Show Merry Go Merry Round Round By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. S ALLEN W WASHINGTON Colon ASHINGTON-Colon Colonel l William a n Donovan has the inside track for or civil defense admInistrator administrator administrator adminis admInis- when Mayor Fiorello Florello H. H LaGuardia steps out of the job The plan Is to combine civil defense With Donovans Donovan's new office as coordinator of intelligence intelli gence information White House advisers consider consider con con- sider skier that the two fit together and that the World war hero has the executive ability and experience to direct both Insiders expect New Y York's Yorks tk's Little Flower to quit as C CD D A as soon as his third term mayoralty mayoralty may may- ay- ay campaign gets hot Few now recall that when LaGuardia took the post he said it might be only for a short time to get things started He is amply equipped to run civil defense and his choice was widely approved But the plain fact act is that he hasn't t the time to give the job what it requires Its It's full time work and then some LaGuardia LaGuar LaGuar- dia has been putting in about one day a week and when he is in Washington he w works at at a furious urious pace But even with his enormous driving driving ing capacity the job is too vast It requires a hand at the helm six days and even some nights a week While mayor of New York it is impossible for or LaGuardia to devote that much time to civil defense Next to the presidency running New NewS York City is the biggest public post in inthe inthe inthe the country and the Little Flower quite rightly right right- ly permits nothing to interfere with his his' civic duties It is inescapable that civil defense should suffer as a result Choice of Assistants Poor Not Not h helping the situation any has has' been LaGuardia's LaGuardia's La La- Guardias Guardia's choice of assistants Inner raised their eyebrows eyebrows eyebrows eye eye- brows when he installed in Washington as his right hand aid Thomas Semmes Walmsley one onetime onetime time mayor of New Orleans and foe of Huey Long Walmsley is charming and well intentioned but what he doesn't know about the problems of civil defense is plenty Also when LaGuardia took over the agency he announced that state governors would be beIn beIn bein in charge of civil def defense nse activities locally This was good strategy to secure state coop coop- But then he turned aroun around and started giving the assignments to mayoral friends about the country which has irked the gover gover- nors Some of them have sent hot protests to the White House Meanwhile some members of a citizens' citizens cooperation n committee that LaGuardia appointed appoint appoint- ed are privately wondering what it is all about Several weeks ago they were summoned to Washington for a conference staged in the White House and attended by Mrs Roosevelt The affair was surrounded with deep secrecy but actually nothing took place and committee commit commit- tee members departed for their homes completely com corn mystified The committee hasn't done donea a thing since r State De Department on Russia The peace mobilization pickets who quit their their- vigil in front of the White House immediately imme after Hitler invaded Russia were not th the only ones caught short by the war in the east Equally embarrassed was Assistant Secretary Sec of State Adolf Berle 0 The brilliant Mr Berle who was Woodrow Wilsons Wilson's chief adviser on Russia at the Versailles Ver sailles conference has been about the bitterest Russian hater in the state department department-a a place which specialized in Russian haters Last summer summer summer sum sum- mer when Undersecretary Sumner Welles was trying to keep alive aUve a patchwork friend friendship hip with Russia Berle was a died in the wool pes pes- But the other day talking to W. W W. W Lancaster Lancas Lancas- ter attorney for the National City bank Berle made a revolutionary admission Russia he said now could be considered the great hope of the world However the assistant secretary of state state still retains enough suspicion of Russian dIplomats diplomats diplomats diplo dIplo- mats to give this warning to Lancaster who is isa isa isa a friend of Soviet Ambassador I 11 want you to know said Berle that we know all about those c conversations youre you're hayIng hav hay ing with j I July Plane Figures L Preliminary July figures for airplane production production pro pro- show another backward month the second since April Total of military planes produced in July was as 1460 a 1460 a drop of 16 from the June all time high of 1476 In May the figure slumped below below be be- low the April total which was the record up to then Primary reason for the July decline according according according ac ac- ac- ac cording to 0 P PM experts was a shortage of certain delicately certain calibrated flying instruments The experts say that actually more planes were turned out in July than June but without instruments instruments instruments in in- they could not be completed for de de- livery Various reasons are given for this Instrument instrument ment bottleneck shortage bottleneck shortage of labor materials new designs lack of tools The May slump was charged up to lab labor Whatever the reasons U. U S. S aircraft production has yet to top the 1500 a month mark so confidently prediCted predicted pre pre- pre pre- by 0 O P PM 1 moguls months ago However the experts now prophesy a 1600 output this month provided month provided instrument deliveries cries eries come through They base this on the backlog of unfinished planes in July plus an increase In plant production But they admit their guess may be wrong as it has been in the e past Distributed by United Feature Syndicate |