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Show ported living costs of moderate income families in March were 2.6 per cent higher than before war started in Europe. She reported re-ported price rises in sugar, coffee, cof-fee, pork, butter, canned vegetables vegeta-bles and certain fresh fruits and vegetables, rents, clothing and house furnishings. Consumer Commissioner Harriet Har-riet Elliott warned that some manufacturers ma-nufacturers were maintaining unchanged un-changed prices by lowering the quality of their products. Defense Housing President Roosevelt approved legislation authorizing a $150,-000,000 $150,-000,000 expansion of the defense housing program and asked Congress Con-gress for $15,000,000 to purchase 14,200 portable houses, 6,900 dormitory dor-mitory units and an obsolete passenger pas-senger ship to house defense workers wor-kers during the housing emergency. emer-gency. Mr. Roosevelt reported $5,000,000 previously appropriated appropria-ted for emergency purposes in addition to $447,000,000 for the regular defense housing program had been used for 7,300 dormitory units and 3,800 trailers. Aid lo Democracies The President told a press conference con-ference he has ordered a survey to uscertain what, if any, planes may be procured immediately from civilian airlines. Navy Secretary Se-cretary Knox told a press conference confer-ence the Navy has no combat ships available now for transfer to Great Britain, but that more high-speed "mosquito boats" will be turned over to the British as they come off assembly lines. Treasury Secretary Morgen-thau Morgen-thau announced an arrangement under which the U.S. will contribute con-tribute $50,000,000, the United Kingdom, $5,000,000 pounds sterling, ster-ling, and China, 20,000,000 U. S. dollars, to a Chinese currency stabilization fund to be managed by a five-man board including a U. S. representative. Shipping President Roosevelt requested U.S. Maritime commission chairman chair-man Land to arrange a pool of at least 2,000,000 tons of existing merchant shipping which could be used to carry "food and the munitions of war to the democracies demo-cracies of the world." Admiral Land said the shipping would be drawn from the inter-coastal trade, Army and Navy auxiliary ships, the laid-up fleet, requisitioning requisi-tioning of foreign vessels in U.S. ports and re-routing of commercial commer-cial shipping regardless of the resulting and loss of trade. National Defense Activites President Roosevelt, in a letter let-ter to the Office of Production Management which said the nation na-tion is confronted with a "critical situation", ordered all "available machines pooled for defense work on a 24-hour day, 7-day week schedule, with time out only for repairs. The President also asked OPM to recanvass the nation, including in-cluding the armed forces, for skilled workers to operate the machines. No effort or justifiable justifia-ble expense should be spared, the President said. OPM Production Director triggers, trig-gers, speaking in Washington, said national defense progress "seems phenomenal" but vast in-creasees in-creasees are still necessary. He said airplane production which has been trebled since May 1940 must again be doubled before the end of 1941; machine gun production pro-duction which has been quadrupled quadru-pled .must be increased five-fold by the end of the year; the manufacture manu-facture of powder, increased 1000 per cent, must still be trebled. treb-led. DEFENSE NEEDS FIRST Blackwell Smith, Assistant Priorities Director, said in a speech in Washington: "We cannot can-not have business as usual so long as we must pay first attention to defense needs' . "We are not choosing between guns and butter", he said, "but we are choosing between tanks and airplanes and ships, and some things which are not so essential . "When you consider that our major defense effort is less than a year old, you begin to sense what the future holds," Mr. Smith said. "It will mean dislocations and difficulties, higher taxes, shortages in an undetermined number of products and it certainly means an overall effort which will tax all the resources of the nation". Commerce Secretary Jones said in a speech in Washington: "We have not yet made any sacrifices, but they are in store for us, plenty plen-ty of them." Defense Contract Distribution Director of Purchases Donald Neison, speaking in Washington, said the defense program is now advanced to a point where more consideration can be given to greater decentralization of defense de-fense orders. He suggested that businessmen, instead of asking the Government to locate factories factor-ies in their communities, find out from the Defense Contract Service Ser-vice which Government agencies are in the market for goods and "do a little energetic competing." The Defense Contract Service issued a pamphlet telling how manufacturers may send full information in-formation on their plants, products pro-ducts and experience to the Service's Ser-vice's field offices at Federal Reserve Re-serve Banks and branch banks to determine if they are( qualified quali-fied for defense orders. Labor Disputes . Secretary of Labor Perkins reported re-ported strikes have declined to a point where less than two-tenths two-tenths of one per cent of defense workers or 7800 ' person are affected. Selective Service headquarters head-quarters advised local boards they are not justified in reclassifying reclassi-fying workers joining a strike in a defense industry. Labor Supply The Social Security Board reported re-ported shortages of labor in certain cer-tain machine shop occupations, shipbuilding - and boilermaking and an Increasing need for electrical, elec-trical, mechanical and optical instrument in-strument makers and wood patternmakers. pat-ternmakers. The Labor Department Depart-ment reported 290,000 workers given employment in one month and said that 310,000 additional workers will be needed by September, Sep-tember, 1942, in shipyards a-lone. a-lone. The Civil Service Commission Commis-sion announced that persons up to 65 years old are now eligible for Federal trades and artisan positions. Cost of Living . Secretary of Labor Perkins re- |