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Show WASHINGTON- NEsr"" FROM OUR CONGRESSMAN W. K. GRANGER Visitors To Washington From the District: The following is a list of visitors from Utah during the past week: Governor Herbert B. Maw, Mr. Nell C. Chrlstensen, Mr. Ous Back-man. Back-man. Mr. and Mrs. Heber Meeks, Salt Lake City; Mr. John R. Hood. Richfield; Mr. Robert Bischoff. Mr. Rex McEntlre, Mr. Grant Neute-baum, Neute-baum, Mr. LaMar Buckner, Mr. Maurice Richards, Mr. Marcus J. Austad, Ogden. Governor Maw has spent the past week in Washington. His trip has Included a visit with the President at the White House, besides becoming be-coming acquainted with the heads of the various departments, particularly partic-ularly the office of Production Management Man-agement and the War Department. The Governor and the Utah Delegation Dele-gation are convinced that Utah is logically located for many of the defense projects and this idea is being sold to the heads of the various var-ious departments. U. S. Trade With Latin America HiU Peak: Our combined export and import trade with Latin American Amer-ican countries in 1940 reached the peak figure of $1,346,900,000, compared com-pared with $1,096 800,000 in 1939 and $948,300,000 in 1938. Numerous specialized spe-cialized products, chiefly of a tropical trop-ical nature, ' such as fruits, nuts, and industrial oils, showed lively increases in our import records, as did also a number of strategically important items, such as manganese, tungsten, vanadium, lead, tin, and zinc, the chief beneficiaries in these lines being Chile, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Bo-livia, Cuba and Brazil. ...Only Mentally Fit Sought: The Selective Service System is attempting attempt-ing to induct only those men who are equipped to meet the mental requirements of armed forces of the present day, according to the chief of the Medical Division. Citing Cit-ing the unwholesome result of World War mobilization of mentally mental-ly unqualified recruits, he explained explain-ed that teams of psychiatrists are working throughout the country to acquaint all doctors connected witn draft boards of the essential mental men-tal qualifications required of present pre-sent day soldiers. This is expected to Insure the wisest selection of men. Navy Already on War Footing: The United States Navy already is on a virtual war footing and not much more could be done to speed naval preparation if the call for full mobilization should come at nnv Hmp Thi nrpcpnt pf fprtlvpnpis of the fleet finds its tactical value maintained and enhanced In the midst of an expansion program never before equalled. The American Ameri-can Navy now has 15 capital ships, 18 heavy cruisers, 19 light cruisers, 105 submaiTues and 160 destroyers in service, with two new battleships due to be commissioned this spring and numerous other war vessels under construction. Selective Service Evaders: An Investigation In-vestigation of about 10,500 men thought to be Selective Service evaders is being made by the Department De-partment of Justice, So far, 70 persons per-sons have been convicted of evasion. eva-sion. The Government Is pursuing a lenient policy toward men chosen for the Selective Service and is not pressing those who have failed through Ignorance to report. But definite steps will be taken toward those who are trying to escape service. ser-vice. Army to Expand Air Corps Reserve: Re-serve: The War Department called on the Reserve Officers Training Corps to produce between 800 and 1,000 officers a year for the Air Corps Reserve. Air Corps officials are looking for reserve officers qualified in technical specialities for duties in connection with supply procurement. They are particularly interested in graduates who have majored in aeronautical engineering, engineer-ing, mechanical engineering and business administration. New Interceptor Commands Organized: Or-ganized: The War Department established interceptor commands for its four air forces and created an armored force headquarters. Complete bombardment and pursuit pur-suit group organizations already have been set up for the Air Corps, but until now there has been no unified command of interceptor forces which would be the counter part of the British Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons. No Portholes on New Battleship: The 35,000 ton battleship North Carolina, first battleship to be added add-ed to the Navy list since 1923, which was commissioned this week, will be the first man-of-war without portholes ever to be .built In this country. This ship and her sisters were designed with" portholes but war lessons have shown that the concusslve force of large bombs that hit close alongside smash even the steel battle ports and cause interior damage. The portholes, therefore, were blanked off. |
