Show 0 gr RW washington 1 I 0 mediterranean KEY key y to the 0 o fateful battle of the mediterranean which Is about to burst burs to in full fury Is not tile suez su canal but britaina Brit ains great naval base at alexandria miles west of the canal entrance the loss of alexandria would de tho the british of their key bridgehead in northern africa and e ensure sure axis domination of the th eastern mediterranean actually tile the suez canal itself has been of little value to tile tho british tor for months it went out ot of use as tho the so called lifeline life line of the cm pire when tile the axis air attack that severely damaged the air carrier 11 II lust rious proved it was suicidal to attempt to convoy shipping through the long and narrow waterway since then the mediterranean h has a 8 been a no mans land tor for all the th e belligerents while 2000 miles in length its narrow width at certain places has made it extremely haz aldous for both sides and the british have been routing their shipping around the cape of good hope for some time loss of the mediterranean would of 0 course be a serious blow to the british but it would by no means end the war or mean victory for the axis with her fleet intact britain would still bo be able to carry the fight to hitler and mussolini MACHINE TOOLS chief reason behind the big curtailment tail thil ment in auto production was the release of urgently needed machine tools for defense the machine tool bottleneck could be broken overnight if all the machine tools 0 owned b by the motor industry were turned to the making of planes tanks and other armament defense experts estimate that there are around machine tools in the U S of which mo more re than half are in plants making motor vehicles or parts for them and in the allied metal fabricating industry the list includes grinders milling machines lathes boring machines presses gear cutters drillers drillars dr illers and shapers all vital in the production of defense equipment new output of machine tools Is now speeding at the rate of a month this Is a spectacular achievement and a great tribute to tn the In industry dusty but it is only a drop tn in the bucket compared to the machine tools already possessed by the auto and metal tab fabricating ri industries which army men say would increase defense production to full flow immediately if pooled and devoted entirely to this purpose HIDDEN COLLEAGUE A stocky gray haired man flanked by a group of sightseers approached a capitol capital policeman and asked directions to the office of sen hiram johnson of california tucked away in an obscure corner of th the e north side of the capitol where re tourists never tread J johnsons office Is one of the hardest to find in the great structure ill do my best to explain how to got get t there here said the policeman are you at ai tourist no grinned the inquirer im the other senator from california senator downey FE PERRY bay SCHOOL everybody Is wondering how the swarms of fighting planes which t U S factories will pr produce aduce tor for the i british in the next 12 months will be delivered overseas the answer for the big ships Is that they the Y will be flown across ac and in such great numbers number s that the british are setting up a special caal pilot training school tor for that purpose in the un united cited states the s school chool will give an intensive refresher and training course to volunteer pilots to qualify them tor for ferrying the bi big 9 bombers across the atlantic the volunteers may be british canadian or american however it is expected that the largest num bers will be americans the british can use of them GOOD NEIGHBOR PILOTS another good neighbor gesture will soon be made to neighbor to the south mexico the state depar department ament W will il offer pilot training courses to a n umber number of mexican youths buths in the united states inilla initiator tor of the idea was vice president he henry nry wallace when he be visited mexico last year yeal one of the discussed wa was the shortage problems of aviators av latora in the mexican told that mex wallace was army ico wanted to undertake a plot pilot training program sim ilar to that in the united stat states es but lacked planes and anstr instructors actors MERRY GO ROUND leading economists ests rate the industrial du and financial surveys competed pl sted by the ow 0 mahoney allone monopoly committee as the most valuable source material on the economy of the country eyer ever complied compiled agriculture is rec department of hold sol soil new plant to commending om mending a wish the in the gullies but they would teu tell how to produce japanese it Is one olle kudzu seed known as the I 1 I 1 sine of japan secrets 0 of the plant but serves not only as 88 a soil binder iso as a feed ia |