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Show ! MBlffTPiP ltn'ininiiniritnilin Washington. D. C. NEW LEND-LEASE SUM 1 The new lend-lease appropriation that has been tentatively agreed on I by inner advisers Is $5,000,000,000. With the $7,000,000,000 voted by congress several months ago, this s would make a total of $12,000,000,000 s for aid to the democracies. Yet this s stupendous sum is still considerably ! short of what was originally proposed, pro-posed, also of what probably will be ultimately required, i It's a White House secret, but the first lend-lease program submitted added up to $19,000,000,000. This was slashed to $9,000,000,000 by the : army and navy and then still further cut to $7,000,000,000 by the budget bureau. The last figure was approved ap-proved by the President and sent to congress. One reason for the new appropriation appropri-ation is that many of the original price estimates have been found to be far too low, particularly in the case of planes, ships and guns. Rising Ris-ing costs, due to changes in construction, con-struction, more expensive new mod-' mod-' els, and increased production 1 charges, made it impossible to con- tract for these items at the original estimates; and more money is needed need-ed to fulfill the program. Another reason for the lend-lease boost is heavy outlays for repairs on battle-damaged British warships, of which a number are now in U. S. yards. This type of aid is running into big money. Most important, however, is the urgent need for expansion of the i whole aid-democracies program, j Britain, China and the other Axis I foes require increased assistance to meet the greatly enlarged resources re-sources of the Nazis brought by their conquest of Europe. Today they must stand o(T not only the industrial power of Germany, but also that of France, Belgium, Holland, Rumania, Hungary, and other Nazi victims. So if Britain is to continue fighting she must secure much more help from the United States. Without such aid she will quickly be overwhelmed. Red Tape-itis. While most of the $7,000,000,000 lend-lease money has been allocated, allocat-ed, some $500,000,000 earmarked for new armaments plants is still lying around idle. And close to $4,000,-; $4,000,-; 000,000 of other defense appropriations appropria-tions for new plants also is twid- dling Its thumbs while army supply brasshats and OPM chiefs, enmeshed en-meshed in coils of red tape, are 1 stalling around. It takes from 8 to 15 months to erect these plants, so this delay in getting construction started means a serious crimp in the defense program. pro-gram. Chiefly to blame are army supply brasshats, who are inadequate to handle the colossal task thrust on them, but so jealous of their bureaucratic bureau-cratic powers that they won't let anyone else tackle it. OPM heads are champing at the precious time being wasted, but lack authority to override the army and haven't the gumption to raise a row. WILL DAVIS The country doesn't like strikes any more than it likes war, but the war has brought out many men of stature, and the strikes have brought out William H. Davis, new chairman of the National Defense Mediation board. Actually Davis is no "war baby," but a veteran who has been working at labor mediation for many years. Still it was settlement of the Allis-Chalmers Allis-Chalmers strike that first won him national attention. By profession Davis is a patent lawyer, with offices in New York city. On the very next day after the Allis-Chalmers triumph, he appeared ap-peared before the U. S. Supreme court, his hair no more unruly than usual, to argue a patent case. He makes his living from big-money firms, but he has a strong liberal viewpoint toward labor. When a committee of congress aAed him what he thought of a bill 1 to outlaw strikes, he said, "When j you pass compulsory legislation, you I make the working man a slave, and there is no use producing defense materials for a nation of slaves." There are a lot of odd pieces in Davis' life. He was born in Bangor, Maine, schooled in Washington, D. C, is a member of New York's swanky Downtown Athletic club, a labor sympathizer, founder of the Grand Central Art galleries, father-in-law of Argentine diplomat Alonzo Irigoyen, and careless with his clothes. One phrase-maker says Davis has "the face of a kindly bulldog." Another An-other "the face of a tired trombone player." Not many faces would answer an-swer to that. Davis is easy to spol in a crowd. MERRY-GO-ROUND C Employees of the British Purchasing Purchas-ing mission leaving the elevator at their offices are confronted with this sign: "The existence of the British Empire depends on YOUR effort. Chins up There Will Always Be an England." C. tsince checking booths were installed in-stalled at Capitol entrances, police daily turn up some fresh oddity. One day a sea captain's wife, accompanied accompa-nied by six wide-eyed youngsters, left a large bundle of sailors' hardtack hard-tack biscuit. |
