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Show kV I Xvtt PRE wPEA.ES ON ROBERTA Washington, D. C. RR VS. SHIPS It hasn't made headlines, but a battle royal has been raging between be-tween WPB Czar Donald Nelson and Transportation Czar Joe Eastman over the freezing of steel for the construction of railroad cars. With less and less shipping moving mov-ing along the coast, and more and more traffic by rail, the question is one of the most important facing the country. What happened was that the War Production board froze all construction construc-tion materials already on hand in railroad construction shops. The intention in-tention was to transfer these materials materi-als for use in building other types of cars. However, Joe Eastman claims that these materials, chiefly steel, already had been bought and cut out for certain cars, in certain shapes, so the order merely will make the materials go unused, with car shops closing down. Already, Eastman argues, certain plants of Pullman Standard are idle, at a time when all plants should be used to capacity. Meanwhile railroads are groaning with traffic. Sugar is now being hauled by rail as much as possible from Florida to avoid submarines. Oil is clogged up in the producing fields for lack of railroad transportation. transpor-tation. And with the sinkings of several Chilean ore ships, more iron ore has to be hauled from interior in-terior U. S. iron mines. In view of all this, Eastman complains com-plains bitterly that Nelson won't release re-lease the steel and let the car foundries do the job. INFLUENCING EUROPEAN LABOR Here is one inside reason why Roosevelt leans toward labor. Basically, the President always has been pro-labor, and continues to be, even though he has become fed up with some labor activities in the past year. But in addition, U. S. war strategists strate-gists are convinced that the chief hope of revolution in Europe comes from labor. And most of the psychological psy-chological warfare strategy being devised here is aimed at influencing labor in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and the occupied countries. Although not generally known, the nucleus of the old Social Democratic Democrat-ic party which tried to create a real republic in Germany is still intact. When Hitler came into power, they moved to Czechoslovakia. After the Sudetenland seizure, they moved to Paris. After the downfall of Paris, they moved to the U. S. A. Fifty Social Democrats from the old Reichstag are now in this country coun-try co-operating with U. S. officials. Furthermore, it is labor in the European occupied countries which is able to assemble or make radios. German labor listens to the radio far more than other classes. Some labor groups even have published very small "underground" newspapers newspa-pers on hand presses and these are distributed by hand. German labor resents the long hours in munitions factories, the small pay and the lack of food, more than any other group. Also labor is about the only group which was not taken over completely by Hitler. The Communists, his chief opponents, oppo-nents, now have long been underground, under-ground, but secretly active. To European labor Roosevelt always has been one of the world's greatest leaders. And one thought in the minds of war strategists is to show Europe that the rights of labor here will not be thrown completely overboard over-board during war. WALLACE'S FAVORITES The men who came to Washington with Henry Wallace in the early days of the New Deal realize now that they picked a winning horse. Almost to a man, they have moved up to important posts in the government. gov-ernment. Claude Wickard was head of the corn-hog section in Wallace's AAA. Now he is secretary of agriculture. Milo Perkins was a lowly assistant to Wallace, holding down a desk in the outer office. Today, he runs the Board of Economic Warfare, as important im-portant as a cabinet post. Paul Appleby was an assistant in the inner office. Now he is undersecretary under-secretary of agriculture at $10,000 a year. Chester Davis was head of the AAA. Now he is director of the Federal Reserve bank in St. Louis. R. M. ("Spike") Evans was an aide to Wallace; now head of AAA. - Sam Bledsoe, Roy Hendrickson, and Whitney Tharin were newsmen covering agriculture. Bledsoe is now an assistant to the secretary. MERRY-GO-ROUND Secretary of War Stimson is held in the warmest personal esteem by array commanders. Hard-working and open-minded he never meddles in military operations and backs up his subordinates 100 per cent. Stimson Stim-son is always at his desk by 8 a. m and rarely leaves until evening, when he always takes home with him a big bundle of papers that he works over after dinner. Good explanation of "Your Army" and how the draft works, has been written by George H. Ji'er- of the Bridgeport Fost. I |