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Show CAPITAL GLEANINGS BY -Henry Dworshak YOUR C0NCR6S5AVAM jj The pi es. dent notified congress on Juiy 7 that United States ma- rines had landed in Iceland, and that surface and aircraft of the navy were ordered to "take all iiecessai y steps to citai tne At-.cUuc At-.cUuc snipping lanes ui ueruian .cluing craft. The American marines ma-rines will gradually replace British Brit-ish forces, it is reported, but an announcement by Churchill slated ' that Britain will retain her garrison garri-son of SO, 000 men in Iceland and! 'work in cooperation with the U. S. : forces. Churchill also suggested immediate pooling of the Eirush! and American navies, and told the house of commons that extension by the United States of its lines into the war zone is one of the most important things that has happened since the war began. The reac.on in congressional circles is what might be expected because of the failure to heed cun- ; ' stitutional requirements that congress con-gress alone has the power to de-' dare war. Secretary Knox stated July 8 that the president's orders j to the navy, in connection with the j occupation of Iceland, "leave no 1 doubt of what may be done," and go further than the previous order to the neutrality patrol of report sigh tings of hostile craft in American Amer-ican waters. Leaders of both parties criticized criti-cized this action, and Senator Taft on July 10 challenged the presidential presi-dential authority and declared: "The president has powers to defend de-fend the United States, but he has no powers to wage an aggressive war on foreign soil. There has been no attack on United State' and no threat of attacii." In the meantime, Wendell Willkie was a luncheon guest of the White House and advocate establishment of American military bases in (northern Ireland and Scotland, to insure safety of materials now being be-ing shipped under the lease-lend act. The civilian conservation crops program is being handicapped by the lack of enrollees, according to Director McEntee, who this week stated that the total number of camps may be reduced to about 1,050 on August 1, compared with 1,500 operated during the past fiscal fis-cal year. A report just released by the CCC office slates that Idaho's Ida-ho's quota of 56 will be reduced lo 35 camps, the forest service losing 14, the grazing division 5, and the reclamation bureau and the state park one each. The total to-tal grazing camps are reduced fiom 89 to 49. Total enrollees now number num-ber about 200,000, compared wilh 280,000 last year. A request of the war depart ment, approved by the president, for extension of the one-year ser vice period for draftees, and lift ing of the ban on expeditionary u;icei. .biu;u:, llueuu-us lo i;-u; ilaie a light in congress soon. This controery finds Speaker Ray-burn Ray-burn aligned for the first time against the president m an u-i portaut legislative proposal, the Texan stating that --we have made a contract with selectees, and we should not break it." The house has approved deferment of those over 2S years of age, and has defeated de-feated proposals to authorize the president to take over and operate private plantain which strikes occur. oc-cur. It was stressed that the chief executive intervened in the North American aircraft strike to insure ! production, and already has ample power to prevent shutdowns in defense de-fense industries. The national convention of the Townsend old-age pension group at Buffalo recently did not approve a pro-war resolution which hail been prepared for. the occasion. Senator. Wheeler representing the non-interventionist forces, addressed address-ed the huge throng, and was given a tremendous ovation and applause, ap-plause, according to, press reports, while Senator Pepper, who denounced de-nounced those oppo.'ed to our country's involvement in the war, received only courteous attention. Dr. Townsend came to Washington Washing-ton about six weeks ago and announced an-nounced .his support of presidential presiden-tial policies, as well as advocating actual declaration of war against Hitler if necessary to save Britan. His actions aroused considerable criticism among congressional supporters of the recovery plan, including Representative O'Connor of Montana, Chairman 6f the Townsend Steering Committee, who is violently opposed to American Ameri-can participation in the war. Appeals to Americans to make sacrifices in the interest of national defense, while countries receiving aid from us are not meeting similar restrictions, are causing speculation at the capital The department of agriculture recently re-cently requested that consumption of cheese be curtailed to make possible larger shipments lo Britain, despite the fact that there jhave been large surpluses of this dairy product. Our commerical airlines air-lines have been forced to curtail operations and turn over many of their transport planes to the government, althohs'i reliable sources reported this week that 22 American planes released under the lease-lend program have lieen placed in service on new or extended ex-tended commercial routes in Canada. Favorable growing' conditions reported re-ported in most sections of the country are reflected in the department de-partment of agriculture estimate, released July 1, that 1941 wheal, production will be 923,613,000 bushels, an increase of 107,000,000 bushels over the 81G,G9S,00Q pro duction of 1940. The house agriculture committee com-mittee held hearings this week to consider protests against the penalty provisions in tb'5 wheat marketing program, as they affect "non-compliers". Growers from j Oklahoma are urging that they be permitted to use the yardstick of ''normal yield'' rather than "acres planted" to afford relief where yields are subnormal. Protests have also been made against the regulations which prevent a farm I er from feeding his own wheat to stock or poultry on his own farm without paying the penalty. AAA officials were present at the hearing, hear-ing, and it is possible remedial legislation may be enacted. Rear Admiral Robinson, chief of the navy's bureau of ships, slates the naval ship-building program "has exceeded all expectations" and that "every single combatant ship is ahead of schedule". The maritime commission announces it has transferred 109 ships totaling 995,140 gross tons from the merchant mer-chant fleet to the army and navy. The navy has received 88 ships of 77S.093 gross tons to serve as auxiliaries aux-iliaries for the expanded fleet, and the army was assigned 21 of 217,-053 217,-053 gross tons, to transport troops and materials. |