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Show Washington, D. C. GASLESS SUNDAYS It begins to look as if gasleas Sundays Sun-days might not be so necessary after aft-er all if certain bare-knuckle reforms re-forms in the oil industry are put through by new National Oil Administrator Ad-ministrator Ickes. For instance, the tanker system. When an oil tanker comes from the Gulf of Mexico up the East coast, it may stop at Charleston to discharge part of its oil, then at Norfolk, then at Baltimore. It discharges dis-charges a certain amount at each port where its company distributes or refines oil Simultaneously, a tanker belonging belong-ing to another company will stop off at exactly the same ports. Thus the tankers of three or even four different dif-ferent companies may be feeding the same cities at the same time. If, on the other hand, one company com-pany served one section of the country, coun-try, or if one tanker delivered oil to all the companies in each port instead of only to its own, distribu- 1 tion would be measurably speeded. Also, there are four different types of high octane gasoline being refined re-fined in the United States. All these varieties are not particularly necessary, neces-sary, one type being sufficient dur- IntT 'Via omctrcranv Ct rrt ra t iri I on only on-5 type of high octane ; gas also would considerably increase gasoline output and distribution. There is plenty of oil in the U. S. A.; it is only a matter of refining and distribution. Note The anti-trust laws have prevented the oil companies from cutting competition of this kind, but the government oil administrator should be able to do what the oil compunies can't Dut LaGuardia, who made his own terms when he took his defense post, is still in charge of national morale. SECRECY OF CONVOYS Most people don't realize it, but the contents of almost every ship leaving the United States for England Eng-land is known to Nazi Germany. However, learning just when the shipment will reach England and the route It will take, is another matter. Getting Information regarding the departure of supply ships to England Eng-land Is relatively simple. All Nazi agents have to do is go down to the waterfront to watch the loading of British ships. The type of goods being loaded cannot be readily concealed. con-cealed. Or if an American vessel is loading load-ing for the Red Sea, the papers signed by the crew must disclose the port of destination. This is requlrec by law, so that a seaman may knov where he is going, and because ex tra Insurance and sometimes extrt wages are paid if the ship enten certain areas. Once a British ship is loaded, how ever, the utmost secrecy Is imposec on its route and time of departure Usually the ship hugs the shore ai far north as the Canadian port ol Halifax. There it may wait for dayi or even two or three weeks for a convoy to be made up. When it finally leaves for the hazardous haz-ardous voyage across the Atlantic, orders are given to the ship's master mas-ter by hand. Nothing is trusted ta radio. A small boat puts out from the commander of the convoy, carrying car-rying sealed orders to the master of each vessel. No other orders are given, and no radio messages are exchanged during dur-ing the trip except in case of attack, at-tack, because radio messages might be picked up by Nazi patrol planes. Note American ships, on the other oth-er hand, follow a regular, well-advertised course and constantly send out radio messages informing the world of their position. MERRY-GO-ROUND Supporting the plan of Chief of Staff Marshall to lower the age of army commanders, war department officials quote the late Justice Oliver Oli-ver Wendell Holmes, who fought in the Civil war. To Lady Pollock, during the Spanish-American war, he wrote: "A general of 43 and a private of 30 are old men." The commerce department has set up a separate British empire unit, headed by W. Walton Butter-worth, Butter-worth, former state department official offi-cial in London. His job is to establish estab-lish closer commercial ties with British dominions and colonies. After Gen. Allen Gullion, the army's efficient judge advocate general, appeared in the comic strip "Hap Hopper," he received a letter let-ter from an old boyhood chum saying: say-ing: "I have been wondering where you were for 40 years, and now at last I've located you through the funny papers." Twenty-six years ago Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt toted a friend's baby son around the old Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Savings bank, much to the amusement amuse-ment of Judge John E. Mack, who later nominated FDR for President. The other day, on the anniversary of the incident, the baby Charles Durant Maines of Flint, Mich. was Inducted into the army. Rural Electrification Administrator Administra-tor Harry Slattery is proud of having hav-ing strung up wires in Alaska and the Virgin Islands. Also, he is making mak-ing a survey in Puerto Rico. |