers in war production pro-duction areas". This new type loan was announced by Federal Housing Commissioner Ferguson at the same time it was fevealed that during the first five months of 1942, 70,225 new dwellings dwell-ings "were started in war housing areas. New home programs gener-ally gener-ally are from 35 to 45 per cent lower than a year ago. HIGHLIGHTS the week's news HEROES: Visiting Washington on a tour of the nation in behalf of war bond sales 15 American and British war heroes paid their respects to President Eoosevelt and congress. At the White House, President and Mrs. Roosevelt and British Ambassador Ambas-sador Lord Halifax were on hand to greet them. On Capitol Hill they were greeted in the house chamber cham-ber and by senate members. DEATH: Political quarters in Berlin announced that Free French soldiers captured at the Bir Hacheim outpost in Libya are irregulars ir-regulars and, as such, are liable to execution under the German and Italian -armistice terms with France, which forbids subjects to serve in anti-Axis armies. , iU , OIL: Within six months the i.as: coast should be getting "an increased in-creased supply" of oil, according to the WPB, as the result of that agency's authorization of immediate immedi-ate construction of a 24-mch steel pipeline from Texas to Salem, 111. COMMCNICATION: The house ays and means committee has approved ap-proved an increase of at least 50 P cent in the tax on telephone and telegraph charges of all kinds. RESIGNATION: In order that a younger man might take his place, r Harry Luke, British governor of e Fiji islands and high commissioner commis-sioner of the western Pacific since 1938, has resigned. PRODUCTION: Cheerful Note Donald. Nelson, chairman of the ofar Prduction board, added a note cheer to the current scene when . e stated that U. S. war production higher than we had any reason suppose it could be" when war sairi WCre being Planned. He a industry can "more than dou- present production by 1944." r Production in May, 1942, was kttes that of May, 1841. |
